Chappellet Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
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Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
Powerful, profound, and impeccably structured, this wine captures the essence of great mountain-grown Cabernet Sauvignon. As it evolves in the glass, concentrated aromas of blueberry, blackberry, and black currant meld with hints of anise, graphite, complex herbs, dark chocolate, espresso, and spice. Though lush and viscous on the palate, a supple elegance frames the rich black cherry and ripe berry flavors, with taut underlying acidity adding poise and purity to a long resonating finish.
Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
This year is a milestone for Chappellet: It’s the 50th anniversary vintage from Pritchard Hill as well as the 20th vintage of Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine personifies the beauty of mountain fruit grown on steep, well-drained, rocky slopes; the low yields exhibit a remarkable concentration of fruit and, no doubt, the ability to age for years to come. With 10% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec blended in, the wine aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. It performs a slow dance, its beauty, elegance, and structure evolving with each sip. The saturation of blue and black fruit and the presence of lilac, mulberry, dates, and spiced sandalwood are inspiring. Deep notes of coffee and chocolate wash over the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant black cherries, warm cassis, chocolate pie and blackberry preserves notes plus nuances of wild sage, forest floor and tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is elegantly played and refreshing with velvety tannins and a long mineral-tinged finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Chappellet Pritchard Hill speaks of mountainside excellence. TASTING NOTES: This wine summons all of the aristocratic greatness of hillside fruit. Its aromas and flavors of black fruit, licorice, and oak are nicely intertwined with lilacs and aromatic spices. Pair it with grilled, grass-fed beef with an accent of Vermont sharp cheddar. (Tasted: November 2, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship is the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill, and this cuvée just about always represents the pinnacle of mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. The 2017 is 100% estate Cabernet Sauvignon and reveals a deep purple color as well a stunning bouquet of blue fruits, burning embers, dark chocolate, sage brush, and crushed rocks. It's powerful, full-bodied, and concentrated, and the tannins clamp down on the finish enough to warrant hiding this beauty in the cellar for a solid 5-7 years. If drinking today, give it an hour or two in a decanter. It's another stunning wine from this estate.
Rating: 95+ -
Wine Enthusiast
From the producer’s mountainous estate, this is blended with 10% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec. It displays the power of elevation, revealing dense layers of sage and black currant highlighted by cedar and graphite. Cellaring is recommended; enjoy from 2027–2032. Cellar Selection.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and well-proportioned, with loads of cassis, plum reduction and melted black licorice notes melding together, picking up graphite and apple wood accents through the muscular but defined finish. A late kick of fruit on the finish is matched by minerally cut. Best from 2023 through 2036.
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James Suckling
Blueberry, blackberry and blue-slate aromas. Medium body and firm, silky tannins. This is a little tight now, so give it two or three years to soften. Try after 2022.
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The Chappellets' romance with Pritchard Hill began when Donn and Molly Chappellet first glimpsed the mountain's spectacular vistas in the late 1960s. Inspired by the notion that Bacchus loves the hills, Donn and Molly followed the advice of legendary winemaker André Tchelistcheff and settled on the rocky eastern slopes of the Napa Valley. There, on the mountain’s serene and picturesque hillsides, the Chappellets established their home and winery, raising their children and cultivating the vineyards.
Since being founded by Donn and Molly in 1967, Chappellet has earned acclaim championing the robust power and complexity of wines crafted from mountain grapes. At the same time, Chappellet has helped to establish Pritchard Hill as one of California’s most revered winegrowing sites. To honor the mountain's rich, expressive character, the winemaking team focuses on creating extraordinary, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignons that embody the intensity and finesse of fruit from Pritchard Hill.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.