1991 Viader Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc Blend
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Tasting notes
Healthy dark red. Sexy aromas of currant, leather, mocha and spices. Boasts a lovely supple, smooth texture with noteworthy concentration and inner-mouth energy. Shows good retention of currant fruit, with an element of peppery herbs providing lift. Not a particularly fleshy or generous style but conveys good verve and firm underlying structure. The tannins are in balance with the wine's mid-palate material. This slightly pinched wine is unlikely to expand further but there's no rush to drink it.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 1991, a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon and 46% Cabernet Franc, is a backward wine that exhibits considerable promise. The dark opaque ruby/purple color is accompanied by a bouquet that reluctantly offers up scents of cassis, herbs, and damp earth. The wine is rich, structured, and full-bodied, with copious amounts of cassis flavors, density without heaviness, and an overall sense of balance, moderate tannin, and crisp acidity. Give it 1-2 years of cellaring; it should drink well for 10-15 years. Viader is one of the most magnificently situated California vineyards I have ever visited. Located on a steeply terraced slope on Howell Mountain, the vineyard consists of 18 acres planted with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc. With nearly 2,000 vines per acre, this is a more tightly spaced vineyard than most conventional California plantations. Crop sizes have been minuscule - one and a quarter tons per acre on average! The result is a wine the proprietor claims in Napa's answer to Cheval Blanc. A high percentage of Cabernet Franc gives the wine elegance, and the Cabernet Sauvignon provides structure, tannin, and backbone. The wines' interesting aromatic profiles offer intensely perfumed bouquets of black and red fruits, spices, menthol, and floral scents. They are medium to full-bodied, with a Bordeaux-like mouthfeel. The emphasis is on finesse as opposed to power. The beautifully packaged product (a heavy glass bottle with broad shoulders and a designer label) is filled with a wine that is as distinctive as the packaging. All the Viader wines offer compelling evidence that they should last and evolve, hopefully improve, for at least 12-15+ years. Tel. (707) 963-3816; Fax (707) 963-3817.