2012 BOND Matriarch
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Tasting notes
As one would suspect from the vintage style, the 2012 Matriarch is one of the strongest efforts to date for this cuvée. The flamboyant, exuberant nature of the vintage serves this wine well, since it comes from the softer lots. This wine can be drunk now or cellared for another 15 or more years. Beautiful fruit such as cassis and blackberry are interwoven with forest floor, charcoal and barbecue smoke, all followed by an elegant, expansive and savory wine with very ripe tannin, adequate acidity, and a long finish. The color is a dense plum/purple and the wine delicious already, as well as complex, but capable of easily lasting 15+ years.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
The 2012 Matriarch is plump, juicy and generous, with plenty of dark red cherry, plums, new leather, cinnamon and floral notes. The succulent, open-knit style is a terrific example of the year. Matriarch is a blend of fruit from various sources in the BOND program that don't make it into the vineyard-designate bottlings.
The 2012 Matriarch is gorgeous. Dark red cherry, plums, spices wild flowers and cinnamon grace the palate in a silky, round Cabernet Sauvignon endowed with tons of pure vintage 2012 sexiness. Bright red cherry, pomegranate and floral notes round out this super-inviting Cabernet Sauvignon from BOND.
Richer, deeper and more prodigious than the 2011, the 2012 Matriarch seems almost too good to have been culled from a single vineyard, which tells you something about the quality of this great vintage for Napa. The wine’s dense purple color is followed by a sweet perfume of blueberry and blackberry fruit, mocha, espresso bean, spring flower and toasty oak notes. With fabulous intensity, it should drink well for 10-15+ years.