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Reviews and Ratings
2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon may be the
finest wine of this group. It needs some time to resolve its noticeable tannins, but I love the pure black currant fruit interwoven
with tobacco leaf, ink, smoke, and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, pure, rich, and convincing, give it 2-3 years of cellaring
and enjoy it over the following 15+. 2007 Barrouge The 2007 Barrouge is composed of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 10% Petit Verdot.
A softer wine, it reveals chocolate, black cherries, and black currants, a lush texture, elegance with substance, and a nicely
textured finish. It should drink well for 7-10 years. 2007 Merlot The
2007 Merlot is more supple and seamless, although it still has some tannin to resolve. Its deep ruby hue is followed by hints
of underbrush, sweet mocha, black, and red fruits, and dusty, loamy soil notes. 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon The outstanding 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon offers a classic
nose of sweet plums, black currants, and damp earth aromas followed by an attractive, medium to full-bodied wine. This stylish,
flavorful 2006 exhibits outstanding purity, richness, and depth. Give it 1-2 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following
12-15 years. The 2006 Barrouge (80% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit
Verdot) offers up notes of smoked herbs, damp earth, tar, sweet cherries, and plums. Medium-bodied and elegant with some of
the vintage’s tell-tale tannins, it offers good flesh as well as an alluring appeal. Drink it over the next 7-8 years. 2006 Merlot While the case can
be made that this wine is driven a little too much by ripeness and that it is a bit gruff with more finishing tannin than
classic Merlot really wants, it comes through with a fine measure of plump, black-cherry fruit and highlights of dark chocolate
that bring an added dimension of richness. Its youthful coarseness will diminish with age, and it deserves a few years of
rest before its cork is pulled. Limited production and/or limited geographic distribution. Medium Red. Balanced, good depth,
medium tannin. Beef and lamb. Cellar for future drinking. Wine will improve with bottle aging. Made in a drier, leaner
and earthier style, with herb and tobacco-infused blackberry, currant and cherry flavors. A touch of stylish oak adds a fine
note. Not a blockbuster, but balanced and elegant. 2005 Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon At three plus years, this Cab still is tannic and youthful, although with
decanting its ready now. Dry and elegant, it has rich flavors of cassis, with barrel notes of cedar and cigar box. Should
develop bottle complexities through 2013, with proper cellaring. 2005 Barlow Barrouge This is Barlow’s Bordeaux blend. Based on Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s a beautiful
wine, dry, balanced, and fully ready to drink now, although it will take some years of cellaring. With fine acidity and tannins,
it displays elegant flavors of currants and cassis, with rich edges of mocha and cedar. 70%
Cabernet Sauvignon; 20% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc; 5% Petit Verdot. There are similarities between the two very likeable Barlow
offerings, but this one is a touch juicier and favors the red cherry end of the flavor spectrum as well as having an unusual
hint of blackberry in its personality. It is its mate's equal in size, in fleshiness and in depth, and while tannic, it
is less so and invites earlier consumption. Very limited availability, Medium Red, Balanced, good depth, medium tannin. Beef
and lamb, Drinkable now. Further bottle aging can improve this wine. 2005 Barlow Merlot Cherry and blueberry aromas with an exotic white frosting accent. Creamy
and rich with cooked cherry and dusty chocolate flavors. Prominent tannins join the mix of cherry, minerals, and fresh acids
in the close. Attractive aromatic accents of violets and woodsy, forest-floor spice
push this otherwise fruity and well-defined young effort to the head of the pack, and the wine's deep, nicely proportioned
flavors similarly show a bit more complexity than is the norm for Merlot. Fleshy, full-bodied, and fairly long on the palate,
this one wins further applause for its exemplary balance, and it affords plenty of immediate pleasure while promising to get
even better over the next several years. Very limited availability, Medium Red, Balanced, good depth, medium tannin, Beef
and lamb, Drinkable now. Further bottle aging can improve this wine. 2003 Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition-GOLD
Medal Deep in aroma, in flavor, in depth
and finish, this Cabernet fulfills your Napa Cab expectations. The mouth feel is all velvet and silk, the tannins are perfectly
sculpted, and the blackberry and coffee flavors are ripe and satisfying without being overwrought. Best now and for a decade. 2003 Barlow Barrouge 2002 Barlow Barrouge Very smooth and ripe, with a rich complex of black currant, cassis, cocoa, green olive, smoke and oak flavors. It
is a soft wine, but far from simple. Finishes with Asian spices. 80% Cabernet Sauvignon
20% Merlot. Emphatic ripeness is the marginally dominant partner to a generous measure of juicy young fruit both in the outgoing,
abundantly oaked aromas and in the slightly succulent flavors of this well-stuffed young wine. If not forbiddingly tannic,
it is still rough and unpolished just now, but fruit fights its way gamely past its astringency and invites five years of
low risk aging. 2002 Barlow Merlot San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition-GOLD Medal Takes the usual formula of cherries, blackberries, cocoa and oak and kicks it up a notch. It has all that, but the
extra layers of dusty Asian spices and a wonderful integration of oak with ripe tannins add interest. The bottom line is elegance. 2002 Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition-GOLD
Medal An uplifting bouquet of rose water,
plum and vanilla. Rich, round and satisfying blackberry jam flavors. Youthful tannins are well integrated, while the opulent
fruit picks up a mineral nuance in the lengthy close. 2001 Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon Ripe
in black currant fruit and nicely balanced in rich tannins and good acids. Just oozes flavor and character. Almost a food
group of its own. Keep the food pairing simple, like a grilled steak or rib roast. Nicely
concentrated cassis-like fruit is joined by touches of loam, dark chocolate, and a nicely measured element of sweet oak in
the young, slightly closed-in aromas here, and the same mix of attractive oak-in-fruit qualities is reiterated in flavors
that are a little more open and accessible than advertised. While not too tannic, the wine closes with enough astringency
to warrant at least four to five years of keeping. 2001 Barlow Merlot This big, fat, sexy wine is just what Merlot is supposed to be. It's softly accessible,
yet complex with rich, sweet tannins and a delicious array of cassis, plum, cherry and herb flavors. As good as it is, it
possesses a feminine complexity that suggests pairing it with food. 2000 Barlow Merlot Textbook Napa Merlot. Flavors of green olives, blackberries, white chocolate and herbs, plus slight meatiness, are
wrapped in delicate, fine tannins. The wine is very dry and feels great in the mouth. Has the stuffing to improve in the cellar
for a few years. Smelling variously of cherries, toast caramel and roasted nuts, this solidly
fruited, and somewhat compact mid-sized Merlot balanced to firmness and framed in youthful tannins. Its sense of consistency
and basic depth earn it better-than-average standing and, while never likely to be an effusively rich or broadly, complex
wine, it has the stuff in place to develop nicely for several years. 2000 Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon Made in a classic Napa style, with pronounced aromas of cassis and black
currant and considerable layering of well-charred, toasty oak. Doesn't disappoint on the entry and then it spreads currant
and herb flavors all over the palate, wrapped in rich, fine tannins. VERY GOOD. From an upper
end Napa Valley estate located north of St. Helena and south of Calistoga, this is an excellent 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, a
year that produced a huge majority of duds. Barlow's offering exhibits a deep ruby/purple color as well as a sweet nose
of black fruits and subtle creamy oak. Supple-textured and medium bodied, with admirable purity as well as texture (an anomaly
for 2000 Cabernet), it can be drunk now or cellared for 7-8 years. Readers should check out this winery, particularly given
the high quality of the 2001 and 2002 vintages in Northern California. This substantial
wine serves as further proof that success can be had in a difficult vintage. It is ripe, well fruited, and very long on extract
and its mix of tactile flesh and firming tannins strikes us as just about right. Like any serious Cabernet, however, it needs
a bit of patient cellaring to reach its full potential, and, if four to five years would be a good idea, eight to ten would
seem to be the better choice yet. |
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Barlow Vineyards~4411 Silverado Trail Calistoga
CA 94515~707.548.8317 copyright
2011 Barlow Vineyards~Calistoga, CA
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