Review:
The Boudreaux Reserve is made in very limited amounts.
2007 Wine Advocate - 94 points - Newsom's 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Champoux & Loess Vineyards (25% from the latter, owned and farmed by the Figgins family of Leonetti fame) spent three full years in barrique without any harm being done thereby (on the contrary, it would seem), and qualifies in his book as "my favorite wine I've ever made." Brace yourself for a really high-toned blast of berry distillates and smoky barrel extraction that put me faintly in mind of really good Armagnac. Along with that come creme de cassis, cherry jam, vanilla, mocha, toasted pecan, molasses and sealing wax, a shifting subset of which seem to weave in and out of the broad lane lines set out by firm underlying tannins. You want sweet fruit and oak? This way! (Maybe there's even a gram of residual sugar in there; Newsom confesses "it was a grizzly bear to get through fermentation.") But this never turns saccharine or superfluously sweet. It exhibits amazing resonance and viscous cling yet (at 13.9%) with no hint of heat or alcoholic roughness, leading to a finish of fruit essences and confections that positively soars with ester-rich, near-spirituous yet not in the least raw intensity. This should be spellbinding to follow over at least the better part of the next decade. - David Schildknecht