2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Clear skies in November allowed our 2006 Rock Arch Cabernet Sauvignon, planted with the rare Bella Oaks clone, to hang until just days before Thanksgiving. The long hang time ripened grapes from this 26 year old vineyard to a level of concentration that is exceptional even for a block always defined by inky and dense flavors. The final blend consists of 68% from the Rock Arch lots, 27% from our more supple clone-337 Cab lots (from our Carolyn’s and Rim Rock vineyards), and 5% Petit Verdot that brings acidity and spice to balance the structure and fruit. Interwoven nuances of black fruit ranging from dark cherries to raspberries and mulberries are complemented by tar and mocha and hints of cedar. The complexity is drawn out into the wine’s signature minute-long finish that, although palate coating, is not excessively chalky.

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Appellation: Napa
Sonoma
Vintage: 2006
Harvest: November 2006
Fermentation: Stainless Steel
Cooperage: French Oak
Blend: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon
5% Petite Verdot
Alcohol: 15.1%
Bottling: December 2008
Production: 1428 cases
Release Date: March 2009
Release Price: $125.00

Reviews

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  • The Wine Advocate: December 2009, Issue 186 - Rating: 98

    The utterly profound 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve reveals abundant notes of licorice, creme de cassis, unsmoked high class cigar tobacco, and toasty oak. Full-bodied with fabulous depth, richness, and texture as well as a multilayered mouthfeel, sweet tannins, and loads of potential, this stunning wine is capable of lasting 15-20 years.

  • Wine Spectator: Web Only 2010 - Rating: 97

    Defines finesse. Displays amazingly complex aromas of spice, black currant, black licorice, cedar and hazelnut. Full-bodied, creamy and polished, tightly wound and focused, ending with a long, persistent finish that reverberates with flavor. Drink now through 2020. 1,428 cases made. –JL

  • California Grapevine: February/March 2010 - Rating: 92

    Medium-dark ruby color; attractive, rich, intense, complex, spicy, cassis and ripe black cherry fruit aroma with notes of tobacco and mocha; full body; big, dense, textured, concentrated, cedary, mouth-filling, dark currant and very ripe black cherry fruit flavors with hints of toffee and tobacco; full tannin; rough on the finish; lingering aftertaste. Shows a lot of promise and needing several more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

  • Connoisseurs' Guide: April 2010 - Rating: 92

    5% Petit Verdot. Pride has here again authored a wine of great size and command. It is intense, focused, deep, tight and open at the same time, loaded with sweet curranty perfumes and happily endowed with rich oak in the nose, and it is full and supple to start on the palate and tannic to finish. Its inviting underbelly is not to be ignored as it gives the wine a certain drinkability even now when paired with chunks of grilled meat, but its convincing fruit and its solidity promise to keep the wine in good stead for years of rewarding aging.

  • Wine Enthusiast: May 2010 - Rating: 94

    This is one of the least drinkable of Pride Mountain’s new red wines, simply because it needs time. It’s all primary fruit vs. oak now, with unintegrated blackberry, cherry, currant and mocha flavors fighting it out with smoky caramelized wood and vanilla. Tannins lurk in the background, ready to embrace both sides. Made solidly in the modern cult style of extreme ripeness and high alcohol, it’s a compelling wine that should come into its own sometime late in 2010, and drink well for 6–8 years. Cellar Selection

  • Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: May/June 2010 Issue 150 - Rating: 93

    Bright medium ruby-red. More reticent on the nose than the Claret but quite pure, offering notes of currant, tobacco leaf, licorice and eucalyptus. Then sweet, lush and surprisingly ripe in the mouth, with a dominant flavor of dark raspberry; not as complex today as the Claret but large-scaled, serious and impressively deep. Finishes with substantial tongue-dusting tannins and subtle lingering sweetness. I'd give this vin de garde at least five years in the cellar.