Dominus Napanook Vineyard (375ML half-bottle) 2012

Professional Ratings

• 95 James Suckling
  This is shows wonderful aromas of tar, asphalt, wet earth and pure cherries. Full-bodied, yet soft and velvety with a fine dusty texture to the finish. Fresh and austere. Dignified. This has no cabernet franc in it this year. Normally there is 3% to 5%.
• 93 Wine Enthusiast
  A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, this soft, approachable wine from a storied producer is meant to enjoy young and yet exudes plenty of complexity. Luscious aromas of graham cracker and blueberry jam belie a classically balanced measure of integrated tannins and dark chocolate.
  Cellar Selection
• 92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2012 Napanook (a 3,000-case blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot) is one of the strongest second wines Moueix has produced to date. Made in a sexy, open-knit, opulent style very much in keeping with the vintage’s signature, it offers up luscious notes of bay leaf, lavender, red and blackcurrants, plum sauce, licorice and Christmas fruitcake. This is a gorgeous, opulent, medium to full-bodied 2012 that is already revealing considerable complexity.
• 91 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
  The 2012 Napanook is a multi-dimensional wine as it brings all of the elements together; black fruit and sweet earth run throughout as the ends with a firm grip on the palate, this one is well-suited for grilled, well-marbled rib-eye of beef. Deep dark ruby color; black fruit and sweet earth in the nose, just a bit brooding at the moment, fine richness; medium bodied, firm and built on the palate; dry, good acidity, well balanced; earth and ripe fruit and joined nicely in the flavors; long finish, sweet tannins in the aftertaste. (Tasted: August 12, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
• 90 Connoisseurs' Guide
  By Dominus. Easily among the better, if not the best, Napanook bottlings that we can recall, the 2012 is a solid, sturdy, classically structured Cabernet that, although claimed by Dominus to be designed for drinking while young, strikes us as being anything but. It is deep, it is tough and it is unabashedly tannic, yet it is also deep in distinctly curranty fruit, and, if in no ways a lavish wine, it is a composed and complex one that will age famously. Five years seems the minimal wait, but it will grow and gain in interest for two or three times as long.