Black Coyote Wines
2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
California: Napa Valley
Mission Briefing
97 Points
I’ll keep this review brief, dear Operative, as this wine is about to sell out…
We give this extraordinary wine our highest recommendation and encourage you to act very quickly. We only have a few cases left and once we sell out, this wine wil be gone forever.
Today’s 2007 Black Coyote Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon deserves the stellar 97 Point score that it received from Wine Enthusiast Magazine. It also deserves its place on the magazine’s Top 100 wines of the World list.
This is an exceptionally well-crafted, bright and honed wine, with no sharp edges. On opening, the wine is somewhat narrow in scope, in terms of the fruit-forwardness, but what is there is really exciting and delicious. The longer you decant or swirl the wine, the more elegant fruit emerges.
The winery suggests that you can lay this wine down for 20+ years. We think that it will peak at around 2018.
A contemplative wine, we suggest that you pair with quiet conversation… Or, a Middle Eastern lamb with mild and sweet & savory spice, cardamom, tangerine.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Very pretty with deep garnet hues from the edge of the wine, through its deepening core. Tall, skinny legs start high up on the glass wall before moving very slowly downward. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Complex and super lush. Black fruits meld with dark Italian dried meats, cocoa, brown tobacco leaf, woodsy. Fruits include dried plum, Bing cherry, dried cranberry, sun-dried tomato and soft spice. |
| Taste: | Layered and rich, Dark fruit compote, lead by blackberry, dark plum skin, . At the end, subtle dark spice. |
| Finish: | Long and plush with medium tannin. Plum and cassis persist alongside subtle spice. |
| Pairing: |
What the Winery Says
Tasting Notes
Wine Maker Notes Initial fragrances are of ginger bread and star anise. Aromas of cardamom, dark berries and an unmistakable sent of cedar fills the wine glass. Focused core of concentrated blackberry and black cherry flavors from entry to fall leaf finish. Full bodied with mulling spice and kirsch flavors. Supple texture, elegant balanced, long lasting finish and well integrated, supple tannins. A fully developed rich mountain Cabernet with complex aromatics. Best now and over the next couple decades with decanting.
Winemaker Specs
Winemaker: Tim Milos
Appellation: NapaValley, AtlasPeak
Production: 450 cases
Months in Oak: 22 months
Oak: 100% French 85% New
Wine Ageing: 20+ years
About the Winery
Dr. Ernest Bates found his refuge in the Napa Valley in 1997 and inspired by the vines. “I’ve always enjoyed fine wine and being inspired by the vineyards on my Napa property, I decided to create one of the first African American wineries in the Valley.” He saw the wine industry and the Napa Valley lifestyle to be a refreshing break from his work in the competitive world of medicine and medical supplies. So in 2000, he formed the Black Coyote label with a few close friends.
Over the last few years, Dr. Bates and his partners have followed the latest trends in wine production. They slowly developed a plan and philosophy dedicated to producing some of the finest wines that the Napa Valley has to offer.
“This partnership is more like a fraternity, because we are friends focused on crafting special wines that reflect the greatness of the Napa Valley, California’s premier grape growing region,” explains Dr. Bates. “We are having fun and we are making truly wonderful wines.”
Initially, they focused on making a great cabernet sauvignon. It began with sourcing cabernet grapes from Atlas Peak, an appellation known for its rocky, volcanic soils that lies north-east from Napa Valley. Even though it is fully exposed to sunlight throughout the day, our Atlas Peak vineyard sits at 1,800 feet of elevation so average temperatures are ten degrees cooler than on the Valley floor. The unique growing conditions, soil type and selected clones have helped create perfectly developed Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
Black Coyote produces 600 to 800 cases of its signature Black Coyote Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon depending on vintage. Black Coyote’s prized 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is the winner of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition’s Double Gold Medal, the 2009 XVII Concurso International Gold Medal, and Gold Medal and Best of the Best in the 2009 5th Annual Key Biscayne Wine and Food Festival.