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2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Robert Parker 91 Points 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+. San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~GOLD
Robert Parker 90 points 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.
Robert Parker 88 points 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. San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~DOUBLE GOLD
Robert Parker 90 Points 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. Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine- 87 Points, One Puff
Robert Parker review 88 points 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. San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~GOLD
Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine 87 Points One Puffs 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. Wine Enthusiast 89 Points 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. Robert Parker review 87 points San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~SILVER
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. San Francisco Chronicle Tasting~GOLD Medal Wine Enthusiast Magazine 91 Points Houston International wine Competition~Silver Medal Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine 92 Points
Wine Enthusiast Magazine 90 Points 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. Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine 91 Points Two Puffs Wine News Magazine 91 Points San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~SILVER
Wine Enthusiast Magazine 92 Points 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. Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine 92 Points, Two Puffs 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. Houston International Wine competition~GOLD, Reserve Class Champion San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~DOUBLE GOLD Wine News Magazine 92 Points
San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~GOLD 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. Wine Enthusiast Magazine 91 points
San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~SILVER
San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~DOUBLE GOLD Wine Enthusiast Magazine 91 Points 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. Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine 90 Points 0ne Puff 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.
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. Wine Enthusiast Magazine 91 Points
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. Wine News 93 points
Wine Enthusiast Magazine 92 Points Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine 88 Points 0ne Puff 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.
Wine Enthusiast Magazine 91 Points
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. Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine 89 Points 0ne Puff
Wine Enthusiast Magazine
90 Points The Wine Advocate-Robert Parker 89 Points Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine 92 Points Two Puffs 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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