2014 Cabernet Sauvignon
91 Points-James Suckling, There is real bramble berry and blackberry-bush character to this as well as underbrush, coffee bean and eucalyptus. Full-bodied with very chewy tannins, a lovely serving of acidity and a fruit-forward finish, Intense but very enjoyable.
2013 Cabernet Sauvignon
93 Points-James Suckling, A lively cab with lots of blackcurrant and berry character. Hints of fresh herbs and mint. Medium to full body, fine tannins and a fruity finish. Shows style. Drink or hold.
GOLD~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
SILVER~American Fine Wine Competition
2013 Barrouge
GOLD~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
92 Points~James Suckling, A soft and fruity red with chocolate and berry character. Medium to full body, velvety tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Drink now or hold.
2013 Sauvignon Blanc
GOLD~American Fine Wine Competition
2012 Sauvignon Blanc
4/5 STARS BevX~Brilliant pale straw color. The nose reveals classic Sauvignon Blanc notes of sweet grass, grapefruit, green melon, lime, gooseberry, and citrus zest. The palate is in full agreement with the nose delivering a rich but tart mid-palate with waves of grapefruit and tart green melon. A vibrant and complex taste of summer perfect for alfresco dining.
2012 Cabernet Sauvignon
BevX-4.5/5 Stars-This is a big wine that needs to be decanted to best enjoy and if you have the patience it will evolve beautifully over the next decade in your cellar. 94 points out of 100
94/100 Points-The Sommelier Company, Adam Edmonsond,CSW
91 Points-James Suckling
2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
94 Points~James Suckling
90 Points~Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
Gold~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2012 Barrouge
5/5 Stars-BevX~This wonderful Cabernet blend spends 21 months in French oak while never expressing a heavy presence of oak. Fewer than 400 cases were made from this ideal Napa Valley vintage. This wine is a classic and will do well if cellared for a decade but don’t wait too long as the vibrant fruit notes are not to be missed. 95 points out of 100.
90 Points-James Suckling
2010 Barrouge
GOLD~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
GOLD~American Fine Wine Competition
86 Points Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
2012 Merlot
4.5/5 Stars-BevX-This beauty showcases northern Napa fruit that is handled with care and reverence of the fruit. It’s certainly one of top Merlots of the year and worth every penny of the asking price. It does have a future if you wish to cellar this gem but it is drinking so well right now that I would imagine that damn few bottles get a chance to rest. 97 points out of 100.
2010 Merlot
GOLD~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
86 Points~Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
92 Points, Wine Advocate~The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon has a little more depth, power and richness than the Barrouge. Endowed with a serious core of intense fruit, good length and terrific overall balance, the 2009 continues to open up in the glass, showing its considerable power, depth and grace. Dark red fruit, smoke, tobacco and scorched earth add an element of gravitas on the finish. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024
92 Points, David Lawrason, winealign.com~This is impressive-capturing cabernet's more stately structure as well as Napa's ability to deliver richness and polish. It is 100% cabernet which is an interesting notion in Napa. Just because blending with merlot et al in Bordeaux is the norm, there is no reason that California with its warmer climate needs to do it too. This combines floral, plummy, spicy aromas. There is some sweetness, and richness, but the finish is dry. Excellent length. Best 2015-2020+. Tasted May 2014
4 STARS BEVX.COM~Deep, dark scarlet red color. The aromas are simply seductive with rich, ripe red berry fruit with hints of dried fruits, cassis, black cherry, vanilla, allspice, and oak. The palate echoes the nose delivering a silky textured Cab with lush, round edges. Wonderfully balanced and extremely harmonious weaving notes of fruit, spice, earth, and oak seamlessly. Complex while hedonistic and pure. A great Napa Cab.
2009 Barrouge
90 Points, Wine Advocate~Barlow’s 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Barrouge flows from the glass with notable silkiness and depth. Raspberry jam, super-ripe red fruit, sweet spices and tobacco all meld together in this supple, engaging wine. The best qualities of the 2009 vintage come through in spades. The 2009 is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 8% Petite Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2017.
GOLD~ American Fine Wine Competition
SILVER~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
3/5 STARS BevX~Deep, dense scarlet to burgundy color. The nose offers scents of concentrated red and black berries with accents of mineral, brown baking spices, oak, and earth. The palate echoes the nose as it delivers waves of rich, ripe fruit with complimenting flavors of mineral, black pepper, and brown spices. Heat emerges on the finish and wood tannins rise as well. Dense and chewy stewed fruit notes trail on the long finish.
2009 Merlot
GOLD~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
3 STARS BevX.COM~Deep, dark ruby red color. The aromatics offer a complex mélange of red berry fruit, vanilla, and earth with accents of oak. The palate opens with silky red berry notes flanked by vanilla, mineral, black pepper, and oak. Nicely balanced with long trailing note of fruit and spice with soft tannins and a bit of alcohol heat.
2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
91 Points, David Lawrason on WineAlign.com: “This is 100% cabernet from hillside vineyards near Calistoga in the upper, warmer end of Napa. It has a lovely lifted floral, cassis/plum cabernet fruit aroma with some mint, white chocolate and generous spice. Its full bodied, very smooth and sweet and rich with a black forest cake, sweetish finish and easy tannin. Excellent length. Tasted October 2013
2008 Barrouge
DOUBLE GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
91 Points, Robert Parker~The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon may be the finest wine of this group. It needs some time to resolve its noticeable tannins, but I love the pure black currant fruit interwoven with tobacco leaf, ink, smoke, and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, pure, rich, and convincing, give it 2-3 years of cellaring and enjoy it over the following 15+.
GOLD~San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2007 Barrouge
90 Points, Robert Parker~The 2007 Barrouge is composed of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 10% Petite Verdot. A softer wine, it reveals chocolate, black cherries, and black currants, a lush texture, elegance with substance, and a nicely textured finish. It should drink well for 7-10 years.
2007 Merlot
88 Points, Robert Parker~The 2007 Merlot is more supple and seamless, although it still has some tannin to resolve. Its deep ruby hue is followed by hints of underbrush, sweet mocha, black, and red fruits, and dusty, loamy soil notes.
DOUBLE GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
90 Points, Robert Parker~The outstanding 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon offers a classic nose of sweet plums, black currants, and damp earth aromas followed by an attractive, medium to full-bodied wine. This stylish, flavorful 2006 exhibits outstanding purity, richness, and depth. Give it 1-2 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 12-15 years.
87 Points, One Puff Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine
2006 Barrouge
88 Points, Robert Parker~The 2006 Barrouge (80% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot) offers up notes of smoked herbs, damp earth, tar, sweet cherries, and plums. Medium-bodied and elegant with some of the vintage’s tell-tale tannins, it offers good flesh as well as an alluring appeal. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2006 Merlot
87 Points, One Puff, Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine~While the case can be made that this wine is driven a little too much by ripeness and that it is a bit gruff with more finishing tannin than classic Merlot really wants, it comes through with a fine measure of plump, black-cherry fruit and highlights of dark chocolate that bring an added dimension of richness. Its youthful coarseness will diminish with age, and it deserves a few years of rest before its cork is pulled. Limited production and/or limited geographic distribution. Medium Red. Balanced, good depth, medium tannin. Beef and lamb. Cellar for future drinking. Wine will improve with bottle aging.
89 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine~Made in a drier, leaner and earthier style, with herb and tobacco-infused blackberry, currant and cherry flavors. A touch of stylish oak adds a fine note. Not a blockbuster, but balanced and elegant.
87 Points, Robert Parker
SILVER, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~At three plus years, this Cab still is tannic and youthful, although with decanting its ready now. Dry and elegant, it has rich flavors of cassis, with barrel notes of cedar and cigar box. Should develop bottle complexities through 2013, with proper cellaring.
91 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine
SILVER, Houston International wine Competition
92 Points, Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine
2005 Barrouge
90 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine~This is Barlow’s Bordeaux blend. Based on Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s a beautiful wine, dry, balanced, and fully ready to drink now, although it will take some years of cellaring. With fine acidity and tannins, it displays elegant flavors of currants and cassis, with rich edges of mocha and cedar.
91 Points Two Puffs, Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine~70% Cabernet Sauvignon; 20% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc; 5% Petit Verdot. There are similarities between the two very likeable Barlow offerings, but this one is a touch juicier and favors the red cherry end of the flavor spectrum as well as having an unusual hint of blackberry in its personality. It is its mate's equal in size, in fleshiness and in depth, and while tannic, it is less so and invites earlier consumption. Very limited availability, Medium Red, Balanced, good depth, medium tannin. Beef and lamb, Drinkable now. Further bottle aging can improve this wine.
91 Points, Wine News Magazine
SILVER, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2005 Merlot
92 Points, Wine Enthusiast~Cherry and blueberry aromas with an exotic white frosting accent. Creamy and rich with cooked cherry and dusty chocolate flavors. Prominent tannins join the mix of cherry, minerals, and fresh acids in the close.
92 Points, Two Puffs, Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine~Attractive aromatic accents of violets and woodsy, forest-floor spice push this otherwise fruity and well-defined young effort to the head of the pack, and the wine's deep, nicely proportioned flavors similarly show a bit more complexity than is the norm for Merlot. Fleshy, full-bodied, and fairly long on the palate, this one wins further applause for its exemplary balance, and it affords plenty of immediate pleasure while promising to get even better over the next several years. Very limited availability, Medium Red, Balanced, good depth, medium tannin, Beef and lamb, Drinkable now. Further bottle aging can improve this wine.
GOLD, Reserve Class Champion Houston International Wine competition
DOUBLE GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
92 Points, Wine News Magazine
2003 Cabernet Sauvignon
90 Points Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate~The dense ruby/purple-tinged 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon ratchets up the level of complexity and richness. No shy wine at 14.9% alcohol, it offers creme de cassis, cedar, licorice and a touch of vanillin. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and aged 21 months in French oak, it is a generously endowed, warm, alluring, pure, classic example of Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. It should last another 10-15 years.
GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~Deep in aroma, in flavor, in depth and finish, this Cabernet fulfills your Napa Cab expectations. The mouth feel is all velvet and silk, the tannins are perfectly sculpted, and the blackberry and coffee flavors are ripe and satisfying without being overwrought. Best now and for a decade.
91 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine
2003 Barrouge
92 Points Robert Parker, Wine Advocate ~The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Barrouge is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot with 15.3% alcohol. The 20% Merlot component adds an extra dimension to the aromatics and flavors. While the Barrouge may not be as powerful or rich as the Cabernet Sauvignon, it is slightly more complex without sacrificing the big, exuberant, classic style of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Its youthful dense ruby/purple color is followed by a dense, rich, full-bodied wine that promises to age nicely for at least another decade. However, there is no reason to defer drinking given the wine’s supple tannins and well-integrated acidity, alcohol and wood. These are all very good efforts from a winery that remains surprisingly low profile.
SILVER, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2003 Merlot
87 Points Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate~The 2003 Merlot (15.1% alcohol) is a monolithic-styled wine. The color remains a healthy dark ruby/purple, and the wine is full with plenty of stuffing. If you’re looking for a juicy, succulent mouthful of uncomplicated Merlot, you’ll enjoy this wine. It is well-made and still youthful, especially for a Merlot in this vintage.
2002 Barrouge
DOUBLE GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
91 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine~Very smooth and ripe, with a rich complex of black currant, cassis, cocoa, green olive, smoke and oak flavors. It is a soft wine, but far from simple. Finishes with Asian spices.
90 Points, One Puff, Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine~80% Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Merlot. Emphatic ripeness is the marginally dominant partner to a generous measure of juicy young fruit both in the outgoing, abundantly oaked aromas and in the slightly succulent flavors of this well-stuffed young wine. If not forbiddingly tannic, it is still rough and unpolished just now, but fruit fights its way gamely past its astringency and invites five years of low risk aging.
2002 Merlot
GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~Takes the usual formula of cherries, blackberries, cocoa and oak and kicks it up a notch. It has all that, but the extra layers of dusty Asian spices and a wonderful integration of oak with ripe tannins add interest. The bottom line is elegance.
91 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine
2002 Cabernet Sauvignon
GOLD, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition~An uplifting bouquet of rose water, plum and vanilla. Rich, round and satisfying blackberry jam flavors. Youthful tannins are well integrated, while the opulent fruit picks up a mineral nuance in the lengthy close.
93 Points, Wine News
2001 Cabernet Sauvignon
92 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine~Ripe in black currant fruit and nicely balanced in rich tannins and good acids. Just oozes flavor and character. Almost a food group of its own. Keep the food pairing simple, like a grilled steak or rib roast.
88 Points, One Puff, Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine~Nicely concentrated cassis-like fruit is joined by touches of loam, dark chocolate, and a nicely measured element of sweet oak in the young, slightly closed-in aromas here, and the same mix of attractive oak-in-fruit qualities is reiterated in flavors that are a little more open and accessible than advertised. While not too tannic, the wine closes with enough astringency to warrant at least four to five years of keeping.
2001 Merlot
90 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine~This big, fat, sexy wine is just what Merlot is supposed to be. It's softly accessible, yet complex with rich, sweet tannins and a delicious array of cassis, plum, cherry and herb flavors. As good as it is, it possesses a feminine complexity that suggests pairing it with food.
2000 Merlot
91 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine~Textbook Napa Merlot. Flavors of green olives, blackberries, white chocolate and herbs, plus slight meatiness, are wrapped in delicate, fine tannins. The wine is very dry and feels great in the mouth. Has the stuffing to improve in the cellar for a few years.
89 Points, One Puff, Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine~Smelling variously of cherries, toast caramel and roasted nuts, this solidly fruited, and somewhat compact mid-sized Merlot balanced to firmness and framed in youthful tannins. Its sense of consistency and basic depth earn it better-than-average standing and, while never likely to be an effusively rich or broadly, complex wine, it has the stuff in place to develop nicely for several years.
2000 Cabernet Sauvignon
90 Points, Wine Enthusiast Magazine~Made in a classic Napa style, with pronounced aromas of cassis and black currant and considerable layering of well-charred, toasty oak. Doesn't disappoint on the entry and then it spreads currant and herb flavors all over the palate, wrapped in rich, fine tannins. VERY GOOD.
89 Points, The Wine Advocate-Robert Parker~From an upper end Napa Valley estate located north of St. Helena and south of Calistoga, this is an excellent 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, a year that produced a huge majority of duds. Barlow's offering exhibits a deep ruby/purple color as well as a sweet nose of black fruits and subtle creamy oak. Supple-textured and medium bodied, with admirable purity as well as texture (an anomaly for 2000 Cabernet), it can be drunk now or cellared for 7-8 years. Readers should check out this winery, particularly given the high quality of the 2001 and 2002 vintages in Northern California.
92 Points, Two Puffs, Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine~This substantial wine serves as further proof that success can be had in a difficult vintage. It is ripe, well fruited, and very long on extract and its mix of tactile flesh and firming tannins strikes us as just about right. Like any serious Cabernet, however, it needs a bit of patient cellaring to reach its full potential, and, if four to five years would be a good idea, eight to ten would seem to be the better choice yet.