Freemark Abbey Bosche Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
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James
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Jeb
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Robert
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Dark ruby in color, the fruit in the aroma is black cherry, blueberry and red raspberry. The bright fruit is complimented with dark chocolate, black pepper, forest floor, aromatic cedar and leather notes. The oak spice is integrated, adding to the overall complexity. The texture on the palate has a smooth entry, with dark cherry flavor. The tannins are well resolved yet promise the ability for long aging. The fruit acidity provides a very pleasant long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
With a small amount of Merlot blended in, this ageworthy red is thick and concentrated in blueberry, black currant and a hint of black olive. With grip and power, it shows earthy, savory characteristics of cedar, tobacco and dried herb, with a length of firm tannin and integrated oak.
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James Suckling
Blackberries, fresh herbs and violets on the nose. Mint and olives, too. Full-bodied with delicious, round and juicy fruit and softness. Lightly chewy and pretty now.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The current releases I was able to taste were the 2017's, all of which were brought in prior to the fires. The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Bosché offers a classic 2017 elegant profile, and they managed the tannins nicely. The wine is medium to full-bodied and has terrific purity as well as notes of redcurrants, sandalwood, unsmoked tobacco, and spice. It's slighly more forward and sexy compared to the Sycamore Vineyard, but both of these are beautiful wines.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Merlot, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Bosché Vineyard was aged 27 months in French oak barrels, 68% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it delivers scents of Black Forest cake, black currant jelly and blueberry pie with hints of dusty soil, dried lavender and unsmoked cigars. Medium to full-bodied, it has a firm, grainy texture and lovely freshness while chock-full of black fruit preserves, finishing long with mineral suggestions. 2,100 cases were made.
Rating: 93(+)
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The history of Freemark Abbey began in 1886, when Josephine Marlin Tychson became the first woman to build and operate a winery in California. The historic site where Josephine's winery, Tychson Cellars, once stood is now known as Freemark Abbey.
Josephine, a native of San Lorenzo, California and her husband, John Tychson, a Danish immigrant, moved to St. Helena in 1881. For $8,500, they purchased 147 acres north of St. Helena, which later became known as "Tychson Hill".
Shortly after her husband's untimely death, Josephine began construction of a fifty square foot redwood winery which would grow to hold a capacity of about 30,000 gallons. In addition, she hired Nils Larsen, an experienced vintner, as her foreman. Josephine successfully produced wine for the next eight years and then sold the winery to Larsen in 1894. In turn, Larsen leased the winery to Antonio Forni, a good friend of Josephine's. Forni later purchased the property in 1898. Forni is responsible for building a new winery on the old site of the Tychson structure.
In the years that followed, Freemark Abbey went through a period of several different owners until 1966, when a group of partners purchased the winery.
Ted Edwards is one of the longest tenured winemakers in Napa Valley. After forty years as director of winemaking at Freemark Abbey, Ted transitioned to the role of Winemaker Emeritus in 2020. In his new role, Ted is charged with ensuring the Freemark Abbey wines retain the continuity of style and excellence that the winery has built its reputation on. He continues his involvement in all aspects of winemaking and vineyard practices, and more, imparting his wealth of knowledge and experience with winemaker Kristy Melton.
Kristy Melton has more than a decade of experience crafting wines with structure, finesse, and age-worthiness. Before joining Freemark Abbey, Kristy held winemaking roles at several Napa Valley and Sonoma County wineries including Clos Du Val, Bootleg, Kendall-Jackson, Saintsbury, and others. In her role as Director of Winemaking at Napa Valley’s iconic Clos Du Val, her exceptional ability to craft modern wines of balance and elegance was widely credited for the winery’s reemergence as a leader in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon production.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.