Cardinale Red Wine 2014

Cardinale is more than one wine—it is several wines, wines from disparate places along the Mayacamas and Vaca mountains that surround Napa Valley. Every bottle reveals the artistic sensibility of the winemaker, each vineyard lot fused into a seamless blend in which you can sense the constituent parts, but still taste them as one wine. Our philosophy is guided by the pursuit of grape selectivity in the vineyard, gentle handling and the ability to accommodate the different winemaking needs of each vintage.

A brilliant wine from winemaker Chris Carpenter and the Kendall-Jackson family, this blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot, mostly coming from mountain vineyards owned by the Jackson family, is fabulous. The 2014 Cardinale Proprietary Red Wine is dense purple-colored, a big, sweet kiss of creme de cassis as well as licorice, blackberry and espresso are all present in this full-bodied, rather sublime and intense Cabernet Sauvignon that should drink well for 25 or more years. This was aged in about 91% new French oak for 18-20 months prior to bottling.