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Levy & McClellan Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Napa Valley, USA

Martha McClellan-Levy, the wine consultant for Blankiet and Sloan, and Bob Levy, longtime winemaker at Harlan Estate, make up the husband and wife team behind this extraordinary vineyard designed to produce about 400 cases of a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Planted on the steep volcanic soils of Diamond Mountain at 500-600 foot elevation, with 2,900 vines per acre, this vineyard is planted as tightly as one is likely to find in Napa Valley.

Winemaker notes
Uncompromising viticultural practices and meticulously detailed vinification rewarded us with a wine of great concentration and ripeness. The round supple tannin sin the 2005 Levy & McClellan are the result of the cool growing conditions and the extended ripening. As the wine develops, the expression of the site where it is grown continues to come to the forefront. Accentuated by the low yield in a year known for more generosity, combined with 26 months in barrel, the result is a profoundly concentrated, supple and full-bodied wine.

99 pts CWA (California wine advisor)
It doesn’t get any better than 2005 Levy & McClellan Cabernet Sauvignon, an utterly vivid, breathtaking wine, the 2005 is built like a thoroughbred with perfect balance and overall sense of harmony ready to deliver extreme pleasure tonight or anytime over the next ten years. The opaque purple/onyx color is followed by intense, soaring aromas of crème de cassis, in addition to blueberry, melted chocolate and hints of eucalyptus. Representing the essence of cassis liqueur intermixed with blackberries, vanillin, exotic spices, and roasted coffee, this Cabernet is cashmere-like in quality and texture. The mesmerizing finish includes notes of graham cracker as well as Toblerone that dazzles the palate with finesse for a full minute. Wow!

RP95 – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Levy and McClellan’s 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, which spent 26 months in new oak (mostly Taransaud), is developing at an incredibly slow rate. Its opaque ruby/purple color is accompanied by beautiful aromas of roasted coffee, melted chocolate, creme de cassis, burning embers, camphor, and a hint of cedar. On the palate, the wine combines considerable substance, power, and extract with a sense of harmony as well as elegance. Black currant, blackberry, and gamy, meaty notes are also present in this full-bodied effort with an incredibly long finish. The wine is just beginning to shed some tannin and become accessible. It will benefit from another 4-5 years of bottle age, and will easily last for three decades or more.