2007 Gallica Cabernet Sauvignon

And speaking of flowery wines, the 2007 Gallica (96% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) is a tiny production from a vineyard slightly above the Dalla Valle Vineyard in Oakville. Blended with 45% fruit from further south in the cooler area of Coombsville, as well as a small amount from a St. Helena vineyard. The wine was aged 21 months in two-thirds new French oak and bottled without filtration. Outrageously seamless in its opulence, this fragrant, dense purple Cabernet Sauvignon boasts a glorious nose of blueberries, black currants, licorice, lead pencil shavings, and spring flowers (violets perhaps, rather than roses?). Medium to full-bodied, powerful yet elegant, fabulously pure, textured, and layered, this is wine that builds incrementally in the mouth and finishes with a resounding intensity and purity. A classic and prodigious Cabernet Sauvignon, it should drink well for 20+ years. A new project from long-time Spottswoode winemaking assistant Rosemary Cakebread, she is off to a roaring start – make no mistake about that. The winery name obviously has a double meaning, in that Gallica is the earliest known cultivated species of the rose, utilized in French perfumeries. Tel. and Fax: (707) 963-1096