Made from 100% Sangiovese grapes, this Brunello di Montalcino has a really interesting mix of aroma vs. palate. At first the nose reveals roasted meats, toast and ripe concentrated stewed prunes. Then you taste the intense ripe cherries,

Brunello is one of Italy's most acclaimed wines

fresh. Stone fruits, honeydew melon and citrus aromas combine with a subtle oak influence that imparts a light toasty, spicy background. Flirtatious and out going, this vivacious Chardonnay is always the life of the party. Extremely compatible with fish, chicken and pasta dishes.

Luscious, medium-rich Madeira with great concentration of flavor and a complex bouquet. Best served with drier salty cheeses such as Aged Gouda or creamy desserts.

Tasting Notes:
Our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon offers lush aromas of ripe blackberries and cherries, with subtle spice and chocolate notes. Smooth tannins envelope the fruity flavors, while toasty vanilla oak nuances linger on the finish. Pull the cork on this easy to enjoy wine when you pull steaks off the grill. It turns a simple barbecue into a fun celebration. Our Cabernet Sauvignon also goes great with gourmet hamburgers, lamb kebabs, pork chops and hearty pasta dishes, like mushroom lasagna.

To develop the approachable, fruit-forward style of this Cabernet Sauvignon, we first fermented the must (crushed grapes) in stainless steel tanks until dry. The skins contribute flavor and tannin to the wine so we re-submerged the cap of skins into the juice several times a day during fermentation. After pressing, we oak-aged the wine to weave toasty vanilla nuances through the expressive aromas and velvety flavors. A dash of Merlot (5%) rounded out the flavor profile.

Vineyard Notes:
To achieve layers of flavors in our Cabernet Sauvignon, we selected 91% of the grapes from several of the warmer regions of California?s Central Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA). Here, the sunny days provide ideal conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon. Grapes from our 900-acre Paicines Ranch in San Benito County provided the framework for the wine, giving it intense fruit character and ripe, velvety tannins. We blended these grapes with vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA, and the central and southern areas of Monterey County. We complemented these Central Coast vineyards with 9% from other regions of California.

Production Notes:
California

Winemaker Notes:
The 2005 vintage provided long hangtime on the vine for rich, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon character. Heavy winter rains during vine dormancy gave way to a dry, mild March. Significant rains returned in April and May, delaying bloom and berry set. Summer temperatures were desirably mild, with few heat spikes. Fog and cool temperatures slowed sugar accumulation through most of September, and then a short heat spell at the end of September gave us the bump we needed to start bringing in the grapes. We harvested Cabernet Sauvignon, the last grape variety to mature, through the end of October under ideal conditions.

This wine offers big berry flavors that rewards with every sip. It has dark fruit notes of currant, raspberry and blackberry, and a velvety vanilla finish that leaves a lush and lasting impression.

This wine has deep, dark, violet color with reddish hues. The nose offers intense, focused aromas of ripe cassis and black currant fruit intertwined with notes of tobacco, cedar, and a touch of eucalyptus. The mouthfeel is full and concentrated with layers of rich black berry flavors and elements of frosted mint, espresso and graphite.

Atalon's singular focus on red Bordeaux varietal wines from Napa Valley has made them a part of this rich tradition. Atalon Cabernet Sauvignon blends the structure and intensity of mountain fruit with the lush elegance of benchland fruit – creating a silky wine with rich tannin and abundant fruit. Atalon's wines succinctly express the richness and complexity of Napa Valley because they select fruit from some of the most historic and proven vineyards in the area.

Blend: 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc.

Hickinbotham Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

1999 Clarendon Hills Cabernet Sauvignon Hickinbotham Vineyard (90)
This wine boasts additional volume and a more complex nose of black currants, chocolate, barbecue spice, and toast. The wine is powerful, dense, concentrated, rich, with subtle wood, plenty of fruit, glycerine, and moderate tannin. The Hickinbotham has a chance of lasting well beyond a decade.

1998 Clarendon Hills Cabernet Sauvignon Hickinbotham Vineyard (93)
The 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Hickinbotham Vineyard reveals an opaque purple colour and highly-extracted, massive size, but reveals a touch of mint in its black currant/cassis flavours. The acidity is low as well. This effort possesses a great degree of ripeness. Huge, chewy, and full-bodied, it is best drunk after another 1-2 years of bottle age. It should keep for two decades.

This young wine will benefit from several years in the cellar, but if you drink it now, decant it for a few hours before serving. That will at least give the tannins some chance to breathe and soften, revealing the complex flavors of currants, blackberries, cassis, olive tapenade and sweet oak.