2013 Dominus Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend

The aromas to this are multidimensional and fascinating with black truffles, bark, cloves, black currants, citrus, and even ginseng. Full-bodied, yet reserved and austere with chewy and powerful tannins that remain polished and refined. The flavors are more umami and savory. Then there are forest fruits and blood-orange undertones. The wine goes on for minutes. A wine to age for a lifetime. It's an experience to taste this. A new classic showing its history and tradition as a source of the greatest wines ever from Napa. A wine to enjoy forever. (9/2016)

The 2013 Dominus is, to my way of thinking, one of the most profound wines Christian Moueix has yet made in his rather brilliant winemaking history, both in France and in Napa Valley. This wine, with very low yields of only 3,500 cases and a final blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc, offers up notes of cedar wood, forest floor, loamy soil and oodles of blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. Very opaque purple in color, super-pure and intense, this wine has low acidity, but ripe, noticeable tannins. This is a 30- to 40-year wine and a profound effort from this famous vineyard in Yountville. (RP) (10/2015)

A blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 7% Petit Verdot, the 2013 Dominus is deep garnet in color. It needs a fair bit of swirling to bring out notes of black cherry preserves, crème de cassis, and blueberry jam, plus suggestions of mocha, cardamom, and fertile loam, with a hint of truffles. Full-bodied, the palate is still so, so tight, revealing tightly wound layers of black fruit, minerals, and spices, supported by a firm, grainy backbone, finishing with epic length. It still needs a good 5 years! (LPB)

The 2013 Dominus overwhelms all the senses with its magnificent overall balance and towering intensity. Deep and nearly impenetrable in the glass, the 2013 boasts off the charts dry extract and overall power. Violets, smoke, black cherries, menthol, incense, crème de cassis and dark spices are some of the many signatures that take shape in the glass. Even better in bottle than it was in barrel, the 2013 is utterly magnificent. This is a remarkably vivid, nuanced wine considering its sheer size. (AG) (10/2015)

Saturated black-purple in colour. Another brooding, quiescent scent: still more forest and hillside, and floral notes, too, with rummaged earth behind. On the palate, it’s swiftly evident that this is a wine of singular depth, power and concentration: an essence of its place. Everything in it is dark: earth, mushroom, truffle, black fruits. There are magnificent tannins, low acids, bitter plant extracts and sweet resins, all adding up to a magnificently complex whole, and expressing itself with such gathered force that you feel as if a bottle has somehow been compressed into a single glass, yet without vitiating the wine’s fundamental tenderness of articulation or (eventual) drinkability. It struck me as the most astonishing young wine I have tasted on my travels: bravo. (AJ) (7/2016)

Dense for sure but sleek, racy even, with cassis, bitter plum and dark cherry reduction notes allied to a cool cast iron spine, while flashes of licorice root, alder and apple wood blossom through the finish. Reveals lots of coiled energy, lots of grip and lots of fruit -- and everything is in proportion. A brick house wine. (JL, Web-2022)

100 points William Kelley for Decanter: "A captivating bouquet of violets, lilac, black fruit, blood orange and meaty soil tones is striking for its extravagent range and amplitude; and on the palate, the wine is three-dimensional, sophisticatedly savoury, and massive but refined. Tod Mostero remarks that, having crafted the 2013 Dominus, he can die happy as a winemaker. Selection here was especially rigorous, as the team wanted to realise the vintage's unparalleled potential as fully as possible, so only 3,500 cases were produced. A special label commemorates the 30th anniversary of Dominus Estate." (05/2016)