Pre-pubescent lollipop fruit explodes before erased by buttered-cinnamon toast playing mumblety-peg with raspy caramel minerality upon an opaque velvet of structure. Sooo closed in. Sooo dense: barrel-sample-purple churning out sweet herbal gravitas in spades without once succumbing to Bling-Bro ripeness. Decanted heavily and even after several hours refuses to release most of its grasp.
Hazelnut mascarpone truffle tell you of great things buried under all this framework. Tannins reach out at Snow White running through the forest, clawing at the downy softness of her spicy frock. The low fog over dank earth can not be overlooked and the foreshadowing of a brilliant CLASSIC wine is impossible to ignore. Achingly tannic, but nothing can sway the pinnacle of fruit piercing the blackness of this stuff.
I’ve had my fair share of Chimney Rock wines over the years, but this is serious Medal Of Honor Stags Leap stuff. Holy wow. Absolutely TEXTBOOK old-school Napa Valley Cabernet and one I wouldn’t mind tasting at 10, 20 and 30.
2013 CHIMNEY ROCK Cabernet Sauvignon Tomahawk Vyd. Stags Leap Dist. Napa Valley 14.5
Stephen McConnell 