Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2008

As with all of our estate wines in 2005, the Cabernet Sauvignon crop was tiny. On a positive note, the growing season was superb. A late October harvest gave us a wealth of “hang time” which for this wine is everything.

The color is notable, red on the edge, totally saturated in the middle. Primary Cabernet fruit aromas lead to graphite, currant and mineral flavors with amazing buoyancy. Firm tannins with immense concentration and bright acidity give the impression of greatness to come.

2005 is a special year. You can expect drinking pleasure for decades to come.

Production

1,422

Tech Notes

Yield: 1.5 tons per acre Harvest: October 1st-21st Numbers @ Harvest: 23.9 Brix, 3.47 pH, 7.0 grams acidity Barrel Regimen: French 50%; American 50% - 1/2 new; aged 24 months in barrel Bottling:  August 2007; no fining or filtration Alcohol: 13.9%

Reviews

93 points Cellar Selection Wine Enthusiast Magazine  - March 2009

Mount Eden makes their Estate Cab the old-fashioned way: to age.  The ’05 is quite tannic and shut down right now, with a hard astringency, especially on the finish.  However, it’s rich in black currents, mocha and cedar, and is a natural for many years in the cellar.  The score could rise considerably after 2011.—S.H.

91 points Steve Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar  - December 2008

Bright, saturated ruby-red.  Aromas of dark cherry, dark berries, tobacco, brown spices and woodsmoke, lifted by a whiff of mint.  Juicy, sappy and nicely concentrated, with good density to the slightly exotic flavors of currant, tobacco and smoke.  A solidly structured cabernet that finished with firm tannic spine.

90 points Robert Parker Jr's The Wine Advocate - December 2008

The dense ruby-hued 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate boasts a sweet nose of incense, toast, charcoal, and red as well as black fruits.  Elegant with a first class Bordeaux-like structure, moderate tannin, and outstanding purity and length, it will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age, and should drink well for 15-20.