- About This Wine
- Ratings & Reviews
- Tasting Notes
About This Wine
Ratings & Reviews
Tasting Notes
ABOUT THIS WINE
REVIEWS
WINEMAKER NOTES
Clos Du Val, French for “small vineyard estate of a small valley,” was founded in 1972 in the renowned Stags Leap District. The winery was first recognized for its Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at the famed Judgment of Paris in 1976, establishing its place as one of Napa Valley’s most iconic winery estates. Still family-owned today, Clos Du Val farms 350 acres of estate vineyards in the Stags Leap District, Carneros and Yountville appellations and continues to craft wines of balance and complexity, showcasing the fruit from the outstanding terroir on which our estate lies.
The 2015 season proved to be warm (or even just plain hot), meaning that harvest started and ended early. A major hurdle we had in Napa Valley was the series of rains in the early part of the season that washed off the pollen on the flowering grapes. This is called shatter and essentially means many of the grapes on each cluster never turned into fruit. The low yield ended up concentrating the flavors on the grapes that we did bring in to the winery and gave us some of the most concentrated wines we have seen in a long time.
Blend: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, & 8% Cab Franc
Alcohol: 14.7%
The 2015 season proved to be warm (or even just plain hot), meaning that harvest started and ended early. A major hurdle we had in Napa Valley was the series of rains in the early part of the season that washed off the pollen on the flowering grapes. This is called shatter and essentially means many of the grapes on each cluster never turned into fruit. The low yield ended up concentrating the flavors on the grapes that we did bring in to the winery and gave us some of the most concentrated wines we have seen in a long time.
Blend: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, & 8% Cab Franc
Alcohol: 14.7%
92 POINTS - "A tight and solid 2015 with plenty of blackberry and currant character and polished and silky tannins. Full body, pretty fruit and a fresh finish. Shows tension and focus. A blend of 80% cabernet sauvignon, 12% merlot, 8% cabernet franc. Better in 2019." - James Suckling
91 POINTS - "The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is rock solid and offers impressive currant and blackberry fruit characteristics, notes of graphite and lead pencil, medium to full-bodied richness, and terrific purity. A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, aged in 66% new French oak, it’s high-quality juice to drink over the coming decade or more." - Jeb Dunnuck
91 POINTS - "Dark, inky and voluptous in the glass, but with plenty of structural underpinning, the 2015 is super-expressive." - Antonio Galloni
Socially Rated 4+ / 5 ⭐
91 POINTS - "The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is rock solid and offers impressive currant and blackberry fruit characteristics, notes of graphite and lead pencil, medium to full-bodied richness, and terrific purity. A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, aged in 66% new French oak, it’s high-quality juice to drink over the coming decade or more." - Jeb Dunnuck
91 POINTS - "Dark, inky and voluptous in the glass, but with plenty of structural underpinning, the 2015 is super-expressive." - Antonio Galloni
Socially Rated 4+ / 5 ⭐
This Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is brimming with classic varietal characteristics of cassis, bramble fruit and blueberry. The hints of butterscotch on the long, smooth finish are a giveaway of the new, carefully selected French oak barrel influence.