2012 Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Community Tasting Notes (82) Avg Score: 91.6 points

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  8/26/2023 - PMJak11 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Dark cherries, plums, and a hint of chocolate on the nose. Wine was restrained with subtle sweetness and a nice texture. Not sure if it was in a weird phase or slipping past prime drinking.

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  8/22/2023 - Snoot Doggie Dogg Likes this wine: 94 Points

  This winery was founded by Jack Cakebread; in the 1970s he was traveling through Napa Valley taking pictures with none other than Ansel Adams when he stumbled upon a plot of land. He liked it so much, he bought it! He then made friends with Robert Mondavi, who encouraged him to plant grapes, and so he started a winery there that has been in continuous operation ever since. Cakebread first started with plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, whicih still constitutes 20% of their production to this day.
  
  I highly recommend visiting the facility; it is lovely, and the staff there offer fantastic personalized tours. A shout out to Lisa, who showed me around, offered me a great tasting, and patiently endured my never-ending questions! She was great!
  
  This particular wine is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, which spent 17 months in French oak. It aged beautifully! I lost my detailed tasting notes on it (somehow the file on my computer vanished) but I do still have handwritten notes to go off of. Deep ruby in color, this wine was dry with medium acid and high alcohol. The tannins were ample and ripe, and they integrated very well into this wine’s full body as it aged, leaving it silky-smooth. Despite its age, it still maintained vibrant flavors of black currant, ripe red cherry, blackberry, ripe black raspberry and raspberry pastry along with olives, mint, cigar tobacco, earth and a bit of yeast. The finish was long, though regrettably I failed to write down how the flavor profile evolved over time.
  
  Delightfully complex, this was a real gem, and I will be looking out for another bottle. I highly recommend visiting the winery and picking up a bottle of this. It went very well with grilled steak!

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  9/17/2022 - PMJak11 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  1hr+ decant. Dark red color. Dark fruit and medicinal tones on the nose. Elegant when that is well integrated. Medium depth. Drinking lovely right now.

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  9/12/2022 - BobKat Cellars Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Still young but drinking good.

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  9/3/2022 - Canoehead Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Napa Cab Afternoon (DV Central): Part of Napa Cab tasting double-decanted blind
  First wine poured and definitely set a benchmark for the sitting. Dark purple, opaque. Intense nose of dark red and black fruits. Very fresh bouquet - seemed primary. We all thought this was one of the '18 vintages. Later blown away this was a 2012. Young vibrant wine with good depth. a bit of tannic grip on the finish (which went well with the cheeseboard and grilled filet slices. This could be cellared for another 10 years.

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