1996 Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County

Community Tasting Notes (36) Avg Score: 90.8 points

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  10/3/2020 - SophieR Likes this wine: 93 Points

  I hadn't looked at any Cellartracker notes before buying and opening this wine, and when I loved it, I thought I might be the first to feel that way: In my day, when this wine was produced, Dick Arrowood's star had faded. I guess I'm the last to find out how wonderful it is. Seemed a cross between California and Bordeaux. A welcome touch of herbaceousness, excellent fruit, great balance, everything you would hope to find in a mature wine.

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  12/11/2019 - lushious Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Surprisingly good. Really opened up about 90 minutes in. Started thin and tannic and developed a nice voluptuous fruit frame with a core of cedar and cigar box aromas. Very satisfied with this purchase from 20 years ago.

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  8/6/2019 - WetRock wrote:

  The cork is still very dense and tight coming out of the bottle. One little vein of ingress up the side other than a minimal line across the bottom. The wine is still fresh with notes of maturity hanging around. Lots of wood expression. The label says they used American and French oak on this bottling. I get that though the American was standing quite tall. There is still some tart cassis and a bit of cigar ash. Late, fine tannin. Not a wow but pretty damn good. I'd say this is in it's window and could see a decline in the next 5-10 years. Nice.

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  7/15/2019 - Old Joe Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Decanted it for about one hour prior to enjoying this wine with a nice strip steak. Smooth as velvet with hints of tobacco. Elegant finish. Just the right amount of tannin that speaks to you.

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  8/6/2018 - chablis28 wrote: 94 Points

  I opened about an hour before dinner took a test pour for myself and a pour for Nita leaving a low - low shoulder fill to breath for a while. This was a little cellar cool at first, even for me, muting the palate a bit but 45 minutes later and for the rest of the evening, this was killer. Might have been good idea to decant just to get rid of sediment. This really only needs about and hour or so to shine. Semi opaque ruby red color belys its age. Great nose of; tobacco leaf, pure dark fruit and light garrigue. All of the aroma elements carry over to a resolved, ethereal, elegant but youthfully energetic palate. This is the magic of 22 years of btl age at work. So satisfying. Blind, it would be easy to mistake for higher end Paulliac. We loved every snif and sip until we got to the remaining inch of sediment. The key, if you're not decanting, is to pour from the exact same label direction every time, carefully. I store all my btls label up so the sediment collects down the back of the bottle. Sloppy pouring, every which way, messes the wine up. This is totally in its drinking window but I can see this floating a on a very nice plateau for at least 3 more years, no problem. 13.8% Alc went unnoticed.

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