New Arrival - 93WA Rated Napa Cabernet

Snowden Cabernet Sauvignon 'The Ranch' 2009

New Arrival!

The Snowden family has been making wine at their location in Napa for three generations from vineyards on hillsides that are only accessible by 4x4. In fact, when heavy rains occurred during the harvest of the '09 vintage, they had to wait for the roads to try out a bit before they were able to harvest. Luckily, with years of practice on this site, along with Diana Snowden's (the current winemaker) experience in Burgundy with her husband Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac, Diana knew that she could make an excellent wine even given the poorly timed rainstorm. If anyone knows how to deal with fickle weather conditions, it is those who deal with the fickle Pinot Noir grape in Burgundy!

And Diana was right. She knew that her thicker skinned Cabernet Sauvignon grapes would weather the storm, and she was able to produce the excellent 2009 vintage of the Snowden wines, including The Ranch. Robert Parker, in fact, liked the '09 much better than the '08, rating this vintage, the 2009 93 Points!

Rated 93 Points by the Wine Advocate - "The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon The Ranch bursts from the glass with masses of dark red fruit, tobacco, licorice and cassis. The wine shows marvelous depth and texture as the aromas and flavors build effortlessly to the dramatic, sweeping finish. This is a superb effort, and certainly one of the very finest Napa Valley wines available for the money. This is a big and hugely delicious wine. In 2009 the blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18.2% Cabernet Franc and 6.8% Petit Verdot. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019."

This is a wine that will offer immediate pleasure now, but will evolve over the near-term, with its peak in perhaps just 3 to 4 years. But open the wine now, pour it in a decanter for some aeration, and you'll have a winner!

Cheers!

Tracy Maxon

tracy@varmax.com