2009 EMH Cabernet Sauvignon Black Cat- USA, California, Napa Valley (11/14/2014)
This is the second bottle we’ve had - the first was over a year ago. The wine was decanted for a couple of hours before drinking. This is a sexy and feminine wine. The nose is a bouquet of florals and the flavor, a kiss of cherry fruit. There is no hint of alcohol - it’s lithe and sleek. The finish has more red fruit and lingers in the mouth. A really nice wine - drink now or hold for several more years. EXCELLENT. (93 pts.)
Said it before, but I love this wine. We’ve had 3-4 bottles of the '09 over the last two years and they’ve all hit the spot. While my recent cab preferences tend to run to some larger scaled wines, I find Merrill’s cabs to be quite unique and possessing an elegance that seems rare in CA cabernet.
Thanks, Scott, I appreciate you taking the time to post a note.
This is indeed “a sexy and feminine” wine. It was picked at just 24 Brix, which is quite low on the Napa scale. But as you can see/taste, that fruit was right where I wanted it to be on the day of harvest. I put just under 30% new French oak on it, and doing that allowed that pure, rich fruit to shine.
While you were enjoying that bottle, I had opened a bottle of the 2009 EMH Black Cat Special Selection for a group of Berserker friends in the SF area. Some people are posting impressions of that wine, which is the big sister to the one you opened. You can follow notes that appear against that dinner, graciously hosted by Andrew and Chiara Taylor, in the “Truffle and Barolo” offline.
I had a bottle of this last night as well, and my impressions are eerily similar to yours, Scott. Very floral nose, with more red fruit than I would have expected, and an almost Pinot-like mouthfeel (well, at least for a cab). Tasted in a group of four people, among a few other Napa cabs, the Black Cat was, at different points of the night, everyone’s favorite wine at least once. Lovely.
Note, I didn’t taste this wine but rather the one Merrill mentioned and the others she poured from 2004, 2011 and 2012. There is some new oak character but I didn’t find anything out of balance.