Foley Johnson Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
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Robert
Parker - Decanter
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James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 7% Petite Sirah, 4% Malbec, 2% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon (tasted as a barrel sample) is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 8% Petite Sirah, 3% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. Deep purple-black colored, it opens with a classic cassis and cedar nose, plus notions of pencil lead, mulberries and black raspberries, with a hint of camphor. Medium to full-bodied, it has compelling freshness and vibrancy in the mouth, framed by grainy tannins and finishing with a red berry lift.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Decanter
Bright red berry aromas meld with dusty mineral notes and flourishes of cedar. Ripe, sweet fruit on the palate is richly concentrated with hints of graphite, tobacco and vanilla. Powerful, grippy tannins lay a sturdy foundation for this classic expression of Rutherford.
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James Suckling
A juicy and savory red with medium body, creamy tannins and a pleasing and balanced finish. Hints of walnuts and spices. Lightly sweet.
Other Vintages
2020-
Tasting
Panel
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Wine &
Spirits -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
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Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
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Robert
Parker
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Tasting
Panel
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Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits
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Wine &
Spirits
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Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
For years, Bill Foley and his wife, Carol Johnson Foley, had dreamt of opening a winery bearing their name in Napa Valley. They both enjoyed the grandeur of Napa’s scenery and the rhythm of its lifestyle, and, more importantly, the couple loved the opulence and complexity of Napa’s wines. With the launch of Foley Johnson in 2012, the Foleys have created a world-class winery with premier vineyards and a historic tasting room right in the heart of America’s preeminent wine-growing region.
Located along Highway 29 in the prestigious Rutherford AVA, Foley Johnson exemplifies the understated elegance and casual warmth of the Valley. The winery produces two tiers of wines: Napa Valley and Handmade. The Napa Valley tier focuses on Bordeaux varieties from the nearly 50 acres of estate vineyards around the winery in Rutherford. The Handmade tier features special small-lot bottlings from some of the renowned winemakers in the Foley Family Wines group of wineries including Dave Lattin of Kuleto, Leslie Renaud of Lincourt, Paul Warson of Firestone, Mark Lyon of Sebastiani and Lisa Bishop Forbes of Chalk Hill.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.