Sterling Vineyards Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2014 (750ml)

 

Rated 93 Points by Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate

 

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Platinum offers up pronounced cassis, black cherry and blueberry notes with touches of menthol, chocolate box, cedar and violets.  Full-bodied and full-on hedonistic, it ticks all the big, rich, seductive Napa Cab boxes and doesn't disappoint on the long, fruit-packed finish.  Lisa Perrotti-Brown, October 31, 2017

 

Rated 93 Points by James Suckling

 

Plenty of blackcurrants and stones with hints of pine on the nose.  Medium to full body, ultra-fine tannins and a fine finish.  Lovely balance and refinement to this.  Better in 2020 but already beautiful.  Excellent example of a balanced Napa cab.  May 2017

 

Sterling Vineyards Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Napa Valley 2014

 

The 2014 Sterling Vineyards Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is made from our finest Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, which exhibit deep layers of spiced plum, black cherry, blueberry and graphite, structured by mature tannins.

 

Sterling Vineyards Platinum is the ultimate expression of our Napa Valley winemaking expertise.  Warm even temperatures in 2014 produced a classically styled graceful wine.  Select lots of the 2014 Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon were fermented in small oak barrels and one-ton bins, resulting in a luscious, robust, mouthfeel.  Aging in 75% new French oak barrels for 19 months adds notes of toast and dark chocolate to frame the wine’s dark cherry and blackberry flavors

 

Tasting Notes

 

The Sterling Vineyards Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon opens with dark fruit aromas of blackberry, bramble and mocha.  The mountain fruit used in the blend gives the wine firm structure yet the juicy fruit core and plush mouthfeel make it seductive and approachable.  The concentrated flavors of berries and black plum are balanced by oak spice, fine tannins and good acidity, leaving a long, flavorful finish.

 

Vintage:  2014

 

Wine Type:  Red Wine

 

Varietal:  Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Region:  Napa Valley

 

Winemaker:  Harry Hansen

 

Winemaker Notes

 

Made from our finest Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, our 2014 Platinum is our purest, most intense and most seductively smooth red wine.  Thoughtful decision making, from vineyard sourcing through winemaking, is reflected in the poise and polish of this incredibly dark and decadent wine.  The grapes, picked at their peak, deliver deep layers of spiced plum, black cherry, blueberry and graphite, structured by mature tannins.  Hints of cocoa and spice from French oak barrels cradle the intense fruit and grace the long finish.  For all its power, the palate remains velvety and plush, a signature of this distinguished wine.

 

Vineyard Notes

 

Cabernet Sauvignon reigns king in the Napa Valley, and the appellation excels in producing outstanding expressions of this admired varietal.  Napa Valley offers an ideal combination of topography, geology and climate that enables this variety to reach optimum ripeness, balance and finesse.  For the 2014 Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon, grapes were selected from Wooden Valley, Yountville, Rutherford, Diamond Mountain and Calistoga.

 

Vintage Notes

 

Cabernet Sauvignon reigns king in the Napa Valley, and the appellation excels in producing outstanding expressions of this admired varietal. Napa Valley offers an ideal combination of topography, geology and climate that enables this variety to reach optimum ripeness, balance and finesse. For the 2014 Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon, grapes were selected from Wooden Valley, Yountville, Rutherford, Diamond Mountain and Calistoga.

 

Winemaking Notes

 

After being hand harvested and hand sorted upon arrival at the winery, the grapes were fermented on the skins for 12 to 20 days.  The wine was then gently pressed, racked and aged for 19 months in 100 percent French oak (75 percent new).  Each lot was kept separate until final blending, allowing Winemaker Harry Hansen the flexibility to select the most expressive individual barrels for the final Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon blend.

 

 

Sterling

 

Vineyards

 

Our Heritage

 

As one of the landmark wineries of Napa Valley, Sterling Vineyards enjoys a rich heritage, including groundbreaking wines, diverse vineyards, a historical winery with stunning architecture, and much more.

 

Philosophy

 

The Sterling Vineyards winemaking team believes that our wines should express true varietal character.  We craft each wine with this in mind, choosing gentle techniques tailored to bring out the aromas and flavors that each Napa grape variety develops in the terroir it likes best.  The resulting wines have exceptional quality that shines anywhere, with intriguing complexity that brings out the best in a wide variety of cuisines.

 

Red Winemaking

 

Grapes for our Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Shiraz wines are harvested at full ripeness and brought to the winery in small boxes.  After careful hand-sorting, grapes move through the crusher-destemmer machine and on into oak tanks - or in some cases stainless steel tanks - and are inoculated with native yeasts for primary fermentation.  After primary fermentation, the wines are transferred to oak barrels.  Here the wines undergo malolactic fermentation in which harsher malic acid is converted to softer lactic acid.  Following malolactic fermentation, wines are gently racked from barrel to barrel, leaving their sediment and lees behind.  Depending on the varietal, vineyard, and vintage, winemakers give the wines 12 to 24 months of aging in carefully selected oak barrels.  Barrels range in type of oak, in age, and in levels of toast - and each variable imparts different characters that interact with and complement a wine’s aromas and flavors.  In 2008, we finished a new state-of-the-art winemaking facility to give our Reserve wines kid-glove treatment.  The new 10,000-case facility located across from our caves features the finest red winemaking techniques, including whole-berry fermentation, barrel spinning for cap management, and much more.  The resulting wines will reflect their terroir with a bold yet elegant intensity.