Matthiasson Cabernet Sauvignon Phoenix Vineyard

Drinking very nicely, but I would still recommend waiting a little longer. Blackberry, plums, a touch of prune, and tannins integrating. A balanced, vibrant, pleasant wine. Better the first night than on night two.

Didn't take a detailed note on this one but tasted at the winery next to the Napa Valley and Dead Fred. Fruit a little darker on this one but still bright and balanced at 13 percent abv. I believe this could be a star of the classical older world style cabs a few years down the road.

This is a great Cabernet to express the terroir of Napa Valley. Using used oak barrels, you won’t get the coffee, tobacco or any of the new oak characteristics that most Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon winemakers produce. For me, I really just smelled some smoke, red cherry, and the soil from the vineyard it was grown in. Best part of this is that it has a lower ABV than traditional Napa Cabernet Sauvignon yet still powerful.

Shifting aromas of dark and red berry, subtle hints of Poblano pepper, chocolate, lilac, cloves. Dark salty fruit on the palate in filaments of acid and smooth tannins, medium aromatic finish. Friendly and pensive, reserved with a shy openness, beautifully structured and inviting.

Medium ruby. Medium nose of dark plums, prunes, violets, a hint of vanilla oak. Pronounced flavors of dark aromatic plum on the palate, dry delicious tannins in an electric acid frame moving into a long aromatic finish. Complex and moving.