2007 Topel Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Reserve

Community Tasting Notes (5) Avg Score: 89 points

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  11/13/2022 - mikemaan wrote: 90 Points

  - Flavours of black currant and chocolate - Needed lots of aeration. Still lovely Nice tannins.

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  11/18/2016 - tyeakle wrote:

  Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
  Look – Darkest burgundy hues, with a ring of brilliant magenta at the edge of the glass. After spinning the wine, tall, thin, wine-stained tears fall from high up on the glass, descending slowly to the wine, below.
  
  Smell – A rush of mixed preserves of blackberry, blueberry and blueberry rush up to greet you on the nose. These are followed by ripe raspberry, candied cherry, soft brown spice, leather, subtle tobacco, dried black flower petals, subtle wild fennel and a hint of freshly cracked pepper.
  
  Feel – Initially silky and then the wine grips the edges of the palate. Then, slowly, an elegant plushness spreads all around the palate as integrated tannins combine with a bright acidity to drive flavors to the far corners of the mouth.
  
  Taste – Ripe and juicy, with generous mixed berries, cassis and plum in the lead. The more you spin the wine, the more it opens up, revealing additional aromas of braised mission fig, earthy leather, subtle tobacco leaf, brown spice, black cherry skin and a hint of cracked pepper.
  
  Finish – Juicy and delicious, with dark berry fruit giving way to earthy flavors, spice, subtle dark minerals and a flinty cracked pepper that can be felt at the edges of the tongue and along the gumline.
  
  Conclusion – Just outstanding! Today’s 2007 Topel Winery Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a dark, delicious, fruit-filled wine that delivers a great rush of fruit, an elegant mouthfeel and heady aromatics. This wine is very well balanced and it is drinking beautifully. Well-structured and complex, this is a fun wine to sip and discuss, pulling apart the myriad characteristics on the nose and palate. Pair with a beef stew or your favorite steak on the BBQ. Highly recommended, drink this gorgeous wine now – or hold this age-worthy gem for up to 10 more years.

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  11/18/2016 - tyeakle wrote:

  Vintage 2007
  Wine Style Red Wine
  Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
  Varietal Composition
  96% Cabernet Sauvignon
  2% Merlot
  2% Petite Verdot
  Appellation Mendocino
  Sugar Average Brix: 25.6
  Acid .67
  PH 3.76
  Barrel Aging
  33 Months
  Alcohol % 14.2%
  Size 750 ml
  Tasting Notes
  
  Wine aficionados will tell you that the 2007 vintage in California was one of the very best in decades — and when you consider the outstanding quality of California wines, that’s saying a lot.
  
  Our Topel 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Reserve is the third vintage we’ve released, and while we’ve been thrilled with the beautiful, elegant Cabernets from 2005 and 2006, we are absolutely ecstatic about this particular wine.
  
  The fruit for our Estate Reserve is harvested from our oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines, which were planted on our mountainside vineyard more than 20 years ago.
  
  As these vines have matured, their ability to produce has been dramatically reduced, but the fruit that does make it through the seasonal growing cycle has more intense flavors and darker, richer colors. Because we know its wonderful characteristics are very worthy, we take special steps in extracting the juice and we set it aside to mellow in choice barrels. The result is nothing short of splendid.
  
  Flavors of chocolate abound, with notes of black cherries and plums. The 2007 vintage yielded fruit even more opaque in color than the previous two vintages. It has a tremendous tannin structure that makes it approachable now, but we recommend giving it at least a couple of years in the bottle for the very best experience. And don’t forget to lay down a few in the cellar because this vintage will only get better as it gets older.
  
  Production Notes
  
  As always, the grapes were field crushed and allowed to ferment in three-quarter ton lots. Each lot was punched down by hand five times a day for 24 days. The wine was then pressed into 50% new French oak barrels (COF Taransaud and COF Demptos) and 50% neutral barrels. We aged the wine for 33 months before bottling. Afterward, it aged another 12 months before its release in the Fall of 2011.

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  9/7/2013 - jwells wrote: 90 Points

  Ruby red. Medium-full body. Sour plum and tobacco.

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  8/17/2011 - wabi47 wrote: 89 Points

  medium body, vanilla, black currant with a finish of mint and eucalyptus; not fully integrated but with interesting components

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