Origin: Napa Valley, CA
Grape: 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot
Body: Full
Year: 2014
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price point: $40
Year Reviewed: 2018
Sometimes it is fun to evaluate and judge a wine and then read someone else’s review and what aromas and tastes they did reveal from their experience. So I chose this wine since it was a wonderful blend of Cab, Cab Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot….on the order of Bordeaux’s.
Interestingly enough this wine was not clear ruby…It was actually hazy (cloudy) red, but nothing was wrong with this bottle. On the nose, I pick up a bunch of interesting aromas of earth, gamey, animal, leather and black currant leaf, chocolate, and vegetal.
On the palate, you should experience black current, kirsch or menthol, leather, animal and farmyard. You should experience medium bold tannins, medium acidity. I was expecting a much longer finish on this wine, but it did finish short, although the quality would be rated very good.
Vineyard Notes
While Maestro is inspired by Bordeaux blends, at heart, it’s a free spirit. Rather than a set style, we take our cues each vintage from the vineyards themselves. 2014 was a fantastic season for Cabernet Sauvignon in our prized Wappo Hill and To Kalon vineyards, which led to the inspiration behind this blend. Our 2014 Maestro is designed to capture the refined balance between these two estate vineyards. Part of the Stags Leap growing region, Wappo Hill is a special site offering delicious consistency, and bringing freshness and softness to the wine. Fruit from Oakville’s long-revered To Kalon vineyard, considered Napa Valley’s grand cru, adds structure and bold tannins to the final wine.
Production Notes
2014 started with worrisome, drought-like conditions, and many feared a parched, dry spring as in 2013. Refreshingly, spring rains came in February and into March providing water for the soils and filling reservoirs. The wine growing season will most be remembered for the August 24th earthquake that occurred just as harvest was commencing in the Napa Valley. The vines were not affected and harvest finished early, bringing in beautiful, healthy fruit. Grape picking took place from September 17th to October 17th.
Winemaker Notes
The grapes were hand-harvested into small bins and carefully sorted in our gravity-flow cellar. The clusters were gently destemmed directly into traditional French oak tanks for cold soak, fermentation and extended maceration – a total of 24 days of wine to skin contact – maximizing the extraction of varietal character and complexity while keeping the tannins fleshy and supple. The new wine was drained and gently pressed into 28% new French-oak barrels for malolactic fermentation, assuring seamless integration of fruit and oak. The final blend was assembled through repeated tasting trials over the 21 months of barrel aging.
94 Points
Named for the opening of Robert Mondavi’s To Kalon Cellar in 2000, when the man himself threw a huge “cellar-bration” featuring a commissioned chamber-orchestra piece aptly named “Ode to To Kalon.” It was there that Mr. Mondavi leapt to his feet to lead the music. As a tribute to the pioneering Maestro of Napa Valley’s success, this wine—a blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc and 2% each of Merlot and Petit Verdot—offers up a meaty nose of deep, dark chocolate-covered strawberries. Flavors of tobacco, soil, slate, tar and olives go long on gritty tannins, and with a wave of the baton, it finishes on a high note of lilacs and caramel-coated coffee bean.
Meridith May – The Tasting Panel, August 2017
93 Points
This second vintage of a Bordeaux styled blend made in tribute to founder Robert Mondavi features bold menthol aromas and flavors at this point in its development, and there is a fair amount of new oak evident. That said, there’s plenty to like here, both now and for the future…I’m reminded of some of the early offerings from the winery under the maestro’s baton – they always came around.
Rich Cook – WineReviewOnline.com, September 5, 2017
https://www.robertmondaviwinery.com/2014-Robert-Mondavi-Winery-Maestro-Napa-Valley