Wine of the Day: Taylor Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Taylor Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Stags Leap District, Napa Valley

What a wildly evocative nose--one that you could easily get lost in, smelling it through dinner and forgetting to eat. It speaks of warm graphite and cedar, a cigar humidor opened on a hot summer day, flowers a day past their prime and grown funky and sweet, and crushed black currants: Majestic and complicated. It tastes of black raspberries, high-cocoa chocolate, vanilla pods, melted black licorice, and espresso. This is a deep, rich, infinitely rewarding wine that shows classic Napa exuberance, Stags Leap District’s approachability at an early stage of evolution coupled with its ageability, and a plush fruit character that demands attention. What’s amazing here is the balance of acid, alcohol, fruit, and tannin: It’s both masculine and feminine at the same time. This could go for another 8 - 10+ years, but why wait? It's absolutely gorgeous.