Mount Eden 2012 Library Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 750ml

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon is a rich, intense wine that tastes much riper than the 13% stated on the label. Black cherry jam, plum, game, mocha, licorice and dark spices are all pushed forward. I would prefer to give the 2012 at least a few years in bottle to shed some baby fat.

Score: 94 points -- Antonio Galloni, Vinous, Jun 2016

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Mount Eden Vineyards is a small historic wine estate perched at 2,000 feet overlooking Silicon Valley, in the Santa Cruz Mountain Appellation, about 50 miles south of San Francisco. Founded in 1945 by Martin Ray, it is recognized as one of the original "boutique" California winery properties, focusing on small lots of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Mount Eden's lineage of estate-bottled Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is the longest in California. Planted in austere, infertile Franciscan shale on a cool, exposed mountaintop, these low-yielding estate vineyards have consistently produced world-class wines for over a half-century. In 2007 Mount Eden acquired an additional 55 Acre wine estate in the Saratoga foothills, which was christened Domaine Eden. Mount Eden Vineyards also produces non-estate Chardonnays from the central coast, primarily Edna Valley. Since 1981 Jeffrey Patterson has guided the winemaking and grape growing at Mount Eden. His emphasis is on wine growing rather than winemaking; an obsession with gentleness and naturalness in the handling of the grapes and wines is his ongoing passion.