Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - $134.99

Wine Details

Vintage: 2003
Price: $134.99
Producer: Robert Mondavi
Region: Napa Valley
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Container Size: 750 ML
Flavors: blackberries, cedar, creme de cassis, graphite, toasty oak
  • Red Wine
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Product Description

  • In the mouth, the wine has a silky entry. Dense, fleshy flavors of blackberry, black plum and cassis envelop the mid-palate, enhanced by elegantly powerful tannins. The rich finish lasts forever. A freshly youthful wine with the confident authority that comes from excellent vineyard sources and superlative winemaking.
  • Robert Mondavi’s original vision was to produce wines from the Napa Valley that would stand in the company of the world’s finest. Our Napa Valley Wines reflect the elegance, harmony and balance he foresaw when he founded the winery in 1966.

Expert Ratings

Ratings   Vintage Source Flavors
Tanzer - 93 Details: ($125) Bright ruby-red. Complex, sweet nose combines black cherry, blackcurrant, gravel, licorice and graphite. Silky, minerally and sweet, with terrific intensity and thrust, not to mention inner-mouth energy. Finishes with a firm spine of ripe tannins and very persistent, mouthcoating fruits and minerals. This is a full 15.3% alcohol but I never would have guessed it. Interestingly, associate winemaker Gonzalez told me he particularly likes the power of the 2003 reds here, "especially in their youth." But this has real verve. 2004 Tanzer black cherry, graphite, gravel, licorice, minerally, minerals
WineAndSpirits - 90 Details: Bright red currant fruit strikes a high note above broad, rich tannins. The texture feels supple and full, the fruit needing time to fill it out completely. Mondavi Reserve is usually at its best with a decade of age. 2004 WineAndSpirits
Tanzer - 93 Details: ($125) Good saturated ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of currant, black cherry, espresso, milk chocolate and flowers; a real essence of Napa Valley cabernet. Enters the palate like silk, then builds slowly toward the back, offering a lovely light touch and plenty of inner-mouth aromatic character. Finishes with substantial but very fine tannins that reach the incisors, and lingering perfume. 2003 Tanzer blackberries, cedar, creme de cassis, graphite, toasty oak
CGCW - 95 Details: Its deep and beautifully defined aromas of dense, curranty fruit, dusty earth and generous oak signal that something good is to come here, and the broad but classically composed and keenly fruited flavors that follow confirm every hope. Already showing an uncanny impression of layering and range, this outstanding wine is at once supple in feel yet buttressed by lots of very fine-grained tannins, and, although its essential beauty is not in the least compromised by coarseness, it is a bit tough at the finish as young Cabernet can be. Five years will make a real difference here, although ten are preferred, and, from this vantage point, the wine is clearly the best Robert Mondavi Reserve in the last decade or more. 2003 CGCW earth, oak
WineSpectator - 87 Details: Notable aromas of herb, mint and rosemary turn firm and tannic on the palate, with rich, loamy dried currant, mineral and pebble flavors that are concentrated. Finishes on an austere note. Needs time. Best from 2008 through 2013. 7,000 cases made. –JL 2003 WineSpectator currant, herb, mineral, mint, rosemary
WineEnthusiast - 92 Details: Shows all the hallmarks of great Mondavi Reserve. Ageworthy and complex, with enormously ripe, rich fruit, classic chocolate, cassis plus cream and spice from new oak. So smoothly voluptuous now, it goes down like velvet, but the tannin-acid balance will easily hold this wine through 2015. 2003 WineEnthusiast cassis, chocolate, new oak, spice
Tanzer - 92(+?) Details: ($125; 80% from To Kalon fruit) Full medium ruby. Vibrant, highly aromatic nose combines blackberry, violet and licorice. Juicy, lively and light on its feet, with cool, lifted flavors of blackberry, violet, mint and exotic spices. Today, this gives virtually no hint of dehydrated fruit. Offers terrific verve for the vintage, but the substantial ripe tannins call for at least five or six years of additional cellaring. 2002 Tanzer cassis, espresso, graphite, licorice, mineral, mocha, oak, sassafras
WineSpectator - 87 Details: Not up to the usual standards for this wine, and it has nothing to do with the new ownership. Tastes better than it smells, with rich, creamy blackberry, wild berry, anise and a dusty sage and cedar edge on the finish. Best of two bottles. Drink now through 2012. –JL 2002 WineSpectator anise, blackberry, cedar, sage, wild berry
WineEnthusiast - 92 Details: Mainly from To Kalon grapes, this dark, young wine is not showing its best now. It hasn’t pulled the oak, alcohol, acids, tannins and fruit together into a seamless package. The individual parts stick out, nakedly, yet possess an innate balance. Mondavi Reserves age well; this one should start to open by 2010 and hold for years after. 2002 WineEnthusiast oak
CGCW - 91 Details: 7% Merlot; 6%Cabernet Franc; 2% Petit Verdot; 2% Malbec. Here is a beautifully made wine that reminds that Cabernet is and should not be defined solely by ripeness and hard-charging oak, for, while it may have plenty of each, it shows exceptional balance and genuine finesse, and it is defined first and last by its precise and unwavering curranty fruit. It is wine with plenty of potential, its polish and poise notwithstanding, and it deserves at least a four or five years in the cellar in which to deepen and more fully unfold. 2002 CGCW
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Food Pairings

Category Pairing
Red Meat Beef, Grilled Filet Mignon, Grilled Beef, Roast Beef

Wine Terms

Name Value
Cabernet Sauvignon (cab er nay saw vee nyon)—This highly adaptable grape grows almost anywhere it is relatively warm, but the best wines come from the Burgundy region of France (where it is a noble variety), California, and Australia. It became famous through the red wines of the Médoc district of Bordeaux and is now grown in Washington, southern France, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes make wines that are high in tannin and medium- to full-bodied. Usually identified as having black currant or cassis flavors, the grape can also possess vegetal tones when the grapes are less than ideally ripe. The best wines are rich and firm with great depth, and are often aged for fifteen years or more. Because it is highly tannic, Cabernet Sauvignon is often blended with other less-tannic grapes such as Merlot.
Napa This tiny strip of land just north of San Francisco is home to America’s most prestigious wineries. Its climate is ideal for viticulture. Ironically, it was deemed too ideal for some vintners, who have moved their vineyards from the valley’s flat plain to the hills in the east and west, adhering to the idea that grapes that struggle to grow yield better wine. The climate, soil, and individual wineries are enormously varied, so it’s impossible to identify a singular trait of Napa wines. In addition, nearly every noble grape is grown here, although Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are the primary grapes. In the past, Napa’s wines have alternated between extremely fruity and fat to lean and subtle. Today the best Napa wines have achieved a balance between these extremes. Many are made to be drunk young and have abundant ripe fruit; others can be initially hard and tannic, but soften over four or five years to perfumed, cedary fruit. White Napa wines are excellent with fresh-grilled fish and chicken, but can also cope with more spicy and creamy flavors. Many Napa reds will overwhelm delicate cuisine, but rich red meat and cheeses do make good companions.
United States Wineries exist in all fifty states, but the most predominant (and best) wine comes from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington State, with New York gaining a foothold in the industry. American wines make up about 75% of all wine sales in the US. The appellation system uses the term AVA (American Viticultural Area) to determine where wines were produced, but grape varieties can be planted anywhere in the country. American wineries generally use varietal labeling, and government regulations require that the variety on the label must make up at least 75% of the blend (in Oregon it’s 90%). The words reserve, special selection, private reserve, classic, and so on have no legal definition in the US. Some wineries use these terms to indicate their better wines; others use the words as a marketing tool to move lower quality wines off the shelf.
California California produces the majority of wine made in the United States. Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir dominate the wine production in California, but many other varietials thrive in the California climate. Many fine wines are produced in California using Mediterranean grapes.
Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Over the past few decades, the Napa Valley has become synonymous with award winning Cabernet Sauvignon. Originating from the Bordeaux region in France, Cabernet Sauvignon is truly wine's ambassador to the world. Now in the annals of wine history, this varietal put the Napa Valley on the map. There is a select set of conditions, often enjoyed in Napa, which makes for world class examples of the grape. These include long, sunny days in warm climates, in conjunction with porous, well draining soils.
Napa County Napa County is located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. At the north end of Napa County is the Bay Area's second tallest peak Mount Saint Helena, and to the far south of Napa County lays the section of the Napa Valley that bleeds into Carneros. When the first white settlers arrived in the early 1830s, there were six tribes in the valley speaking different dialects and they were often at war with each other. The Mayacomos tribe lived in the area where Calistoga was founded. Napa County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Napa Valley is widely considered one of the top wine regions in California and all of the United States. By the end of the nineteenth century there were more than one hundred and forty wineries in the area. Today Napa Valley features more than two hundred wineries and grows many different grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Zinfandel. The region is visited by as many as five million people each year, making it the second to Disneyland as the most popular tourist destination in California.

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