93 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

A quintessentially elegant style has been produced from this classic mid-90s campaign, presenting great raw materials and superb fruit richness on a medium-bodied frame. The aromatics unfold seamlessly with “subtle lead pencil notes to go along with black currant, mineral, and pain grillé scents and flavors.” Robert Parker, December 1997

92 points Wine Spectator

A trim, understated and refined effort, less opulent but nonetheless very complete and graceful. It delivers a deeply harmonious, nuanced core with “currant, dried berry, sage and underbrush flavors” that carry across a long, balanced finish. James Laube, June 1998

Cult Wines International Notes:

Robert Mondavi Winery stands as a monumental titan in the history of American viticulture, credited more than any other producer with establishing Napa Valley as a premier world-class winemaking region. Founded in 1966 by visionaries Robert Mondavi and his family, the winery set a new benchmark for California through modern temperature-controlled stainless steel fermentation, French oak barrel maturation, and precise clone selection. At the spiritual and qualitative heart of Mondavi’s portfolio is the legendary To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville, renowned for its gravelly alluvial soils, sun-drenched days, and cooling coastal fog. First produced in 1971, the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon represents the absolute pinnacle of the estate’s craft—a blend composed predominantly of old-vine Cabernet Sauvignon alongside Cabernet Franc and Merlot sourced directly from To Kalon’s most prized blocks.

The 1995 growing season across Napa Valley is remembered as a long, cool, and highly atmospheric vintage that rewarded patient winemakers with remarkable structural elegance and aromatic focus. A wet winter and prolonged spring rain delayed budbreak, leading into a moderate summer marked by steady warmth and foggy morning cool-downs without extreme heat spikes. This prolonged hang-time allowed the fruit to build intense phenolic complexity, fine-grained tannins, and dark skin pigmentation while maintaining a vibrant spine of natural acidity. Under the direction of Tim Mondavi, the hand-harvested To Kalon fruit was vinified with extreme care, undergoing extended skin contact before maturing in 100% new French oak barrels for over 18 months prior to bottling.

At three decades of bottle age, the 1995 Robert Mondavi Winery Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has entered a glorious, fully mature tertiary plateau. The intense primary blackberry and cassis fruit of its youth have gracefully given way to an intricate, highly aristocratic bouquet of dried plums, pencil shavings, cedar chest, dried sage, and sweet cigar box. On the palate, the once-firm tannins have completely resolved into a silky, polished matrix, effortlessly supported by a persistent vein of graphite minerality and savory forest floor notes. This refined, perfectly balanced library vintage represents an essential acquisition for serious collectors of benchmark, old-school Napa Valley royalty.