The opaque purple-colored 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Monument Ridge comes from elevations ranging from 500 to 2,400 feet. It offers up aromas of stones, sweet red and black currants, and a big rich attack followed by a touch of herbaceousness. The latter component kept my score from going higher. Composed of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, it was aged 18 months in one-third new French oak. An excellent Cabernet with moderately high tannins, it will benefit from 3-4 years of cellaring, and should drink well over the following decade.
Stonestreet’s wines continue to go from strength to strength under the direction of South African winemaker Graham Weerts. The Chardonnays are spectacular, and the estate has added cuvees of Sauvignon and Semillon as well as a Riesling that are also noteworthy. The red wines are meant for those with cold storage facilities since they tend to be huge, tannic behemoths that need time in the bottle, even in a precocious, difficult vintage such as 2011. All five Chardonnays are brilliant, 100% Chardonnays fermented with indigenous yeasts in the barrel and aged ten months in anywhere from 45% to 100% new French oak. The results are stunning. The wines are all more similar than dissimilar, but I will try to articulate their minor differences.
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