The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is sourced from notable vineyards across Napa Valley, comes in at 83.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Not that there is any undue oak on the wine, but it does age for 24 months in French cooperage. Quite backward for a 2005, this opaque purple wine offers up notes of cedar wood, licorice, underbrush, blackcurrants and black cherries. Full-bodied, moderately tannic, but still exceptionally youthful and impressive, this wine is complex and evolved, a Napa version of a Bordeaux St.-Julien.

The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa (a blend from various sites) is a soft, sexy combination of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc. A big, sweet nose of Asian spices, smoky oak, and plenty of black and red fruits, are followed by a lush, round, generously constituted wine with medium to full body, decent acidity, and velvety tannins. Enjoy it over the next 8-10 years. Freemark Abbey has finally begun to rebound after a long period of mediocrity. Old timers remember that in the late sixties and early to mid-seventies, this estate made some incredible wines from Rutherford’s Bosche Vineyard.Tel.(800) 963-9698; Fax (707) 963-0554