Doc's Wine Shop
Featured Wine
We Are SOLD OUT of All 2012 OPUS ONE!!!
2013 is wonderful. Think about reserving yours.
Only 12 bottles will be available.
2011 Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Uncle Bill's Notes
2o11 Rattlesnake Hill Estate
Probably the first question people ask about expensive California Cabernet’s is, “Why this producer?“ or, “Why this vintage?” Wine is subjective, even an educated palette picks on personal taste. Everyone has a personal ideal of the 'best' flavor – the amounts of earth, fruit, secondary aromas, tertiary tastes, etc. Usually experts can agree on acidty, tannic structure, balance, and if a wine is made to drink fresh or designed for a long time in the cellar.
Since we have a small shop we need to focus on a just a few high-end special wines. When it came to 2011 we faced another challenge. It was a tough year for a lot of Napa wineries. Tight, under-ripe, out-of-balance, flabby are not good adjectives for a $100+ wine. Various sub-zones had off-years and areas without excellent drainage were out of luck. This didn’t make it impossible to find excellent quantity but it did limit the opportunity.
Est.
MMXII
After tasting the 2011 Barnett Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Rattlesnake Hill Estate we were satisfied that we had found a very good wine that would meet the expectations of clients willing to spend in the $100.00-to-$200.00-a-bottle range. It was Bordeaux-like in its structure. It had the typically rich, ripe fruit found in the Spring Mountain AVA.
It was a bit tight in the barrel sample but, in the $100.00+ wine range you are never looking for pop-and-pour. This was a wine that you would want to open in 2016 and it would cellar easily another 15 years. The secret of bad vintages is that, when made well, the wines are a bargain. Everyone wants Napa Cabs from 2012 and 2013 – These wines rated in the high 90s from the beginning… but very few people seek out the 2011 vintage.
Tasting:
When discussing the vintage in November of 2013 Vinious had this to say, “The highlight in this set of new releases, the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Rattlesnake Hill, is a beautiful, dark wine full of mystery and intrigue. Plum, melted road tar, smoke and exotic spices all flesh out in a big, dramatic Cabernet Sauvignon loaded with personality. The 2011 is a brooding, intense wine. There is a lot going on in the glass, as layers of flavor unfold over time. Readers will have to give the 2011 a few years in bottle, but it is impressive.” 93 points.