Hess Collection Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
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Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator -
James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Hess Collection Mount Veeder Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon is impressive and lasting. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers outstanding aromas and flavors of licorice, black fruit, and oak. The fruit stays fresh and beautiful through the wine's finish. Enjoy it with full-flavored hard cheeses. (Tasted: March 29, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Lush and deeply fruity, with crushed plum, mulled blackberry and açaí berry compote flavors that meld nicely together, while melted black licorice, black tea and mulling spice notes add range and detail. Features a lushness that makes this approachable now, but shows a strong underlying iron spine that will let this evolve with cellaring.
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James Suckling
Aromas of blackcurrants, cedar and tile follow through to a medium body with a juicy, round and creamy mouth-feel. Delicious finish. Mostly cabernet sauvignon, with about a quarter malbec and a touch of petit verdot.
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For over 40 years, The Hess Collection has been producing complex, elegant wines sourced from estate vineyards high on Mount Veeder and in the far reaches of the Napa Valley. It is from these rugged landscapes that The Hess Collection winemaking team crafts exceptional luxury wines.
A pioneer by nature, Donald Hess was determined to defy convention and pursue winemaking at elevation. In 1978, he established The Hess Collection Winery on the site of one of the region’s oldest wineries on Mount Veeder. Although few in Napa Valley were cultivating vines at elevation, Donald Hess believed the volcanic slopes of Mount Veeder provided the ideal combination of soils and microclimates to yield elegant wines with rich, complex flavors.
Today, the next generation of The Hess family continues Donald’s legacy at the winery's home on Mount Veeder.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Centered at the peak for which it is named, Mount Veeder is Napa’s largest sub-AVA. But even though the entire appellation spreads over 16,000 acres, vineyards cover a mere 1,000. Scattered among Douglas firs and bristlecone pines, Mount Veeder vineyards extend south from the upper elevations of the Mayacamas Mountains—the highest point at 2,400 feet—to the border of the Carneros region. Less than 25 wineries produce wine from Mount Veeder fruit.
Winemaking began early in this appellation. In 1864, Captain Stelham Wing presented the first Mount Veeder wine to the Napa County Fair; it came from today’s Wing Canyon Vineyard. Prohibition, of course, halted winemaking and viticulture wasn’t revitalized until the founding of Mayacamas Vineyards in 1951 and Bernstein Vineyards in 1964.
The Bernstein Vineyards was actually home to the first Petit Verdot in California, planted in 1975. Today most of the Petit Verdot in Napa Valley originates from this vineyard.
Rocky volcanic clay and ancient seabed matter dominate Mount Veeder soils—perfect for Bordeaux varieties. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot enjoy spectacular success. These varieties produce wines rich in brambly blackberry and black cherry fruit with herbal and floral aromatics. Structures are moderate to assertive and wines have great staying power.
Chardonnay from Mount Veeder is lush, full and balanced mineral and fresh citrus flavors.