2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc. 69% Oakville (44% To Kalon), 31% Stags Leap. Lots of winter and spring rain and a late bloom. Wider than normal diurnal shifts including down to 30 °F (-1 ºC) at night, which prolonged ripening. Fermented in large wood tanks of the To Kalon Cellar with 32 days' extended skin contact. Aged 18 months in French barrels, 75% new. A mix of earthy, mushroom notes with cherry, dried herbs and spice carry aromatics through the palate with a finish full of pepper and heat. Dry, plush tannins and balancing acidity, though the tannins win. This is a big, assertive, mouth-filling wine that is all about power but feels quite extracted and hot through the finish, and is even difficult to calm with food. This feels like a stylistic outlier in the rest of the line-up. (ECB)

The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is ripe, juicy and explosive. Worn-in leather, smoke, licorice, plums and sweet spices meld together in an exuberant, flashy Cabernet Sauvignon that is peaking today. The style is decidedly racy and ripe, but all the elements are in the right place. I imagine the 2003 will continue to drink well for at least another handful of years.

A dense ruby/purple color is followed by a wine exhibiting notes of creme de cassis, subtle and unobtrusive oak, medium to full body, impeccable balance and everything synchronized into a lush, opulent wine that finished with 14.5% alcohol. It is not the most complex Mondavi Reserve, but it is a very satisfying, highbrow wine that offers plenty of pleasure both hedonistically and intellectually. It should drink well for another 15 years, and it may surprise me with more nuances and subtleties than it now suggests. During my career, two individuals who stood out for their vision, passion, uncompromising morals and contributions to my wine education are the late Jess Jackson and Robert Mondavi. I can-t taste any wine produced under their umbrella wineries without a silent acknowledgment of what they meant to me. For all the profound admiration and respect I have for both men, it does not enter into my evaluations of their wines. I want to make that clear. Mondavi-s 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve was showing better than I remember it early on. Of course, it-s a classic, but what would you expect? Tel. (707) 967-6364