2008 Solari Cabernet Sauvignon

Menthol and lemon grass with dark fruits and citrus on the nose. Blueberries and blackberries too. Full body, yet reserved and tight with a wonderful finish. Tar, berry and chocolate. Chewy and round. Wonderful.

(includes 8% petit verdot, as well as the cabernet sauvignon that would normally go into the winery's Lark bottling): Full ruby-red. Subdued but pure aromas of blue- and blackberry, bitter chocolate and sexy oak, complicated by a gravelly quality. Compellingly sweet and palate-saturating, with terrific breadth to the black fruit, licorice, mineral and violet flavors. This one conveys an almost grapey impression of primary fruits and finishes with mouthcoating tannins and echoing minerality. Very impressive.

Made from 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot (550 cases), the prodigious 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Solari Reserve is an opaque purple-colored, multidimensional wine displaying silky sweet tannin along with copious quantities of blackberry, creme de cassis, crushed rock, licorice and camphor characteristics. Powerful yet elegant with layers of depth, this is a wine of great nuance, complexity and nobility. A dead-ringer for the compelling 2007, the 2008 should drink well for 20-25 years or more. When people talk about the greatest vineyards of Napa Valley, Larkmead has to be among the top half dozen or so terroirs. This historic vineyard dates back to the late 1800s and has been owned by the Solari family (currently Cam Baker and Kate Solari Baker) since 1948. The well-known Andy Smith is the consulting winemaker (he is also the force behind some of the brilliant wines of DuMol in the Russian River Valley). Larkmead has been making terrific wines over the last 5-6 years, but the 2007s were the finest wines I have ever tasted from this estate. The 2008s are very close in quality to the 2007s, and every 2008 performed better from bottle than it did last year from barrel (always a good sign). The Larkmead Vineyard (just over 120 acres) has again achieved remarkable success in 2009. These offerings are among the stars of the 2009 vintage. If the 2008s and 2007s were versions of Napa Valley meeting Pauillac, the 2009s might be considered Napa Valley wines meeting both Pomerol and Pauillac. They all possess silky tannins, deep, concentrated fruit, full body and upfront personalities that will make them even more charming than the brilliant 2007s and 2008s. There is lots of depth as well as perfumed characters in the 2009s. In fact, their aromatics may turn out to be even more intense and expansive than in either 2008 or 2007. In case you missed them, although I think they are completely sold out, the scores awarded to the 2007s last year are: 2007 LMV Salon (97), 2007 Firebelle (93), 2007 Solari Reserve (96+), 2007 The Lark (96+), and 2007 Estate (94+). Tel. (707) 942-0167; Fax (707) 942-6934