Kevinpatrick Likes This Wine:
August 23, 2022 – One Year Anniversary CLT Tasting Group : 2 hour slo-ox before serving. Almost certainly should have decanted the wine. My first love and the wine that changed my life. Nose of dark blackberries and earthiness more Old World than the Heitz Marthas. On the palate a lush mouthfeel layers into a delicate tapestry of black raspberries, blackberries and cassis. With some time, the hints of cigar box and graphite dustings give this wine a delicious complexity. A savory finish really brings this wine home. A pure expression of 1990s Napa Cabernet before the higher alcohol, fruit-forward more singular expression profile became the standard. 3rd place for WOTN followed closely by the 86 Las Casas and 91 Heitz Mathas
Vinification Of The Mondavi Cabernet Reserve
cult wine was made from the grapes of the legendary To Kalon vineyard, which is considered the best terroir in North America for Cabernet Sauvignon. The harvest in October is done exclusively by hand in small reading boxes. Arriving in the To Kalon wine cellar, the harvested goods are strictly selected.
berries are traditionally fermented in oak barrels. The mash is not pumped, but transported by gravity and gently pressed in classic basket presses. The long maceration time of 37 days deprives the berry skins of the gentle tannins, the wonderful aromas and the strong colour. Finally, this wine matures for a total of 18 months in French oak barriques .
Robert Mondavi 2018 The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
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With a depth of red fruit adorned in cedar, earth and crushed rock, this impressively structured, complex wine is worthy of its reserve status. With great levels of integration, the tannins and oak add weight and power, with grip and length. Enjoy this full-bodied, youthful wine best from 2028 through 2033. Virginie Boone
All tastings reported in the Buying Guide are performed blind. Typically, products are tasted in peer-group flights of from 5-8 samples. Reviewers may know general information about a flight to provide contextvintage, variety or appellationbut never the producer or retail price of any given selection. When possible, products considered flawed or uncustomary are retasted.
Ratings reflect what our editors felt about a particular product. Beyond the rating, we encourage you to read the accompanying tasting note to learn about a products special characteristics.
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Robert Mondavi 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
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This is a very fine, high level Cabernet that shows the impeccable nature of Mondavi Reserve. Yet it’s also very tannic and far from being drinkable. Shows a vast repository of black currant, blackberry, black cherry and new oak flavors wrapped into a smooth, velvety mouthfeel whose finish goes on forever. Masculine and authoritative, it should continue to improve for many years. Drink now, with decanting, and through 2017, at least.
All tastings reported in the Buying Guide are performed blind. Typically, products are tasted in peer-group flights of from 5-8 samples. Reviewers may know general information about a flight to provide contextvintage, variety or appellationbut never the producer or retail price of any given selection. When possible, products considered flawed or uncustomary are retasted.
Ratings reflect what our editors felt about a particular product. Beyond the rating, we encourage you to read the accompanying tasting note to learn about a products special characteristics.
To Kalon Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
This is the eighth vintage of our To Kalon Vineyard-designated Reserve. Each year our blend reflects the First Growth quality of this singular vineyard. The Reserve is blended from the finest blocks within the To Kalon Vineyard, and meticulously crafted by keeping each block or sub-block separate through fermentation and aging, until we create the blend the following year.
The wine is deep, vivacious, juicy, and flows beautifully from start to finish. Very enjoyable now, but with a long future ahead.
This is the eighth vintage of our To Kalon Vineyard-designated Reserve. Each year our blend reflects the First Growth quality of this singular vineyard. The Reserve is blended from the finest blocks within the To Kalon Vineyard, and meticulously crafted by keeping each block or sub-block separate through fermentation and aging, until we create the blend the following year.
The wine is deep, vivacious, juicy, and flows beautifully from start to finish. Very enjoyable now, but with a long future ahead.
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Robert Mondavi The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon To Kalon Vineyard 2017
Deep ruby color sage, blackcurrant, blueberry, tobacco, blackberry, mint on the nose black cherry, plum, black fruits, blackcurrant and redcurrant, cinnamon, chocolate on the palate.
Dry delicious, silky tannins and balancing acidity. Great focus on superb, smooth, sleek fruits. Just an astonishing and delightful experience in the mouthdefines the difference between good cabernet sauvignon and exceptional, magnificent cabernet sauvignon. Blend of 94.5% cabernet sauvignon, 5% petit verdot, 0.5% cabernet franc. Medium-plus body. This was a privilege to taste. 14.5% ABV
Robert Mondavi To Kalon vineyard
To Kalon in Greek means the highest beauty. The To Kalon vineyard in Oakville is regarded as one of the top five vineyards in the world. This wine explains why that is so. As a wine writer, I often am forcedforced!to drink wines early. I did so a tad bit early with the 2016 iteration of this wine and vowed to hold the 2017 a year longer. What a wise decision, what a heavenly reward for patience and restraint.
The key to this excellence is the marriage of outstanding fruit and delightful smoothness. The grape growers excelled, the winemakers did their magic, the result is magnificent wine. When released, this wine could be had for $125 to $150. Today, from the winery, it sells for well north of $200. And worth it.
Robert Mondavi with iconic winery entrance in background
Mondavi chief winemaker Genevieve Janssens
Mondavi Winery entrance
Robert Mondavi Winery and vineyard
Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet
Robert Mondavi established his namesake winery in 1966 with a vision to create Napa Valley wines that would stand in the company of the worlds finest. He chose To Kalon Vineyard in the heart of the Napa Valley as the home for Robert Mondavi Winery. This first-growth vineyard, located in Oakville, California, is renowned for producing some of the finest Cabernet Sauvignon wines in the world, as well as for its Sauvignon Blanc grapes, from which Mr. Mondavi crafted his signature wine, Fumé Blanc.
Originally planted in 1868, the To Kalon Vineyard has become recognized as one of the finest first-growth vineyards of the world. Ancient Greek for the highest beauty, To Kalon is the historic vineyard that provides Robert Mondavi Winery with grapes for its world-class Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and Oakville District Cabernet Sauvignon, and is the exclusive source of our Fumé Blanc Reserve.
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