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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 94.9 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 61 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Fftjr on 2/12/2023 & rated 92 points: Subtle nose, well balanced fruit and tanin. Ready to drink. Part of 3 vintage vertical. ‘05, ‘06, 07. Plus ‘11 and ‘12. (1061 views) | | | Tasted by N.Bonaparte on 2/9/2023 & rated 93 points: Vertical tasting with 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2013. This was probably the best of the bunch today with the 13 challenging the 2007. The 07 is more complete than 05 and 06. The 07 will drink well for 2 decades and is likely to reach prime in the next 5-10 years. Revisit 2027 (973 views) | | | Tasted by Wino from Michigan on 10/7/2022 & rated 93 points: Super smooth and balanced - drinking perfect - do not hold. Decanted 1 hour. Fought over last sips. (1178 views) | | | Tasted by Decanting Queen on 9/3/2022 & rated 95 points: Winapalooza VI; 9/2/2022-9/4/2022 (Atlanta): Another generous Palooza contribution from Mark who knows that I live 2007 and that I have never had Cardinale. Drank some at dinner and some lter in the night. Loved it. Sweet fruit, smooth, so much depth, just soft and sweet and delicious. (2711 views) | | | Tasted by Mark1npt on 9/3/2022: Dinner wine with Jen/Paul at a great Atlanta restaurant, St. Cecilia's. 2nd note on this in the past month. Not scoring again, but notes and score very similar to my last bottle. Maybe 1-2 pts compared to the last bottle? (2549 views) | | | Tasted by AGELVIS on 8/13/2022 & rated 95 points: Two hour slow ox. Nearly opaque, bright, hazy magenta color. Dark maple syrup, balsamic vinaigrette, plum, and white truffle dust on the nose. Silky smooth, dry palate, with tongue coating acidity. Firm, but low intensity tannins on the longish finish.
This is a beautiful wine that has aged very well. It’s still got wonderful structure and complexity. It’s probably past its peak for my palate, but I thoroughly enjoyed trying it. (1454 views) | | | Tasted by Mark1npt on 8/13/2022 & rated 97 points: Pnp'd with Melissa/Jaime at their home, to taste/gauge it's place for this evening's festivities. Initial nose of aged plums, not pruney or raisiny, yet. Initial palate of soft red fruit with all components well integrated. A soft, feminine wine at this stage. Vacu-vined and into the fridge for tonight.
Omg.....4-8 hours later and this is most probably the WOTN for me and at least one other at the table. Slight balsamic note, graphite and while a Napa Bdx blend, so different than the French Bdx's poured tonight. Just a beautiful aged Napa nose and palate. Soft, fully integrated and drinking so well, right now. I hope others out there have this and can really enjoy it right now...... (2006 views) | | | Tasted by JJYoyo on 1/29/2022 & rated 93 points: Not going to give this a score since I really have not made up my mind about this. 2 hrs air. Nose is full of dark berries - blackberry, boysenberry - along with tobacco and a little graphite. Palate is extraordinarily dense - so much so that it is easy to dismiss this as a lush but undistinct CA cab. (And the flavor is dense even though it isn’t a particularly big wine at all). That could be a mistake: to me this tasted very Bordeaux - like , St Julien in particular , Leoville-Barton if I have to reach a bit. It has the penetrating depth of a great St Julien but lacks the delineation. I am not at all convinced, given the extreme density of the taste, that this lack of delineation is anything more than just opening it too soon. Now that of course is a big if, because I have had several 2007 Napa cabs, including Dominus, that were really open for business with a little air. 2007 in general has been for me a spectacular success for Napa. Is Cardinale really that backward in 2007? Well, it could just be.
At any rate, I would take a chance and put any of these you had at the back of the cellar for another decade on the off chance that this could be truly spectacular. Because if that pays off, wow.
A day later: plugged up with argon. This wine was more giving of blueberry and light spice than before. Overall a little more focused. Still very dense taste, maybe a matter of the fine grained tannins. Very smooth. Really quite nice. Not a big change from yesterday but just more balanced and focused. Also a little more typical of CA ( to me at least ) than initially. Maybe this just needs a decade of sleep. Ready to score it now.
Score : 93. Relative to expectations: + (937 views) | | | Tasted by Vancouver on 11/23/2021 & rated 94 points: Drank at an afternoon BYOB restaurant tasting.
Deep ruby appearance with very little lightening.
Complex and evolved nose of black fruits, baking spice, vanilla and even some floral elements (violets). Very classy bouquet!
Full bodied with medium acidity, fully resolved tannins and plenty of structure and flavor intensity. The finish is long.
Very well done- drink now or cellar for another decade. (854 views) | | | Tasted by Wino from Michigan on 5/23/2021 & rated 94 points: Amazing — drank really well
Love Cardinale (1151 views) | | | Tasted by Schneider831 on 5/15/2021 & rated 97 points: Decanted two hours. It was a fantastic wine - smooth, full-bodied, with a great finish. It went great with Wagu Filet Mignon. (1071 views) | | | Tasted by JCaress on 5/22/2020 & rated 97 points: Superb. The way a California Cabernet should taste. Not too big. Dark, small tannins that give it just enough to wake up your mouth. Wish I had a cellar full. (2083 views) | | | Tasted by MarkMich on 4/1/2020 & rated 96 points: Fantastic. Drink now. (1674 views) | | | Tasted by RobertLA on 12/24/2019 & rated 91 points: Superb wine. Drinking perfectly now. Refined tannins with good fruit expression. (2014 views) | | | Tasted by Laswank on 9/14/2019: Excellent with beef. Big, but not too big. Black fruits. (2004 views) | | | Tasted by Quiet Lion on 5/13/2019 & rated 93 points: Decanted and served with dinner. Deliciously balanced palate of red and black fruit with drying tannic finish. While the quality of the fruit is good the wine lacks the focus or intensity I would look for at the price point. Many wines of similar quality for half the price. (2357 views) | | | Tasted by peeyush on 3/7/2019 & rated 90 points: Ok (1764 views) | | | Tasted by Ahughes444 on 12/25/2018 & rated 93 points: A very enjoyable Cabernet with intense red and dark fruits + secondary notes that are well integrated. Didn’t get a lot of tertiary. Long finish. Well balanced. Surprised by the body which was only medium
Perhaps it could Keep aging but I’d probably have it now. (1867 views) | | | Tasted by KenPlace on 9/1/2018 & rated 95 points: Fabulous. Beautifully balanced wine with a good amount of acidity to pair well with food. (1940 views) | | | Tasted by msuwine on 6/5/2018 & rated 96 points: This classy wine is drinking beautifully right now, with just the right mixture of ripeness, structure, and earthiness. Ruby red in color, medium in body, nose of plum, black licorice, and fresh pine. Layered and gracious tastes of blueberry, anise, pencil lead, and warm gravel, with silky and integrated tannins that support a cascading finish that goes on and on. 14.8% alcohol. Blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot. Blend of 94% mountain vineyards (67% Veeder, 20% Howell, 3.4% Diamond, 3.2% Spring), with the remaining 6% coming from the valley floor (3.4% To Kalon and 3% St. Helena).
Above all else, this wine has impeccable balance, seemingly poised at the midpoint between maturing and aging. Indeed, this has a softness that I didn't expect after drinking the 2008 (or even after drinking this vintage at the winery a few months ago). This wine is powerful, but it won't knock you over with intensity; instead, it draws you in with nuance and class, and it never quite lets go. Drink now or in next year or three. 96+. (3273 views) | | | Tasted by Millennial Drinkers on 5/31/2018 & rated 94 points: First stop on our fifth day in Napa Valley is Cardinale Winery. Third wine is an older vintage of their Flagship bottling, which is made up of 86% Cabernet Sauvingon and 14% Merlot. The fruit comes from the following AVAs; Mount Veeder (67% - Veeder Peak), Howell Mountain (20% - W. S. Keyes), Oakville (3.4% - To Kalon), Diamond Mountain (3.4% - Andrew Geoffrey), Spring Mountain (3.2% - Spring Mountain) and St. Helena (3% Van Z). Aged for a total of 19 months in 90% new French oak.
Garnet edges with a dark ruby core. Dark nose coated in leather, tobacco, espresso, and dark kirsch cherries. Solid acidity on the palate, a touch more than the 2014 with gritty tannins (8/10) and full bodied. Still showing a lot of strength with flavors of dried cherries, black currants and gravel. Your whole palate is gripped with a dry and long finish. Drink till 2033. (94+) (842 views) | | | Tasted by Asmiller on 2/17/2018 & rated 99 points: W.O.W. (2132 views) | | | Tasted by Quiet Lion on 2/7/2018: This bottle didn't show well. I suspect it was cooked or oxidized a bit. Restrained all the way around with some slight bitterness on the finish. I expected a more mouth-filling wine. (1949 views) | | | Tasted by mxpbuy on 1/13/2018 & rated 93 points: A very big wine that needed over an hour to calm down a bit. Still big tannins. Clearly a Napa Cab with blackberries and dusty tannins. After an hour or so, it smoothed out a bit. Likely at its peak over the next 5 years. (760 views) | | | Tasted by Turtlerider on 12/27/2017: Big black fruit, fine tannins and a long, long finish. Very nice California Cab. (1889 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Cardinale 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)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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