Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford District Collection has a deep garnet-purple color and slips sensuously from the glass with alluring notes of baked blackberries, stewed plums and crème de cassis plus nuances of Indian spices, chocolate mint and dusty soil. Full-bodied, rich and laden with loads of black fruit preserves layers, it has a wonderfully spicy undercurrent and velvety tannins, finishing with a refreshing lift. Impressive! 248 cases were made. -Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon Reviews
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon District Collection Rutherford is another gem that has the charming, already approachable style that’s common from wines from Raymond, yet it also shines for its balance, mid-palate depth, and length on the finish. Lots of textbook Cabernet tobacco, earth, cassis, and spice notes emerge from the glass, and it’s another head-turning wine in the lineup that can be drunk today yet also cellared for 15 years or more.
Well-rendered, with a focused and streamlined feel to the mix of cassis, bitter cherry, savory and sweet tobacco notes. Light tug of earth keeps it nicely grounded. Drink now through 2027. 207 cases made. — JM
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford is a juicy, open-knit wine that will drink well right out of the gate. Hints of spice, leather, cedar and tobacco add lovely aromatic nuance to a core of succulent dark fruit. This is an especially forward, luscious style that works beautifully.
-- Antonio Galloni
Aged for 20 months in 53% new French oak, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford District Collection is deep garnet-purple colored with beautiful notes of kirsch, black and red currants, minted cherries and chocolate box with touches of cedar chest and unsmoked cigars. The palate is medium to full-bodied, firm and grainy with a lively line and a very long, fruity, uplifting finish. 330 cases produced.
Dark, rich and earthy, in a pleasing way, with a touch of chalkiness amid the mix of gravel, charcoal and tobacco flavors, firming on the finish. Best from 2020 through 2029.
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon District Collection Rutherford is blockbuster stuff that has everything going for it. Rich, full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, and still polished and elegant, it offers copious cassis, spice, toasted bread, graphite and violet aromas and flavors. As with all these wines, it’s impeccably made and has the class to keep for 15+ years.
Jean-Charles Boisset is determined to make Raymond a player in contemporary Napa Valley wine, dedicating his team to biodynamic farming and bringing a Folies-Bergère-meets-Dalí style to the winery’s tasting rooms. Boisset purchased Raymond in 2009 and hired Stephanie Putnam, late of Far Niente, as winemaker the following year. She now produces a range of 100 percent cabernet sauvignon “District” wines like this latest Rutherford release, a blend from the original Raymond estate on Zinfandel Lane and fruit from a vineyard in the western benchlands, allowed a long fermentation without added yeast. This vintage feels cool and elegant, shot through with brightness, as if the wine’s freshness were backlighting its red fruit purity. The wine isn’t heavy or grippy, but it completely fills its structure with luscious fruit, scents of roast mushrooms and dusty tannins that give it stature and staying power.
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford District Collection is medium to deep garnet-purple in color with an open-knit nose of baked plums and earth notions plus incense and dusty earth hints. Full-bodied with soft acid and plush tannins, it shows warm fruit and good length.
Boldly rich, with a hint of heat, this wine is ripe and dusty—two of the appellation’s most famous aspects. Blackberry, pepper jelly and tobacco flavors commingle, with sturdy grip of tannin and oak.
Powerfully extracted, this needs long exposure to air before the hard edges relent, moving from mineral oil, heat and black tannins to a smoother, softer feel. The texture becomes round and lush, while the mineral notes in the tannins keep it to an elegant line.
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon District Collection Rutherford represents 738 cases, and this is truly a remarkable wine and probably the best Raymond wine in many a year. Aged 19 months in 55% new French oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered, this seamless classic has a fragrant blackberry and cassis-scented nose, a touch of licorice, creosote and incense, Asian spice, and subtle background oak that make this a juicy, dense wine with moderate tannin, but with fabulous mouthfeel and intensity. This should drink well for 20-25 or more years.
Cherry-berry crumble topped with vanilla cream gives this wine a brambly, succulent quality, dusted in light cinnamon spice, cedar and well-integrated tannin and oak. Powerful and full-bodied, it’s fruity, balanced and enjoyable now. —V.B.
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford is a powerful, intense wine. Bittersweet chocolate, iron, black cherry and plum flow through to the finish, where a kick of classic Rutherford dust puts an exclamation point on a gorgeous, expressive 2013 to drink over the next 10-15 years. - Antonio Galloni
This wine is a blend of fruit from two sites on the valley floor in Rutherford-- blocks 1 and 2 at the Raymond estate as well as the Heitz Trailside Vineyards between the Silverado Trail and Conn Creek. The interaction of the fruit and the French oak is impressive, to the fact that more than 90 percent of the barrels are second use-- allowing the dynamic Rutherford tannins to stand firm. The fruit is refined, in a strawberry, raspberry, cranberry mode that freshens the finish. Delicious now with roasted hen-of-the-woods mushrooms next to a steak. (500 cases)