Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley The Montelena Estate 2006

IWC 93pts - WA 91pts Winemaker Notes - Dark and powerful in the glass with great density and saturation, this wine grabs your attention from the first glance. Luscious and rich on the nose with great depth, we find top notes of violets, cassis, and rich dark cherry, all riding over a base of warm leather, cocoa, wet stone and molasses. The palate opens with red raspberry and blackcurrants before building to mouth-filling ripe cherry, a beautiful acid balance, and round rich velvety tannins. The incredible intensity of the palate fades slowly leaving a finish of dried fruits and hints of clove with remarkable weight and tremendous persistence.

Revealing sweeter tannin and a softer, riper, fuller-bodied style, the 2006 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a beautiful, classic wine with loads of berry fruit, an earthy character, and a spicy, pure, rich finish. The silkiness of the tannins suggest this 2006 will be drinkable in several years. It is another candidate for nearly two decades of aging. Chateau Montelenaandrsquo;s sale to the owners of Bordeauxandrsquo;s well-known second-growth, Chateau Cos dandrsquo;Estournel, fell through, no doubt because of the global economic crisis. It was unquestionably shocking that this Napa icon was on the block, and about to be sold to, of all people, the French, who Montelena had defeated in the famous Steven Spurrier tasting of 1976. Tasting through the wines with the ever reliable Bo Barrett is always a lesson in candor and honesty.

A Cabernet Sauvignon wine from California in USA. 2006 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 1500ml

Good ruby-red. Rich aromas of black cherry and menthol. Sweet, dense and lush for this bottling, with black cherry and cassis flavors. Much finer-grained than the 2003 bottling. Finishes with sweet tannins.

Bright-ruby-red. Blackberry, cassis and boysenberry aromas complemented by licorice, violet, menthol and bitter chocolate. Juicy, intensely flavored and quite fresh but a bit youthfully disjointed, with a firm tannin/acid spice supporting the crushed dark berry and menthol flavors. The wineandrsquo;s substantial tannins will need time to knit, but this wine retains good aromatic freshness.

Good deep red-ruby. Black fruits, licorice and exotic spices on the somewhat medicinal, uncompromising nose. Then sweeter in the mouth than the nose suggests, with dark berry, licorice and mint flavors joined by tobacco and graphite. Not complex but finishes with good lift and length-and not at all cooked.

88-89 Points - International Wine Cellar "Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar Full ruby-red. Less funky on the nose than the 2005, offering notes of cassis, licorice, cedar and pepper. A juicy midweight with good life in the mouth and a restrained sweetness. Bo Barrett told me that he waited a couple of extra weeks for the last cabernet to ripen, and that the acids remained high. The blend was put together later than usual and will require time to harmonize. This lacks the jammy richness of some vintages from earlier this decade, but that's not a bad thing." -Stephen Tanzer, May/Jun 08