2006 Pride Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Napa/Sonoma Reserve
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Tasting notes
(15.1% alcohol; includes 5% Petit Verdot; from fruit picked in mid-November): Bright ruby-red. Very ripe aromas of briary black fruits, dark chocolate and menthol; quite classic for this mountain wine and showing little of the herbal element of the 2005. Wonderfully sweet, smooth and horizontal, and not at all overdone considering its high alcohol. Dark fruit and spice flavors spread out to saturate the mouth, with the substantial but ripe tannins dusting the teeth on the subtly long aftertaste. Interestingly, Steve Pride noted that this wine was very tannic in the early going.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Bright medium ruby-red. More reticent on the nose than the Claret but quite pure, offering notes of currant, tobacco leaf, licorice and eucalyptus. Then sweet, lush and surprisingly ripe in the mouth, with a dominant flavor of dark raspberry; not as complex today as the Claret but large-scaled, serious and impressively deep. Finishes with substantial tongue-dusting tannins and subtle lingering sweetness. I'd give this vin de garde at least five years in the cellar.
The utterly profound 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve reveals abundant notes of licorice, creme de cassis, unsmoked high class cigar tobacco, and toasty oak. Full-bodied with fabulous depth, richness, and texture as well as a multilayered mouthfeel, sweet tannins, and loads of potential, this stunning wine is capable of lasting 15-20 years. Although this is a Napa report, I took the liberty of including the Pride Mountain Sonoma bottlings since their wines tend to be primarily Bordeaux varietals rather than the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, etc. that will be covered in the Sonoma report. My apologies to subscribers and the winery for some mistakes I made last year in issue #180, when I listed 2006 instead of 2005 for the Reserve and Vintner's Select wines. This is the strongest portfolio of Pride Mountain wines that has been made under the new winemaker, Sally Johnston, who replaced Bob Foley several years ago. Tel. (707) 963-4949; Fax (707) 963-6039