2005 Chimney Rock Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District

The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap, offering juicy blackcurrant fruitiness, striking elegance and purity, medium body, seems to be a classic example of the finesse and delicacy that can be achieved in the Stags Leap sector of Napa Valley. This wine has a dense, ruby/purple color, youthfulness at age ten, and freshness, all characteristics of a very stylish, elegant wine to drink over the next 10-15 years.

2005 was also a cool vintage, but not quite as wet and the berries were not as big. More density. To Vianna’s mind, it’s the most bordelais vintage. 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot. Each variety was fermented separately in stainless steel. Aged for 18 months in 50% new and 50% used French oak. Bottled 1 June 2007. Glowing ruby. Slightly dusty, a boysenberry note. Very bright fruit, almost tangerine peel and orange citrus edge. Lovely woody (not oaky) framework to the flavours. Very fine tannins. Soft in the mouth, like the brush of silk stockings. Touch of dried herbs here – box tree, perhaps – and the merest suggestion of warm spice. More mid-palate richness than the 2003. A wine that grows in the glass. (TC)

Dense black fruit nose with flashes of fresh herbs, cigar box and oak spice. Palate shows similar, plus crisp currant fruit, fresh acidity and judicious use of oak. An elegant wine that doesn’t show off, yet shows well at the table. (LM) $70