Scarlett 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon “Estate” Rutherford, Napa Valley 95 Points

This might be the best effort from Mike Smith to date! The wine has a dense purple hue and the aromas are AMAZING! The color is STUNNING! The flavors are MIND BOGGLING! The wine is loaded with black stone fruit and chocolate aromas. On the palate, the wine gushes with more chocolate, black currant, jam, and some delicate Rutherford dust. The wine is full in body, yet elegant and refined! Gorgeous from start to finish. Massively scaled for a Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon.  

Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points: “Beautiful, sweet cassis and blue fruits, as well as lots of violet and floral notions, emerge from the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, a full-bodied, rich, concentrated barrel sample with wonderful purity of fruit, a good sense of freshness, and serious length on the finish. This promising, elegant yet powerful wine is going to shine with short-term bottle age and keep for two decades.”

IWR 94 Points: “The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon opens to seductive aromatics of ripe blackberries and plums, which are woven together with mocha, crushed gravel, and spices which all come together and burst from the glass. The palate is full-bodied plush and supple, with concentrated layers of delicious ripe dark fruits that combine with graphite and spices leading up to the enveloping finish. While the 2019 is already drinking exceptionally well, it should also age gracefully and have a brilliant future ahead.”

Winemaker Notes: “Inky purple-black color to the core, with an explosive nose of dark cassis, soaring barrel spice, and bittersweet chocolate, it is loaded with dark and red fruits intermixed with that signature Rutherford dust. Expansive dark fruits mixed with tobacco and a hint minerality push waves of fruit that pump out flavor and intensity.”