this cabernet is a blend of estate and purchased fruit. in a successful year, it rivals stag's leap's best wines, including cask 23, and 2008 was a very successful year. blended with 2% merlot, and aged in lots of new french oak, the wine is, in a word, stunning. rich, flashy blackberry and dark chocolate flavors are anchored by an earthiness suggesting cured olives and dried herbs. delicious now, this beauty should develop additional complexities throughout the decade.
Artemis