Amici Morisoli Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
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Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Morisoli is a quintessential Rutherford wine, with rich blackberry notes balanced with delicate wintergreen on the nose. Savory flavors of tobacco, black currant and figgy jam create a luscious mouthfeel on the palate reminiscent of Rutherford dust. A classic, dense finish shows powdery tannins and an umami flavor that makes you want to come back for more.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Possibly a candidate for perfection in 4-5 years, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Morisoli Vineyard reveals a deep, dense purple/blue color to go with incredible notes of blueberries, crème de cassis, scorched earth, camphor, graphite, and a Graves-like earthy minerality. Full-bodied and powerful on the palate, it has beautifully integrated tannins, a solid spine of acidity, terrific mid-palate depth, and a blockbuster of a finish that keeps you coming back to the glass. Give bottles 2-4 years in a cold cellar, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following two decades.
Rating: 98+ -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Morisoli Vineyard sports a deep garnet-purple color with exuberant notes of warm black plums, ripe black cherries and baked blackberries with hints of powdered cinnamon, dusty soil, black olives and tree bark. The full-bodied, decadently fruited palate is chock-full of black fruit preserves and baking spice accents, textured with velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a lingering peppery note.
Rating: 96+ -
James Suckling
Wow. This is really spicy and intense on the nose with blackberries, cloves, cedar and hints of chili. Some ink, too. It’s full-bodied and chewy with intense tannins and lots of fruit and new oak. It needs time to come together. Try after 2024.
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Over thirty years in the making, Amici Cellars is a blend of the old and the new. Preserving its legacy and producing wines of exceptional character is the unwavering commitment of proprietors John Harris and Bob Shepard, who attribute success in large part to the age-old adage “nothing replaces hard work,” but also their intuition and ability to capture the most significant opportunity in a decisive moment.
The turning point was 2009, when after more than 15 years of making wine as a passion project with modest distribution, the two friends fully committed to taking their adventure and turning it into a prestigious Napa Valley winemaking estate. The United States was facing the biggest economic downturn since the 1930s, costly Cabernets no longer flying off shelves, but John and Bob have always trusted in their intuition and a core belief - bottle beautiful, high quality wines that are accessible to enjoy every day and for age-worthy collections.
They have decidedly chosen a talented team, seasoned winemaker Tony Biagi, a Napa Valley veteran with more than 25-years-experience, and associate winemaker Dante West, a rising star whose energy matches his true-to-varietal wines. Together they bring decades of relationships with outstanding growers in the field that, combined with their craftsmanship, creates the best possible capsule of each vineyard site, a combination of the soil, climate and people who farm it.
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.