There is an abundance of bright cassis fruit initially on the nose, definitely an Opus signature, with charcoal and spice from the French oak mingling in the background. The palate has plenty of ripe black fruit but this is not at all overworked or overripe, showing its Bordelais pedigree. There is a streak of freshness underpinning the wine, which along with beautiful, silky tannins make this one to forget in the cellar for a decade.
Fergus Stewart - Private Account Manager

Bright in colour and swathes of Cassis, Damson and Blueberry fruit on the nose with hints of flint and mineralite in the background. A richly textured palate with an abundance of juicy dark berried fruit tempered by the sensibility of Mocha, espresso bean and smoke. The tannins are lush and melded tightly into the wine with a great acidity that gives it a beautiful lift.
Stuart Rae - Private Account Manager

It is not often that I am this mesmerised by the scent of a wine, so much so that the aromatics are almost enough to satisfy.  Dark cherry, black plum, blackberries, cacao, smoke, blueberries sage, all wrapped up in fine grained oak.

Thankfully the palate is just as good, with more of the same plus dark raspberry, blackcurrant, liquorice and vanilla. The beautifully balanced acidity is super refreshing, the power is restrained and the classical elegance is apparent. This has all of the old world restrain, structure and age ability that you could desire. As one of the great Cabernet Sauvignons of America, it is certainly capable of aging for 8-15 years.
Laura Atkinson-Godwin, Private Account Manager

A charming, enticing and complex nose of layered cassis, damson and blueberry fruit, underpinned with a hint of graphite/tobacco and peppery exotic spice.  Full bodied on the mid palate and yet with a velvety and fluid personality, great acidity offering real lift.  Amazing palate truly emphasizing the philosophy of iron fist & velvet glove – true power versus balance and harmony. 

So well balanced and fluid now but will easily age another 20 + years. Truly cerebral, the alchemy of blending grapes from the Fay & S.L.V. vineyards in exceptional years to produce Cask 23 has truly worked, a whole that is indeed greater than the simple sum of its parts.  The flagship wine back on form, confirming its status as one of California’s best and why it outshines many a classed growth Bordeaux. 2022 – 2035+.
Stuart Rae, Private Account Manager

2012 was a textbook vintage in Napa. Above average warmth and sunshine, but with no major heat spikes to damage the crop. September and October saw some fine weather allowing the Cabernets to ripen perfectly on the vine with little disease pressure. Classically Californian in style, these are rich, concentrated wines that will reward extended cellaring, all in all, a great vintage.

Cardinale and Lokoya, two of the top names in California are part of the Artisan & Estates portfolio of Jackson Family Wines, a collection of independently run premium wineries, each owned by the late Jess Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke. Their vision is to make luxury wines from some of the great wine growing regions of the world.

In California, over 95% of Jackson Family’s Wine’s vineyards are located on mountains, ridges, hillsides and ‘benches’ where the vine has to struggle to survive because of the poor soils and the harsher conditions. This struggle shows in the quality of the final wines produced. Higher elevation and proximity to the ocean both play crucial roles in moderating temperatures, resulting in greater flavour, concentration and balance in the wines. All of the wines of both Lokoya and Cardinale are made by the talented Chris Carpenter.

Chris’s vision is to keep the properties separate, with Lokoya expressing the details of each of the cool Mountain sites, whereas Cardinale is viewed as a symphony of all the constituent parts.

Jess Jackson’s & Christopher Carpenter’s acclaimed viticultural venture, Cardinale makes wine from a selection of diverse Napa Valley regions, including Veeder Peak, Keyes Vineyard on Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, Diamond Mountain, the To-Kalon Vineyard in Oakville and the Andrew Geoffery Vineyard. All are situated in the Mayacamas and Vaca mountain ranges surrounding the Napa Valley, with the exception of To-Kalon, the most highly regarded of the valley floor vineyards near Oakville.

Cardinale creates a single wine from each vintage. The wine is a limited production Cabernet Sauvignon based blend. Made from select lots of low-yielding vines, pressing is done in traditional basket presses, with the young wine placed into mostly new, tightly grained, French Chateau styled oak barrels for extensive aging.

2012 was a textbook vintage in Napa. Above average warmth and sunshine, but with no major heat spikes to damage the crop. September and October saw some fine weather allowing the Cabernets to ripen perfectly on the vine with little disease pressure. Classically Californian in style, these are rich, concentrated wines that will reward extended cellaring, all in all, a great vintage.

Cardinale and Lokoya, two of the top names in California are part of the Artisan & Estates portfolio of Jackson Family Wines, a collection of independently run premium wineries, each owned by the late Jess Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke. Their vision is to make luxury wines from some of the great wine growing regions of the world.

In California, over 95% of Jackson Family’s Wine’s vineyards are located on mountains, ridges, hillsides and ‘benches’ where the vine has to struggle to survive because of the poor soils and the harsher conditions. This struggle shows in the quality of the final wines produced. Higher elevation and proximity to the ocean both play crucial roles in moderating temperatures, resulting in greater flavour, concentration and balance in the wines. All of the wines of both Lokoya and Cardinale are made by the talented Chris Carpenter.

Chris’s vision is to keep the properties separate, with Lokoya expressing the details of each of the cool Mountain sites, whereas Cardinale is viewed as a symphony of all the constituent parts.

2012 was a textbook vintage in Napa. Above average warmth and sunshine, but with no major heat spikes to damage the crop. September and October saw some fine weather allowing the Cabernets to ripen perfectly on the vine with little disease pressure. Classically Californian in style, these are rich, concentrated wines that will reward extended cellaring, all in all, a great vintage.

Inglenook was established in the top-rated Rutherford appellation in Napa Valley in 1879 by a Finnish sea captain, Gustave Niebaum. After a chequered history, which included the winery shutting down during prohibition, the estate regained its original reputation for producing very fine wine during the 1940s when it was owned by John Daniel. Now owned by film director Francis Ford Coppola he has brought on board a smorgasbord of talent in the guise of viticulturist Stephane Derenoncourt and winemaker Philippe Bascaules, from Chateau Margaux.

Pale, with a haunting red fruit nose. All new (French) oak but you’d never guess, such is the integration of wood and purity of the fruit. This oozes Pinot Noir character. Crunchy red fruit on the palate – redcurrants and cherries at the forefront. This is amazingly fleet footed and dances across the palate with a finish that seems to last for minutes. I’ve long been an admirer of ABC’s Pinots but this seems to be on another level. California’s answer to Chambolle Musigny perhaps? Totally irresistible now, this will be capable of ageing for another 5+ years. Fergus Stewart, Private Account Manager

The 2012 Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir has a full nose of red cherries and ripe strawberries. The macerated morello cherry character continues on the palate, complemented by subtle notes of oak and vanilla. The beauty of this wine comes through on the refreshing, herbaceous edge to the palate, which has grip and presence, with the tannins adding definition. This could do with another year perhaps to be at its peak but is already a wonderful wine.
Catriona Felstead MW, Wine Buyer

Founded in 1982, Au Bon Climat (which the winemaker translates as "a well-exposed vineyard") produces internationally-recognized Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc wine from grapes grown in California's Santa Barbara County. The Au Bon Climat winery is located on the world-famous Bien Nacido Vineyard, and is owned by winemaker Jim Clendenen. Like an extra from a Spinal Tap video or a lost member from the Beach Boys,  Jim Clendenen is quintessentially Californian in style, while his wines take on an old world and classic style.  Jim Clendenen has full respect for his peers in Burgundy and says, '… I like to think our wines can share that stage.' He is responsible for some of the most balanced and delicious wines this side of Burgundy.

A trusted and faithful supplier with Berry Bros. & Rudd over the years, we have grown to love and respect the style and panache present in the Au Bon Climat wines.  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that present a beautiful perfume and balance so ever present in top end Burgundy yet with a New World / Californian brightness to each wines. 

Jim Clendenen has been no stranger to praise from the trade, indeed Au Bon Climat has been on Robert Parker's short list of Best Wineries in the World, and has in the past been selected by Oz Clark as one of fifty world-wide creators of Modern Classic Wines.  His basic wines with their barrel ageing before release are delicious early in their lives, but having tasted back vintages I can attest to the fact that Au Bon Climat wines (especially the single vineyard offerings) have an ability to gain great complexity with age over the next 3 – 5 years.

Reticent and tight at first on the nose, the wine opens up to reveal dark, small-berried cassis fruit, fruits of the forest and wet stone. The palate is the essence of power and elegance, like a giant slalom skier – elegant, suave in form, yet with great power and strength. The palate is full of minerality, with black and red fruit, and an iron or pepper-like spiciness. This has great acidity at the front and tensile tannins – ripe yet tight and huge, boding very well for its future development. One can almost see the remoteness and wildness of this unique vineyard, in terms of the wine’s strength and brooding darkness, yet at the same time an almost effortless, wistful, cerebral quality. For me, it has a distinct personality and sense of place, hints of Napa in the fruit and yet the structure reminded me of the strength and iron core so often found in the likes of Ch. Latour versus its other First Growth Bordeaux peers. Much like some of the world’s finest and most complex wines, this is a wine made on the edge of what is possible, truly expressive of its surroundings, opening and closing over its evolution, flirting with perfection. It’s something very special. It’ll be hard to resist over the next few years, but this has the stuffing to last very easily over the next decade or so. Drink 2027-35+.
Stuart Rae, Fine Wine Commercial Manager 

Returning to my original tasting notes, it is clear I must have been utterly captivated by the 2012 Promontory. Descriptors referencing black forest gâteaux, macerated blueberries and baking spices of all kind were scribbled with haste to capture the character of the wine before the next intriguing layer unfurled. On reflection, my initial excitement remains palpable, what a truly glorious offering. The precision and purity on the nose is remarkable, a crystalline clarity like you’re smelling in high definition, there’s lots of everything but not too much of anything. Cherry and blackcurrant fruit is rich and dense, but held in check by granite and cool stone. Left in the glass, a cooling freshness persists. So fine is the interplay of lustrous berries and svelte, silky tannins that, for a red of such grand proportions, it seems almost refreshing. All before a finish that lasts an age. Outstanding and a real joy to drink, an experience any wine lover should aspire to.
Jared Ehret, Private Account Manager

Woodbridge’s vineyard tucked away near the famous Eisele Vineyard, now owned by Château Latour, produces the wine known as the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Few and Far Between Vineyard. This is another luxurious, exceptionally concentrated and loaded wine with great intensity, a multi-dimensional mouthfeel, unbelievable amounts of blackberry, cassis and blueberry fruit, crushed rock minerality, and a floral note. It is easily the most backward of the five Cabernet Sauvignons I tasted from Woodbridge in 2012. The wine is super-intense, displays plenty of tannin, but is silky and well-integrated. This wine needs at least 4-5 years of cellaring, and should keep for 30-50 years, as it promises to be one of the modern-day legends from Napa.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - The Wine Advocate, 28th Aug 2015