Ratings & Tasting Notes:

91 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, December 2011

This review describes a very pleasing, up-front wine with expressive varietal fruit and relatively soft tannin, calling it “an excellent choice for restaurants or any occasion that requires a bottle to be served without much fuss,” with an anticipated maturity window of 2011-2018.

Wine Spectator, April 2012

This review notes the wine starts out fresh and fruity before turning drier and earthier, with “a mix of savory herb, mineral, graphite and cedar notes.”

Cult Wines International Notes:

Chimney Rock sits on a 134-acre estate in the heart of the Stags Leap District — the first American Viticultural Area ever approved specifically based on the distinctiveness of its soils. Founder Sheldon “Hack” Wilson famously replaced a golf course with Cabernet Sauvignon vines on the property, declaring “it’s always time for wine.” Today the estate is owned by the Terlato Wine Group, which has continued Chimney Rock’s tradition of savory, finely tannic, Bordeaux-styled wines drawn from 28 distinct vineyard blocks across the property.

According to the estate’s own account, the 2008 growing season brought early frost challenges but was ultimately the second-warmest vintage of the decade, trailing only 2004. The resulting low yields produced fruit of exceptional quality, and compared to the more powerful 2007 vintage, 2008 delivered a notably more elegant structure — beautiful aromatics paired with more nuance and less overt flash. Now approaching two decades of age, this bottling should be showing the full tertiary complexity that Stags Leap District Cabernet develops with serious bottle age.

Bottle Size:

750 mL

Storage History:

Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.

Condition:

Please note: The bottle shown is the exact bottle being sold.

Outstanding condition.