Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2023

Mount Eden is unique in the world of California Cabernet. We are perched in the coastal Santa Cruz Mountain range, just 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The cool east-facing position of our Cabernet vines, their altitude (1600 feet) and the primary soils that have emerged as the mountain has evolved give these grapes a matchless terroir.

The wine is intense yet elegant as a beautiful bouquet of violet, iron, roasted meat, and rose petal greet the nose. It is balanced yet powerful on the palate with flavors of currant and soil-influenced minerality.

As with all of our Mount Eden Estate Cabernets, this wine reaps the rewards of decanting in its early years and will age for decades in a good cellar.

   

Production

1,510

Tech Notes

Rain Total in 2019: 52 inches

Yield: 2 tons per acre

Harvest Dates: September 27th- October 11th, hand harvested

Numbers @ Harvest: 23.2° Brix, 3.40 pH, 7.0 grams acidity

Fermentation: Native Ferments

Barrel: 100% barrel aged in 50$ new and 50% one-year-old French and American Oak

Aging: 22 months

Bottling: July 2021, no fining or filtration

Alcohol: 14%

Reviews

95 points Wine & Spirits Magazine  - Winter 2023

A wine of dynamic energy immediately bursts from the glass, that energy enlivening the layers of earthy black fruit through this cabernet’s substantial, structured tannins.  Between the high elevation of the site, 2,000 feet above the Pacific, its shale soils and the mass selection of its vines (immigrants in the 19^th century from Château Margaux), Mount Eden consistently produces one of the most compelling cabernets in California. In 2019, it appears as a dark wine with some restraint, needing bottle age to open and for the tannins to evolve. It has the vitality to last through long aging. —J.G.

95 points Antonio Galloni presents Vinous - October 2023

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is everything this wine should be and can be. Floral, deep and yet also light on its feet, the 2019 is a model of total elegance. Crushed flowers, herbs, menthol, rose petal and sweet pipe tobacco run through a core of red-toned Cabernet Sauvignon fruit. The 2019 is perhaps not quite as explosive as the best wines in this range, but it does possess magnificent finesse and tons of personality. Don’t miss it.—A.G.

94 points Wine Enthusiast Magazine  - December 2023

Dried meat, toasty wood, savory leather and black plum-elderberry aromas converge on the nose of this bottling. There is a savory, toasty combination to the palate, where dried dill, soy and cocoa flavors decorate the strawberry and cherry fruits. —M.K.

93 points Wine Spectator  - November 15, 2023

A chunky, earthy and iron-driven style, with a solid core of black currant and black cherry reduction flavors, while generous notes of iron minerality and sweet bay leaf fill in. Solidly built, with a tangy, mouthwatering, savory finish. Drink now through 2035.—J.M.