Dominus Estate - Napa Valley 2018 (750ml)
Price: $500.00
Sale Price: $400.00
#1 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
| Producer | Dominus Estate |
| Country | USA |
| Region | California |
| Subregion | Napa Valley |
| Varietal | Bordeaux Blend |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Sku | 2945 |
| Size | 750ml |
Dominus Estate is the Napa Valley property of Bordeaux producer Christian Moueix. The wine Dominus and Napanook are both estate bottled from the historic Napanook Vineyard. Located at the foothills of the Mayacamas the vineyard was planted in 1838 and continues to evolve under the stewardship of Christian Moueix. The estate's Bordeaux varietals benefit from the Yountville microclimate where temperatures are moderated by cool breezes from the San Pablo Bay. The resulting wines are each uniquely refined expressions of this special terroir. "
Jeb Dunnuck: 100 Points
The flagship 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon checks in as 89% Cabernet Sauvignon 6% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot brought up in 40% new French oak. With an essence of Cabernet-like character in its darker currants green tobacco cedar graphite and floral aromas and flavors this gorgeous wine is full-bodied and has bright yet integrated acidity polished tannins and a great great finish. It’s just gorgeously put together and a magical flawless wine. It's going to take a decade to hit maturity but will evolve for 40-50 years in cold cellars. It is as good as it gets in classic age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon! (Drink between 2031-2068)
James Suckling: 100 Points
This is incredible on the nose offering hot stones blackcurrants iodine and wet earth. Full-bodied with a tight center palate then it opens with a tannin structure that is weightless and spreads across the palate. Totally integrated on the palate. This is a magic-carpet wine. Really incredible. One of the reference points for the vintage. Drinkable now and please try a bottle but it?s one for the cellar.
jdWine Advocate: 99+ Points
Very deep garnet-purple colored the 2018 Dominus slowly emerges from the glass with profound notes of blackcurrant cordial ripe black plums boysenberries and Black Forest cake with hints of violets star anise cracked black pepper raspberry leaves and pencil lead plus a touch of garrigue. Medium to full-bodied the palate delivers impactful black fruit layers creating a beguiling sense of richness that is beautifully countered by invigorating freshness and great poise framed by super ripe plush tannins and beautiful tension finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note and finally lots of mineral sparks. For all that it is at the moment one cannot help but feel that this 2018 is holding something back. Give it a good five years in bottle at least and then get set for what I suspect will be a mind-blowing transformation over the next 30 years+. "This is an example of a cool ripening vintage" Dominus's technical director Tod Mostero said. "It was a late season?everything was late from budbreak onward. We started harvesting on October 1st then we got about an inch of rain so we stopped then we started again on the 9th and continued to the 15th." Proprietor Christian Moueix added "We thought the elements of the 2018 vintage were very refined and we wanted to play on that in the wine. It was the wines with a lot of delicacy and precision that went into the Dominus blend this year." The grace purity and precision of this 2018 Dominus is absolutely captivating right now. And yet poised on the brink of perfection its promise of something more with time in bottle is at the heart of its allure. Embrace this wine for the very fact that it doesn't give you everything up front and all at once.
Wine Spectator: 97 Points
Top 100 Wine #1 of 2021 This is a very serene and quietly confident wine that dovetails with the vintage?s overall terroir-driven profile. Settling in for the long haul with the fruit still showing well though it?s starting to cede ground to the immense structure this is driven by a humus and cast iron side in the end. Reveals richness and drive with a wide range of tobacco savory and alder accents. When the fruit remerges fully after cellaring this will be every bit the benchmark. Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.?Non-blind Dominus retrospective (August 2022). Best from 2024 through 2040. 4000 cases made.
Vinous: 97 Points
The 2018 Dominus is wild and ex
