Ardente Winery Cabernet Sauvingon ‘Grande Riserva’ 1997

Ardente Winery Cabernet Sauvingon ‘Grande Riserva’ 1997

Today I am excited for two reasons: This is my first post and I am drinking a 1997 Napa Cabernet. I thought to myself,”How better to inaugurate this blog than to open a Cabernet Sauvingon from one of Napa’s best vintages?”

Ardente Cabernet ReviewThe Vintage

Considered legendary by most, and overrated by some, Napa Valley’s 1997 vintage is certainly a memorable one. Many Napa cult Cabernet’s command significant premiums for the 1997 vintage versus other vintages. According to Napa Valley Vintner’s, which publishes a vintage recap on the growing conditions and the success of the harvest, “A temperate summer with moderate, steady temperatures allowed the fruit to reach optimum maturity with good hang time for the full development of character and flavors.”

The Wine

Has 16 years been good to this wine? While I wasn’t fortunate enough to have the opportunity to try this on release, I was very curious to taste this wine from a highly acclaimed vintage to see what, if any, secondary flavors have developed over time.

Ardente Cabernet Review

Color: The color immediately reminded me of a wine with some age on it. A nice reddish brown, there was definitely evidence of bricking.

Nose: Tobacco and dried cherry were the most pronounced notes.

Taste: The wine had a tart cherry and blackberry flavor backed by a nice tannin structure, with a long, somewhat rustic finish and nice acidity.

Region: Atlas Peak, Napa Valley, California

Value Rating: 4.25/5

Price: $25 ($55 Retail)

Score: 91/100

Value Proposition

This wine has held up well and is still very much alive. It isn’t the most elegant or complex wine I’ve ever had, but it is still a very tasty example of an aged Napa Valley Cabernet from a great vintage. This wine is available on the producer’s website for $55 per bottle, but I was able to purchase it for $25 per bottle with shipping over at http://wine.woot.com/.

It isn’t that often you can walk into your local wine shop and buy properly cellared Cabernet with 10+ years of bottle age. You can recreate something similar using a blackberry wine recipe but the joy of walking into a store and seeing a bottle that you’ve been searching for is unexplainable. When you purchase “library releases” from producers there is usually a premium associated with the purchase. Usually, these wines have never left the producer’s cellars which greatly increases your chances that the wine will be in good, drinkable condition. Combine these factors and I think this is a definite re-buy at this price, should Woot offer this wine again.

Just as a whole host of environmental factors came into play in making 1997 an outstanding vintage, several factors came together to inspire me to begin this wine blog. I can only hope that, like the 1997 Ardente ‘Grande Riserva’ Cabernet, this blog develops and becomes more interesting with time.

Ardente Cabernet Review


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
(Visited 283 times, 1 visits today)

5 thoughts on “Ardente Winery Cabernet Sauvingon ‘Grande Riserva’ 1997

    1. nathan

      Very nice post!! Since you are a fellow wooter I’ll be coming back to read your thoughts on your wine.woo purchases!! thave six 1997 and six 2002 Ardente Cabs on their way to my house as I write this!

      Cheers!
      Nathan

      Reply
      1. ro21012 Post author

        Thanks Nathan! I have been Wooting for years and have really enjoyed watching their business evolve. I have one each of the 2001 and 2002 Ardente’s. I’m looking forward to how they stack up to the 1997.

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *