2005 Solari Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
Bright red with ruby tones. Very expressive nose offers scents of cherry, licorice, mocha and earth, along with some slightly funky meaty and leathery nuances. Fat and sweet, with its dark raspberry and menthol flavors complicated by dried herbs and given shape by harmonious balancing acidity. But the meaty quality repeats on the palate and the rather light tannins show a faint dustiness. I would drink this Cabernet over the next few years, as I'm not sure how much longer it will retain its spring. Incidentally, I tasted a fresher and more minerally bottle of this wine as part of a 2005 horizontal tasting three years ago but I also discovered that I did not publish a note on this wine during the year following its release as my sample was too gamey. So there may well be bottle variation here. (15.4% alcohol)
Critic scores
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Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Bright medium ruby. Musky aromas of blackcurrant, minerals, herbs and black pepper. Fat, thick, dense wine with alluring sweetness to its pliant dark berry and black pepper flavors. Very concentrated, ripely tannic, still-youthful Cabernet with excellent sneaky length. The tannins are substantial and broad but not a bit hard. Still, I'd wait a few years before pulling the cork.
The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Solari is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon named after Larry Polly Solari, who bought Larkmead in 1948. This is great, great wine and certainly one of the undeniable superstars of this vintage. It has impressed me more and more every time I go back to it. Dense purple in color, with a Pauillac first-growth bouquet on steroids, including notes of crème de cassis, graphite, and a touch of oak and flora, the wine is full-bodied and opulent. It has lavish, extravagant levels of concentration as well as an extraordinary elegance and intensity. This is absolutely amazing stuff and is certainly as great as Cabernet Sauvignon can be in Napa Valley. Remarkably, it’s accessible now, but promises to age effortlessly for another quarter of a century.
Somewhat shy aromas of roasted grain, tar and black fruit, then an explosion on the palate of bright black raspberry and black cherry, plus tar, cocoa and cedary oak. Tangy acidity and a persistent finish. It’s quite ripe, yet exquisitely balanced. (LM) $75