Mount Eden’s 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate comes across as silky, perfumed and impeccably balanced. Dark red berries, flowers, mint and spices flesh out in this gracious, medium-bodied wine. The Estate is all about subtlety and class. Sweet floral notes reappear to frame the exquisite finish. The blend is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2028. Mount Eden is one of the United States’ great heritage estates. The Chardonnays and Pinots have a track record for aging spectacularly well. As outstanding as the Chardonnays and Pinots can be, I was also pretty surprised by the quality of the Cabernet Sauvignons. Winemaker and proprietor Jeffrey Patterson favors indigenous fermentations for all his wines, which are also bottled with no fining or filtration. The top Chardonnay bottling, the Estate, spends a year in barrel and six months in steel, as do so many of the top whites in Burgundy these days. The Pinots are made with anywhere from 20-50% stem inclusion, which can make the wines hard to understand when young. If I am looking for an aged bottle of California Chardonnay or Pinot, Mount Eden is always at or near the top of my list. In this section, I have listed all of the wines from Domaine Eden, Mount Eden’s second label first, followed by the wines of Mount Eden. Tel (888) 865-9463; info@mounteden.com

Tough and tannic, this is made in a more aggressive style than many of today’s Cabernets. There’s a rich, intense core of blackberry jam that suggests superbly ripe fruit, and the oak is well integrated. Those tannins make it hard to appreciate at this time. Your best bet is to cellar the wine for a good eight years. — (12/1/2012) —90