2005 Macrae Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Stagecoach Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (5) Avg Score: 92 points

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  12/22/2017 - Dwey Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Flavors of cedar, leather, and tobacco. Dark fruit nose.

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  10/13/2013 - DRA Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Drinking very well right now

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  4/7/2013 - argonne1@gmail.com Likes this wine: 96 Points

  My wife and I discovered this wine at a co-op tasting room in Kenwood in the Sonoma Valley in summer of 2011. It was priced at $45.00 per bottle and we were in ecstasy when we tasted.
  
  That price was beyond our budget and we discussed buying a single bottle. About that time, the sales clerk informed us that the wine was being closed out and that if we bought one case we would receive one case free.
  
  I promptly pulled out my credit card and we had two (2) cases shipped to us in Arizona during the winter (one doesn't ship wine to Arizona in summer).
  
  Drinking this cab is like consuming pure essence. It's not for everyone. The concentration of varietal character is far beyond your normal cab. It consists of 98% cabernet and 2% merlot. The cab fruit is from the Stagecoach Vineyard on Atlas Peak in the Napa Valley. The yield from this vineyard is low and the grapes that remain on the vine are themselves very concentrated.
  
  My wife and I have not been able to find a cab like this in the stores. At least not within the range of our pocketbooks.
  
  We haven't tasted anything like this since BV cabernet George de La Tour reserve 1968 or a couple of other memorable cabs from the early 1980s.
  
  Kerry Damsky is listed as one of the winemakers on this vintage and I've learned he's still very active in the Napa-Sonoma areas. However, it appears that the winery hasn't turned out any new vintages in some time and I'm not sure if they are still operating.
  
  We still have more than a dozen bottles remaining in our makeshift cellar and we only drink them with friends on special occasions. What a wonderful cab!

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  9/24/2010 - rrschrumjr wrote: 90 Points

  Decanted for about an hour. Should've decanted for even longer. Seems like you could hold onto this bottle for quite awhile longer.
  
  At first, there was heat on both the nose and the finish. But the wine softened very nicely as it sat in the glass and the decanter.
  
  Very rich nose, with blueberry and chocolate flavors predominant. The color was a rich reddish-purple. Very tannic.
  
  I very much liked this wine. It was not totally in balance, hence the 90. But an excellent bottle for drinking with a hearty steak.

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  11/11/2008 - Hershey in CA wrote: 91 Points

  If you like Grand Cru St. Julien and other right-bank Bordeaux, this is is for you. Good balance of fruit & oak tannins, hints of chocolate, black current, casis, leather. Needs at least another 3 years in the cellar, but wouldn't be surprised if it really starts drinking well in 10-15.

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