2017 Vineyard 29 Cabernet Sauvignon Aida
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Tasting notes
Aged 20 months in French oak and a blend of 94% Cabernet, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Aida Estate is another rich, powerful wine that has slightly more pretty notes of black raspberries, mulberries, currants, crushed flowers, and spice, with plenty of minerality. With medium to full-bodied richness as well as beautiful balance and ripe tannins, it's marginally more approachable than the 29 Estate release yet will still benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age.
Critic scores
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Aida is a rich, boisterous wine that very much reflects the natural radiance of this northern sector of St. Helena. Super-ripe red cherry, plum, coffee, mint, leather, licorice and incense abound. I would give the 2017 a few years to shed some tannin. This is an especially flamboyant style, but there is plenty of structure underneath.
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Aida Estate is blended with 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it gives up crème de cassis, plum preserves and blueberry compote with chocolate box, fragrant earth, cigar and bay leaves plus wafts of tapenade and pencil lead. The palate is full-bodied, firm, grainy and quite chewy with a good fruit core and long finish.
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Aida Estate offers terrific aromatic intensity, power and structure. Scorched earth, grilled herb, leather and chocolate enshroud a core of dark fruit in this deep, explosive, highly promising wine. All of this fruit was picked before the fires.