2006 Kobalt Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
(for 500 ml.; a port-style wine fortified with Germain Robin viognier spirits; 20% alcohol with 10.5% residual sugar; no new oak) Deep, saturated ruby to the rim. Knockout nose offers black cherry liqueur and crushed blackberry; shows a distinctly candied aspect. Then supersweet and penetrating in the mouth, with powerfully concentrated flavors of cassis, blueberry, violet, licorice, fruitcake and cigar box. There's a grapey, primary quality to this wine but also a shocking amount of early personality. In the style of a vintage port, and quite fresh on the extremely long aftertaste. The Hundred Acre 2005 "Fortification" bottling that I tasted last spring may be the best California port I've sampled in a long time, but this one is close in quality.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(includes 3% petit verdot and 2% malbec) Deep, bright, saturated ruby. Sexy aromas of black raspberry, tobacco, chocolate and smoky oak. A fat, sexy fruit bomb of a cabernet, with a dominant flavor of black cherry. Mostly from late-ripening vines in the cool Coombsville area. In fact, at the time of a two-day heat spike in mid-September, said winemaker Mark Herold, the grapes were still at just 22o Brix, and the harvest ultimately took place mostly during the third week of October. Finishes with substantial ripe tannins.
A more masculine, tannic, structured offering is the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. Aromas of flowers, black raspberries, and blackberries are followed by a rich, full-bodied, big, concentrated wine that can stand up to the tannic ferocity. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring, and drink it over the next 20 years. It may merit an even higher score in 4-5 years. Tel. (707) 258-1416; Fax (707) 294-2312