2018 Mon Chevalier Cabernet Sauvignon
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A gorgeous wine from a single vineyard site in Knights Valley, on volcanic and red hills clay loam. Black cherry, cassis, violet, garrigue, lavendar, cedar and mint, with a slate-mineral texture that gives contrast to the pure delivery of the fruit. Native yeasts, aged in 85% new oak, bottled unfiltered and unfined. 2018 was the first year that the wine was made entirely in their own St Helena winery.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
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The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier comes from the Knights Valley, just north of Napa Valley in the larger Sonoma County, and it always seems to me to have one foot in Napa and one foot in Sonoma. Boasting a similar ruby/purple color (as do all of the releases here), it’s slightly more reserved and stately (knightly, if you will), with building aromas and flavors of blackcurrants, toasted bread, dried violets, baking spices, and loamy earth. These carry to a pure, full-bodied, multi-dimensional Cabernet that’s flawlessly balanced, has ripe yet certainly present tannins, a notable sense of minerality, and a great, great finish. It’s just another incredible wine from Luc Morlet that can be drunk today with ample pleasure or cellared for 20-30 years if, for some reason, you feel the need to delay gratification.
Mon Chevalier comes from an estate-owned vineyard in the Knights Valley, mainly planted to clone 4. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier is composed of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Cabernet Franc. It has a very deep purple-black color, leaping from the glass with gregarious scents of kirsch, black raspberries, cassis and cedar chest, plus nuances of lavender, wild sage and tilled soil. The full-bodied palate is packed with taut, muscular black fruit with a firm backbone of grainy tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing with a lively herbal lift. 465 cases were made.
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier is the finest vintage made yet, until the 2019 arrives in this vertical. I especially admire its energy and drive, signatures of this late-ripening, cool year. There's plenty of the volume readers have come to expect here, but also a great deal of nuance too. The 2018 is such a classy wine.