2011 Mon Chevalier Cabernet Sauvignon
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The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier is a powerful concentrated wine. More than anything, the 2011 shows the style of Luc Morlet's wines ten years ago. Black cherry, chocolate, licorice, torrefaction and dried herbs blast across the palate. This dark, brooding beauty has tons of complexity, but it is also a bit rustic in feel. The 2011 is perhaps a touch slender, but it has aged well.
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Robert Parker
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Unquestionably more structured and backward, the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier (91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot) sports a dense plum color to go with lots of chocolatey dark fruits, (currants, blackberries), iron, black olive tapenade, and tobacco, with nicely integrated cedar and cigar nuances. A classic Knights Valley Cabernet with medium to full body, ripe, polished tannins, and a rich, concentrated personality, it benefits from a decant and is going to continue evolving for another 10-15 years.
(15% alcohol; blended with 8% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot): Full medium ruby. Musky aromas and flavors of cassis, blueberry, licorice, leather and herbs. Densely packed, deep and sweet, but with a serious tannic spine giving it a distinctly masculine character. Still, this wine seems better balanced from the start than the Coeur de Valle owing to its more harmonious integration of alcohol.
More chocolaty notes intertwined with hints of blueberries, damp earth and burning embers jump from the glass of the structured, medium to full-bodied 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier. A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest mostly Cabernet Franc from Knights Valley, it reveals firmer tannins and more structure than the offerings from Napa. Give it several years of bottle age and consume it over the following decade. The Morlet brothers, Nick, who works at Peter Michael Winery and Luc, who has his own family estate and also works as a consultant, are two of the hot commodities in northern California, both producing world class wines. From fruit purchased from some of the finest Napa Valley vineyards, the Morlet Family Vineyards is making some of the most exciting wines of the region. The Cabernet Sauvignon cuvees range in production from 200 to 1,200 cases, and their newest project, a mindboggling 2012 Cabernet Franc Force de la Nature is likely to be a game changer once it’s released. The 2012s appear to be spectacular efforts. Kudos to Morlet Family Vineyards! Tel. (707) 967-8690