Winemaker Notes
The 2011 Mt. Brave Cabernet presents notes of roasted espresso, blueberry, anise, and violets with a cleansing minerality, expansive mouth feel, and great balance.
Blend: 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc

Professional Ratings
95/100 Vinous
The 2011 Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon is positively brilliant. Deep, dense and voluptuous, with no hard edges, the 2011 possesses terrific balance and tons of class. Black cherry, gravel, plum, spice, licorice, menthol and chocolate build in a Cabernet endowed with remarkable depth. There are no hard edges or awkward contours in this beauty from Mt. Brave and Chris Carpenter.

93/100 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Absolutely stunning, the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder is a beauty. Notes of charcoal, blueberry liqueur, black currants, licorice, incense and violets jump from the glass of this 93.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.5% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc blend that was aged in 91% new French oak. This full-bodied 2011 is a tremendous success for the vintage, again reflecting that mountain sites often did very well, and taste like a completely different vintage than the valley floor 2011s. This savory, fleshy wine has low acidity and ripe tannin, so it can be drunk now or cellared for a decade or more.

93/100 James Suckling
There is a purity of fruit here with blackberry, blueberry and licorice character. Full body with firm tannins and fresh, lively finish. Exceptional for 2011. Big surprise. 

92/100 Wine & Spirits
Chris Carpenter makes this wine at a Jackson family vineyard above the fog line in northern Mt. Veeder, a remote spot that was one of Jess Jackson's favorite places in his stable of mountain sites. The vineyard produced a delicious 2011 cabernet, a cool, black wine that shows none of the damp challenges of the vintages. Scents of anise meet crucnchy dark red fruit in a lush and approachable wine, its tannins forming fine layers of chocolate in the spaces between the fruit. It's approachable now and suited to several years of cellaring.

91/100 Wine Enthusiast
From high-elevation vineyards, this is a lean, dusty wine driven by dried herb, blueberry and savory tobacco, with a floral flirtation on the bouquet. Integrated tannins are still sizable and structured, the midpalate touched by a gamy, meaty suggestion akin to charcuterie.

90/100 Decanter
Powerhouse of a wine: bold, brash and full-on with dense, inky dried fruit. The palate has notes of almonds with a bit of oiliness and great weight and length.