Parker Review:
The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is a more closed and restrained style of wine, with firm tannins, Bordeauxlike austerity, but dense ruby/purple with notes of menthol, black currant liqueur, coffee, and a hint of olive. The wine is fullbodied, youthful, tannic, and a promising candidate for longterm cellaring. In fact this kind of vintage at Togni generally means laying the wine away for at least a decade, which is always good advice here. This may be a 30 to 40year Togni Cabernet Sauvignon.
Tanzer Review:
Medium rubyred. Wild nose combines black raspberry, blackberry, coffee bean, licorice, leather and smoked meat, along with hints of menthol and smoky oak. Then almost surprisingly lush and sweet in the middle palate, with ripe acids giving shape to the sauvage blackcurrant and game flavors. Turns more austere on the back end, finishing with firmedged tannins and very good length. Philip Togni told me he thinned the vines heavily in 2005 and ultimately brought in less crop than he did in 2006 or 2007. He noted that he always tells his clients to wait at least five years to try his wines but that we expect the 2005 to improve in bottle for 20 years.
