Wine Producing Countries

wines

I believe the 1995 is the finest produced under the Araujo regime. It is close to perfection. The wine combines extraordinary power and richness with remarkable complexity and finesse. The saturated purple/black color is followed by aromas of sweet vanillin intermixed with riveting scents of black currants, minerals, exotic spices, coffee, and toast. There is nothing garish about this subtle yet powerful giant of a wine. A Napa Valley classic, it is full-bodied and extremely rich, yet retains its sense of balance and symmetry. This fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon should age effortlessly for 30 or more years. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2030.Robert Parker | 98 RPHealthy dark red. Musky, soil-inflected aromas of dark raspberry, strawberry, minerals, tobacco, underbrush, cedar and dried herbs. Wonderfully silky and concentrated, displaying outstanding spicy lift to the vibrant, sharply delineated flavors of berries, coffee, anise and tobacco. Like a hypothetical blend of St. Julien and Graves. This beauty has only gained in clarity through the years as it has absorbed its baby fat. The tannins are firm but suave, in perfect balance with the wine's acidity and fruit. Juicy and subtly long on the aftertaste.Vinous Media | 95 VMA delightfully rich, vibrant and complex wine that is aging very gracefully. The core flavors are well-focused and offer a mix of mature red currant, plum and floral scents, with a touch of anise and mineral on the finish. Ripe tannins let the flavors glide through the finish, where mocha adds a nice added dimension.--1995 California Cabernet retrospective. Drink now through 2015. 2,500 cases made. — JLWine Spectator | 94 WS

From their 40+ acres of vineyard in the very northeasterly sector of Napa, just south of the quaint town of Calistoga, anywhere from 1,600 to 2,200 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard are produced. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele (a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot) shows wonderfully sweet black currant notes intermixed with some licorice, incense, crushed rock, and floral characteristics. It is deep, medium to full-bodied, with beautiful purity, virtually perfect integration of tannins, and extraordinary length which lasts over 60 seconds. This is an exceptional, seamless Cabernet Sauvignon that is the vinous equivalent of haute couture. This sensationally pure wine (actually the first vintage of the estate Cabernet to have a little Merlot in it, but only 2%) borders on perfection. This is a gorgeously proportioned wine with beautiful floral and black fruit notes intermixed with some mineral and gentle background oak.One of California’s and the world’s great wine estates, Araujo continues to exhibit remarkable consistency and impeccably high quality. Little seems to change other than some minor tweaking with respect to viticulture and winemaking. The team of Bart and Daphne Araujo, their talented longtime winemaker, Francoise Peschon, and the globe-trotting oenologist, Michel Rolland, are to be commended on the extraordinary elegance of these wines.Robert Parker | 98+ RPStunning. Explodes with the most intricately detailed aromas: a perfume of fine smoky oak and ripe black currants. Exudes sheer power, with great weight yet no heaviness. Lush and delicious, but just tannic enough. If you can wait, cellar until 2008, it should hold and improve for many years.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WE(91% cabernet sauvignon, 5% cabernet franc, 2% petit verdot and 2% merlot) Good full red-ruby color. Wonderful floral lift to the expressive aromas of blackcurrant, black raspberry, tobacco, graphite and nutty oak. Dense, thick and sweet but with perfectly integrated acidity framing the deep flavors of currant, tobacco, mocha and earth. Finishes broad, dusty and very long, with the tannins thoroughly buffered by the wine's mid-palate fruit. This boasts real density of extract without any undue heaviness and offers the balance and backbone for a long and positive evolution in bottle. Very long on personality.Vinous Media | 95+ VMSmooth, rich and savory, with dried currant, wild berry and black cherry fruit that has a dusty, savory herb and underbrush flavor that adds complexity, ending with a pretty burst of ripe fruit. This grows on you. Best from 2011 through 2018. 2,600 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS(Araujo Estate, Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Calistoga, California, USA, Red) 2005 is one of those vintages where ripeness and new oak are pitted against the Eisele terroir, and while in its style the wine must be judged a success, this isn't really a wine for classicists. Aromas of blueberry, raspberry and ripe blackcurrants are inflected with barrel toast and spice in a sweet melange, following through on the expansive, rich and oaky palate. (Drink between 2016-2020)Decanter | 91 DEC

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon has a deep garnet-purple color. Its nose begins a little reserved, slowly revealing a quiet intensity of freshly crushed blackberries, chocolate-covered cherries, cassis and aniseed with compelling nuances of black tea, cigar box, truffles and charcuterie, plus, with coaxing, gentle wafts of red roses and crushed rocks emerge. The medium to full-bodied palate is simply arresting, offering a a myriad floral and earth sparks amidst a black fruit core and with seamless, firm, very fine-grained tannins. Well-knit freshness brings forth layer after layer of delicate nuances on the very long, mineral-laced finish. The team at Eisele, led by Frédéric Engerer (of Chateau Latour) and beautifully orchestrated by winemaker Hélène Mingot, have knocked it out of the park this vintage with this singular expression that both embraces the site’s heritage and reveals parts unknown.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 100 RPThe aromas are so complex here with blackberries, blackcurrants, raspberries and orange peel. Juicy and deep with a polished and lush texture. Full-bodied yet supple and harmonious. Poised and extremely long. You really want to drink this now, but be patient. Try after 2024.James Suckling | 99 JSThe 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon from Eisele Vineyard is simply monumental. Powerful and persistent, the 2016 marries intensity with finesse in the way only a wine from a world-class site can. Everything is just in the right place. Time in the glass brings out stunning richness in every dimension and truly exceptional pedigree. Dramatic and statuesque in its beauty, the 2016 is a towering Cabernet Sauvignon that shows why Eisele Vineyard is one of the world’s great vineyard sites. In a word: epic.Vinous Media | 99 VMThis is 100% Cabernet, from an excellent vintage and it’s a total hit. Extremely young and closed, concentrated cassis, coffee beans and tobacco, pure and beautifully balanced with long drawn out tannins. It just slowly crawls through your mouth, taking its time and as confident as you like. A juicy, delicious Cab - great stuff from winemaker Hélène Mingot. Drinking Window 2023 - 2040.Decanter | 98 DECRipe, broad and fleshy, this lets beautiful plum sauce and blackberry compote notes drape effortlessly over a tobacco- and loam-accented spine. The loamy edge drives through the finish with authority, while the fruit keeps cascading over it, ending very long and very deep. This has a beguiling aspect despite the enormous scale, but it should benefit from cellaring. A wine of the earth, through and through. Best from 2021 through 2035. 1,825 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WS