2008 Mount Eden Vineyards Domaine Eden Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon is a beautiful fleshy wine laced with sweet tobacco, tar, game, grilled herbs and dark red raspberries. It shows fabulous depth and richness, with great personality. Firm tannins frame the finish in this exquisite beauty. The 2008 is more complex than the 2009 tasted alongside it, but will also require slightly more time. The blend is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 9% Merlot, 3% Petite Verdot and 1% Malbec, all from five vineyards in Saratoga and Los Gatos. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2023. Mount Eden is one of the United States’ great heritage estates. The Chardonnays and Pinots have a track record for aging spectacularly well. As outstanding as the Chardonnays and Pinots can be, I was also pretty surprised by the quality of the Cabernet Sauvignons. Winemaker and proprietor Jeffrey Patterson favors indigenous fermentations for all his wines, which are also bottled with no fining or filtration. The top Chardonnay bottling, the Estate, spends a year in barrel and six months in steel, as do so many of the top whites in Burgundy these days. The Pinots are made with anywhere from 20-50% stem inclusion, which can make the wines hard to understand when young. If I am looking for an aged bottle of California Chardonnay or Pinot, Mount Eden is always at or near the top of my list. In this section, I have listed all of the wines from Domaine Eden, Mount Eden’s second label first, followed by the wines of Mount Eden. Tel (888) 865-9463; info@mounteden.com