2010 MacDonald Cabernet Sauvignon
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I can't help myself. Even though all of the wines in this tasting are well-established benchmarks for excellence, our primary mission with events and tastings is education, so I throw in one mystery wine that is tasted blind. MacDonald's 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, from the famed to-Kalon vineyard in Oakville, turns out to be one of the wines of the night. Explosive and exuberant to the core, the 2010 hits the palate with waves of blue/purplish fruit, dark spices and French oak. The 2010 is of course far too young to deliver maximum pleasure, but it is simply stunning tonight. Most importantly, in this vintage, the first commercial release, brothers Alex and Graeme MacDonald made a wine that has no problem sitting alongside Napa Valley's long established stars. This is a fabulous showing.
Punteggi della critica
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Altre recensioni e punteggi
The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon is deep, inky and absolutely beautiful. Plums, blackberries, menthol, tar, violets and spices all flesh out in a powerful, structured wine endowed with serious depth and richness. With time in the glass, the 2010 turns even more intense, almost pungent, with scents of black olive and lavender that add further dimensions of complexity. Patience is going to be the key here, but readers who bought the 2010 are going to be extremely happy. This is a fabulous debut from the MacDonald brothers. The 2010 was made predominantly from 40 year-old vines planted on St. George rootstock. Fermentation and maceration lasted 30-40 days, after which the wine spent two years in 100% new French oak barrels with minimal racking. The bottle I tasted at the winery had been double decanted for 24 hours prior to my visit, which is how the MacDonald brothers suggest enjoying their wine. For what it's worth, I much preferred the bottle I tasted in my office a few days later, which I opened and followed for several days. In my view, young wines do not always respond well to long periods of aeration and the result can often be that they shut down rather than open up. That was certainly the case here.