Dana Vaso Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Brent Gushowaty rated this wine as 95/100 with the following review:

In the glass, the wine has a medium depth with some purple on the rim. The bouquet is a very engaging interfuse that includes floral notes of hyacinth and lilac as well as nuanced mulberry and loganberry. On the palate, the flavour follows the nose showing complex dark red and black berries in harmony with the florals and adds graphite/earthy notes, black currant and subtle tobacco/tomato leaf. The wine possesses an adroit, floating balance of all these elements. The body and intensity here are on the upper side of medium. The finish is very long with an intense retronasal quality that drifts around the palate.

This is Napa Valley Cabernet but it does not fall into either of the oft encountered styles that Napa Valley can show i.e.swaggering & juicy, or fruit dense & oak palisaded. What comes through here is the craftsmanship and vision to tease out this particular Cabernet Sauvignon that is mostly from estate fruit from the winery's Hershey Vineyard at the 1800 foot level on Howell Mountain in Napa Valley. Though the flavour profiles would certainly be different,(and even the grapes) in terms of restraint, focused flavours, exquisite balance, imagination and sheer breed it bears comparison to Mas la Plana from Torres or Hill of Grace from Henschke.

Overall, a remarkable and singular wine.

Philippe Melka is the consulting winemaker here. He has received several 100-point scores from The Wine Advocate and been named by Robert Parker as one of the top nine wine consultants
in the world. Born in France, his first job out of school was at Château Haut Brion. From there,he took a position with the Moueix Company and worked at Dominus Estate in Yountville to study
soils in 1991. He returned to France in 1993 to deepen his expertise at Chateau Petrus. Melka has divided his time between soil study and winemaking at a number of wineries around the world.


B+ to A- ~ 95 points
$139.99



bcpinotnoir.com
@bcpinotnoirinfo