Del Dotto Vineyards The Beast, Napa Valley, USA

多托酒莊野獸紅葡萄酒

點擊次數：1072

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon The Beast, a barrel sample, possesses a deep garnet-purple color and perfumed nose of roses and violets over a core of black currants, black plums and black forest cake plus a waft of fragrant earth. Rich, full-bodied and chock-full of perfumed dried berry flavors, it has a chewy backbone and lovely lift to the finish.

The appropriately named 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon The Beast tends to come from the best barrels of all the different vineyard holdings of the Del Dotto family. It is dominated by their St. Helena holdings, and they produce about 550 cases of this ball-to-the-walls, pedal-to-the-metal style of Cabernet Sauvignon. It spends 24 months in 100% new oak, but the oak rarely shows through, given the extraordinary richness of fruit, density and high extract the wine possesses. In nearly every sense, it is a true “beast,” but pure, rich, concentrated, and capable of lasting 25-30 or more years.

One has to love the name of the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon The Beast, which is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon blend from all of their estate vineyards, most of it coming from the St. Helena Mountain with other sites represented as well. This is one of the smaller production cuvées of only 250 cases. This wine seems to have pretty much everything going for it. It’s inky bluish/purple showing notes of incense, graphite, blueberry and blackberry liqueur, classic crème de cassis, earth and spice. The wine has enormous body, voluptuous texture and a finish that must last 50+ seconds. This is an amazing effort and by no means a wimpy wine -- coming in at 15.6% natural alcohol. This should drink well for 30+ years.

Made from a blend of all Del Dotto’s vineyard holdings, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon The Beast’s black/purple color is followed by a wine with off-the-charts richness, incredible density and abundant notes of blackcurrant liqueur, blackberries, graphite, licorice, truffles and incense. This is another candidate for perfection. Full, dense and concentrated with no heaviness or astringency, it is a seamless, well-integrated Cabernet to drink over the next 25 years.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon The Beast (225 cases produced) is a blend of fruit from Vineyard 887, the Oakville Vineyard, the Villa Del Lago, Howell Mountain and Rutherford Estate. The saturated blue/purple color is followed by a full-bodied, pure and fragrant wine revealing subtle oak notes intermixed with abundant blue, red and black fruits. There is an opulence, richness and length in this multi-vineyard blend that has been impeccably assembled. It is one of the stars of Napa’s 2010 vintage. Drink it over the next 15+ years. The irrepressible David Del Dotto continues to offer a flamboyant presence in Napa Valley, but there is no discounting just how impressive his wines can be. Tel. (707) 963-2134