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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.9 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 27 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Cow Town on 5/28/2023 & rated 93 points: Not quite at the level of the bottle from two years ago, but still really good. I like how these age, and will seek out more bottles. (355 views) | | | Tasted by Mr T on 12/8/2022: Drank this over 3 nights and probably best night 2. Deep, dark rich fruit but not overly heady or sweet. Good earthiness and smoke along with cassis. These were never cheap, but very nice wine (361 views) | | | Tasted by Cow Town on 12/28/2021 & rated 95 points: My first bottle in nine years. The last one was tannic and underwhelming. This? Absolutely delicious. Reminded my wife and me of Greer, although it faded at the end. But, velvety mouthfeel, great balance of lush fruit and some secondary flavors. seemed like a top flight valley floor Napa cab. (686 views) | | | Tasted by civilmatt on 1/23/2021 & rated 95 points: Complete wine, smooth tannins good fruit/acid balance, nice silky texture. More dark flavors than bright, just singing now. 4 hour open, no decant (984 views) | | | Tasted by AAJR on 12/28/2019 & rated 93 points: Lots of sediment in this bottle - decanted, filtered & then enjoyed. This wine was at its peak after 3 hours in the decanter. Berries, raisins, dusty tannins with a longish finish. One bottle left in my cellar, IMO I think I should revisit within 2 years. (1226 views) | | | Tasted by edwardochu on 6/9/2019 & rated 92 points: popped and poured, great acidity, good fruit, but a bit simple, missing the layer and depth I look for in a great CA cab. but overall very well balanced and in particular I loved the acidity profile. (1238 views) | | | Tasted by Mr T on 5/29/2018: Decanted for an hour and then drunk with grilled lamb chops. Solid if not spectacular. Very nice wine. Worth the tarrif? Less and less sure with so many wines. More my issue than the vintner's. (1611 views) | | | Tasted by J o e on 3/10/2017 & rated 94 points: The 2009 Sigaro required more than an hour of aeration to get going, but once it emerged from its shell, it cranked out copious aromas of licorice, smoke and violets. It is full bodied, with graphite, cassis and earth dominating the palate, and a long, mineral-infused finish that shows considerable, albeit fine-grained, tannin. This is quite a bit more restrained and graceful than your typical high end Napa cab. A solid wine that could still improve with a few more years in the cellar. 94+. (2052 views) | | | Tasted by hanasowner on 3/30/2015 & rated 91 points: Hour decant...solid wine...but expected more given price point and past experience...will wait on the others I have resting. (3093 views) | | | Tasted by winopops3 on 9/7/2013 & rated 93 points: Late summer gathering with friends.: Dark purple. Really nice nose of flowers and black cherry. Remarkable fruit on the palate with hints of mineral. Tannins well integrated. Wished for a longer finish, but really nice wine. WOTN for me. (5319 views) | | | Tasted by bigdomer on 7/15/2013 & rated 93 points: Smokey nose with black cherry flavor profile. Somewhat chocolately over time. Mineral. Lots of layers and complexity. I question the qpr at $175. (4602 views) | | | Tasted by MikeZ on 2/3/2013 & rated 95 points: Palate coating--rich with tons of candied cherry and hints of tobacco coming through along with fantastic structure. A joy to drink. Still humming nicely on day 2 with a bit more minerality poking out on the nose. (5014 views) | | | Tasted by East of Napa on 11/17/2012 & rated 93 points: Great wine. A little expensive though (4738 views) | | | Tasted by drycab on 10/2/2012: A little different than the last bottle but no better and in fact less going on...almost red water. I poured the last of it out after 6 hours in a decanter. Based on everyone elses reviews, either these are bad bottles or UPS killed them on the way here last February. (4264 views) | | | Tasted by drycab on 9/30/2012: Tart and nowhere near ready to drink. Splash Decanted for over 3 hours and still tart and unfriendly. There's more there and it will be good, I think, but just not yet. (2734 views) | | | Tasted by Mroth111 on 7/26/2012: Great deep color, complex, very smooth with pleasant extended finish. Larry is a passionate and dedicated wine maker with a beautiful homey estate. I bought all of his vintages after tasting this one. (2829 views) | | | Tasted by msch2801 on 7/12/2012 & rated 98 points: After tasting the 2009 Sigaro with Larry Fairchild, I could not agree more with 'wittkoje's tasting notes below. This is a very, very special wine and I felt that it had a perfectly balanced combination of tannins and acidity that resulted in an extremely complex and long-lasting finish - even at this young age. I will save my bottles for very special occasions. (2648 views) | | | Tasted by Uglypinga on 5/18/2012: Third go with this bottle. The dessert brought out a seriously intense green pepper note on this, otherwise it was its usual powerhouse of red fruit flavors without heaviness or intrusive oak. This is a delicious wine but I was stricken by the green pepper note that I've never experienced before with it. Usually hate that but it works for this wine. (2447 views) | | | Tasted by East of Napa on 4/28/2012 & rated 92 points: Very nice but not worth three times the price of many of my cellared wines. Keep other two bottles for several years (2580 views) | | | Tasted by etherscreen on 3/3/2012 & rated 97 points: larry fairchild is making my favorite cabernets in california. yes this is a bold statement, but these wines so compellingly express everything i desire in a napa cabernet - noble and firm, yet elegant, harmonious, and pure.
last year i experienced the '08 sigaro on multiple occasions as well as the '05, and the characteristics of this site, once again, come to the fore in 2009.
decanted 2.5 hours and continuing its evolution in the glass. a lively, deep purple core with burnt crimson edge. at first inspection, the nose unveils the telltale sigaro mineral and soil characteristics packed into a bowl of freshly picked, dark cherries. cedar, bakers chocolate, subtle bay leaf, and tobacco add additional layers of complexity. like the '08 and '05, the palate presents itself in an understated, yet confident way. saturates the entire mouth while retaining it's spherical shape. perfectly titrated acid. etoh is undetectable. tannins, while very well managed, show on the drawn out finish; no surprise given its youth. this wine knows its worth. it is not bragging even though it could (and should). at 4.5 hrs this is really starting to sing. kudos to proprietor larry fairchild and winemaker paul hobbs!
this is a very, very strong buy for me. i'll be picking up the '09 GIII without hesitation as well. 96-97 with room for improvement. delicious! (2836 views) | | | Tasted by wittkoje on 2/26/2012 & rated 97 points: Recently, my wife and I were fortunate to get a little preview of the upcoming Fairchild Estate release….the 2009 Sigaro Vineyard Cabernet.
Swirling the glass, the aromas flooded my nose and I smiled on the inside. I didn’t want my obvious joy to cloud my wife’s experience. I watched her do the same and finally I smiled when she said “Holy $#it.” What a nose! Dark cherries, and blackberries, leather and tobacco …. some freshly-turned earth and gravel also peak through. Almost as an afterthought, there were some gentle oak-spices to round out the end…
The palate of this wine is really incredible. Grace with underlying vigor. Polished and pure. The wine feels understated, but is truly quite complex. The fruits enter nimbly and dance across this tip of your tongue. The weight picks up in the mid-palate and fills out, without being too “heavy”, balanced by a perfect core of acidity. The tannins are gripping, but frame the wine wonderfully and lead to a long, long finish. The fruits lead the way, with hints of tobacco, iron, and stones, with a pull of earthiness and spice at the finish.
What I like best about this wine is what it’s not. It’s not ponderous. It’s not plush. It’s not overripe. It’s not a heavy-hitter and there is no alcoholic burn at the end. It doesn’t overwhelm my palate with heft and grip, yet it still had remarkable depth and complexity. I’ve realized that I don’t always appreciate the huge, overwhelming palate presence that many Cali cabs have, that I once loved and sought after. This wine delivers the “feel” that I want, with charm and might, but without being massive. To me, this is a wonderful expression of California cabernet. Easy 97+ points. (3015 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Fairchild Estate Producer websiteCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)St. Helena Appellation Napa Valley
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