Hewitt Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
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Suckling
James - Vinous
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Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
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Somm Note
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Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very typical Napa red with blackcurrant, chocolate and some cedar. Medium to full body with creamy tannins. Round. Dusty. Fruity and juicy. Very drinkable now, but give it a year or two.
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Vinous
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon is a big, plush wine. Raspberry jam, white chocolate, blood orange and sweet spice give this unctuous, flamboyant Cabernet tons of immediacy and overall appeal. This is an especially extroverted Cabernet done in a style that turns the volume up to eleven, or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for 22 months in French oak, 85% new. Deep garnet-purple in color, it bursts from the glass with bold scents of crème de cassis, Black Forest cake and blackberry pie with hints of licorice, tar, new leather, Indian spices and potpourri plus a touch of clove oil. The full-bodied palate is a peddle-to-the-metal blockbuster, exploding with baked black fruit and exotic spices, framed by velvety tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing fantastically long and spicy. 3,054 cases were made.
Rating: 92(+) -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon from Hewitt does well in the vintage and has a classic, elegant, satisfying style. Lots of red and black currants, tobacco, cigar box, and cedar notes emerge from the glass, and it’s medium to full-bodied, with a balanced, understated profile, moderate yet firm tannins, and outstanding length. It offers pleasure today yet will develop more complexity with 2-4 years of bottle age and keep for over a decade.
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The historic Hewitt Vineyard resides on the famed Rutherford Bench, a narrow ribbon of gravel-rich alluvial soils on the western side of the Napa Valley that has - since the late 1800s - produced California's best Cabernet Sauvignon.
William Hewitt purchased this property in 1962 and received guidance in planting the vineyard from legendary Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) winemaker André Tchelistcheff. BV purchased Cabernet Sauvignon from Hewitt Vineyard and included it in its top wines for many years. When Hewitt Vineyard was offered for sale in 2000, Chalone Wine Group President Tom Selfridge, who began his career at Beaulieu and knew first-hand the vineyard's extraordinary quality, jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to add this treasure to the company's portfolio.
Today, Hewitt Vineyard produces only estate Cabernet Sauvignon from its extraordinary property. Through this exclusive focus, Hewitt is a leader in Rutherford's winemaking renaissance.
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.