Wine Advisor
Sloan, Proprietary Red 2001
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The just-bottled 2001 Sloan is outrageously awesome, revealing a Mouton-Rothschild-like perfume with a hint of Cheval Blanc-like complexity. A smorgasbord of aromas includes scents of Asian spice, roasted coffee, creme de cassis, licorice, blackberries, cocoa, and melted fudge. Opaque purple to the rim as well as extraordinarily intense, with fabulous richness, a multilayered texture, and a compelling, 65-second finish, this magnificent, young, Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated effort should be an instant legend whenever Stuart Sloan decides to release it. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025. Fax (707) 967-8918
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The practically perfect 2001 Sloan (only the second effort released by Stuart Sloan) is aging magnificently. Made from very young vines planted on the steep hillsides above the Auberge du Soleil in Central Napa Valley, it exhibits a dense purple color with only a slight lightening at the edge as well as a phenomenal nose of burning embers, white chocolate, espresso roast, black currants and graphite. Full-bodied with an expansive, broad, creamy texture as well as a voluptuous finish, the wine has shed a lot of its tannin and is just beginning to hit its plateau of full maturity where it should stay for another 15-25+ years. This is a great terroir and at age ten, the 2001 confirms the accolades I bestowed upon it eight years ago. www.sloanwine.com
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The opaque purple-colored 2001 Sloan offers gorgeous aromas of espresso roast, smoked meats, creme de cassis, blackberries, damp earth, and new saddle leather. Full-bodied, opulent, and savory, with tremendous power and richness as well as an extraordinary finish, this compelling Cabernet should be at its finest between 2008-2025+. Fax (707) 967-8918
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2001 Sloan is a brooding powerhouse. Dark, inky and super-concentrated, the 2001 possesses tremendous textural richness from start to finish. Blackberry jam, licorice, cloves, new leather, mocha and French oak all build in the glass. The 2001 is still quite fresh and deep, but it is also heading into its plateau of maturity. All that said, the 2001 has aged well, although it is very much a wine of its era, with huge fruit and equally heavy torrefaction flavors from the oak. Beyond that, there isn't much else to say except that the 2001 is in a great spot for drinking right now. It is very clearly one of the wines of the vintage. This was Martha McClellan's first vintage at Sloan. Mark Aubert made the 2000 and then departed in July of the following year.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Full red-ruby color. Slightly roasted aromas of meat, oyster sauce, leather, cinders and burnished oak, with some dark fruits lurking. Hugely rich and sweet on the palate, but a bit unrestrained, even heavy, in the context of the vintage. The wine's creamy dark-fruit sweetness is given shape at the end by huge, chocolatey, palate-saturating tannins. Quite large-scaled for 2001, this very ripe Cabernet finishes quite long but I wanted a bit more primary fruit character, definition and verve, not to mention treble tones. I would drink this fairly soon before it loses its remaining energy. I found this wine much more classic and claret-like in the early going but today it's a big boy.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Good deep ruby-red. Ripe aromas of bitter cherry, blueberry, dark chocolate, violet and brown spices. At once ripe and dry, with good energy and firm structure leavened by a truffley sweetness and leather and tobacco leaf notes that reminded me of Bordeaux. A very nicely delineated, juicy, classically styled wine that finishes with firm tannic spine. But hardly an easy style, and in need of a bit of patience. (I much preferred this to the 2000 version, which was distinctly more leafy and peppery. With less flesh and depth, this wine's tannins come across as a bit dry and green, in the style of the vintage.)
About the Producer
Sloan is a leading winery in the Napa Valley region of California, USA. Sloan was founded in 1998 by winegrower Stuart Sloan. Over the next decade, Stuart continued to explore the potential of the vineyards and improve the quality of the wines, and in 2001 hired an all-star production team - winemaking consultant Michel Rolland, winemaker Martha In 2011, Sutong Pan, Chairman of the Goldin Group in Hong Kong, acquired Château Sloane and placed it under the management of his daughter Jenny Pan. After the acquisition, Sutong Pan still employs the same production team to produce the wines for the winery. In addition, Sutong Pan, who had a keen interest in wine, acquired three other prestigious Bordeaux estates: Château Rolland Maillet, Château Bertineau Saint-Vincent and Château Le Bon Pasteur. The Château de la Vieux is one of the most prestigious Bordeaux estates in the world. Château Stoux covers a total of 40 acres, 13 of which were planted in 1997. The vineyards are ideally located on the eastern slopes of Rutherford at 875-990 feet above sea level, with plenty of light. In addition, the cool maritime climate of this region is ideal for growing grapes. The vineyard has mineral-rich porous volcanic and sandy loam soils and is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Currently, Sloan produces only two wines, Sloan Proprietary Red and Sloan Asterisk Red. Since its release, the Sloan Proprietary Red has received much acclaim from the wine press. Notably, the 2002 Sloan Proprietary Red received 100 points from Wine Enthusiast and Wine Advocate, and the 2007 Sloan Proprietary Red received a perfect score from Wine Advocate.