Wine & Spirits - Winter 2023 - 54

US Cabernet & Blends
90 | William Knuttel
$65
2019 Napa Valley Bucher Vyd. Ancient
Olive Block Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Youthfully
blunt in its tannins, soft and clean in
its fruit, this wine's black currant and red berries
fl avors feel a little jangly in their acidity.
There's some structural tension to the
wine, but it needs time to unwind. -J.G.
(270 cases) §
90 | Meadowcroſt
$125
2020 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Dark
and smoky with spicy red fruit that has a
charred-tomato edge, this comes across more
as a Mediterranean red than a cabernet. For
grilled lamb. -J.G. (54 cases) §
90 | Penfolds
$450
2020 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Showing
the heat of the 2020 vintage, this wine's
red fruit has some warm volatility and an
earthy mushroom savor. Its sour-cherry fl avors
are set for a braise. -J.G. §
90 | Stag's Leap
Wine Cellars
$175
2020 Stags Leap District Fay Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ A lean, four-square vintage of
Fay, this wine is focused on fragrant, simple
fruit, accented by the warm, whiskey barrellike
notes of oak. -J.G. (3,178 cases) §
88 | Precision
$35
2021 Yountville Vineyard Block Estate
631 Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
(BEST BUY) ^ Warm in its blue fruit, this is supple
and creamy in its oak, a heady red for
grilled meats. -J.G. §
SONOMA COUNTY
94 | Kenwood Vineyards $55
2019 Sonoma Mountain Jack London
Vineyard Dry Farmed Cabernet Sauvignon
^ From the highest terraces Jack London
built at his Sonoma Mountain ranch, facing
the morning sun, this parcel of cabernet is
dry farmed, benefi ting from an underground
spring and, in 2019, from springtime rain.
Harvested at the end of October, it ripened
to lush blueberry and black-cherry fl avors
that last. There's a fresh tobacco edge as fruit
tannins drive through the fi nish, lending this
a fi rm feel and delivering the wine's density
with a sense of clarity. -J.G. (731 cases) §
93 | Arrowood Vineyards $50
2019 Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^
Kristina Shideler makes this wine from the
Kellogg Vineyard, a property within the Jackson
family's estate. She off ers a wine with a
sophisticated layering of tobacco, herbs, rose
and black fruit. It's tightly built and spicy
with a cool entry and a long, cool exit. The
youthful tannins are mouth-drying for now,
but they structure the wine for age. Serious
stuff . -J.G. (4,380 cases) §
90 | Stag's Leap
Wine Cellars
$110
2020 Napa Valley Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon
^ In 2020, SLWC was owned by Ste.
Michelle Wine Estates, so, in the midst of the
fi res, Marcus Notaro had immediate access
to laboratory testing at Columbia Crest in
Washington State-useful, as he found the
labs in Sonoma and Napa Valley were backed
up for weeks. While he reports that all the
estate cabernet was in before the Glass Fire,
he relied on this testing for smoke taint to
confi rm what purchased fruit to include from
his Artemis growers. His 2020 has developed
into a refi ned, elegant, red-fruited cabernet.
The tannins have some barnyard notes and
oak bitterness, but there's a blueberry freshness
as the fruit turns darker in the end. For
fi let mignon. -J.G. §
94 | Jordan
$215/1.5L
2017 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
^ Tasted two years ago, this wine felt like
a gangly adolescent; it needed plenty of time
in a decanter to turn toward its depths of fruit
and fl oral complexity. A clean young cabernet,
destined to age with grace, it earned 92
points. Now with a bit more maturity, and
out of a magnum, the 2017 feels classic, its
fl avors sheer and transparent, coalescing
around mineral-infl ected tannins that still
carry youthful power. Those tannins bring
notes of cocoa and smoky ancho chile, lending
gravity to the wine's silken texture. -J.G. §
54
WINE & SPIR IT S
WINTER 2023
93 | Balverne
$48
2019 Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon (BEST
BUY) ^ This has the silken power of a voluptuous
Chalk Hill cabernet, vibrant with red
cherry and cranberry fl avors, dense with a
persimmon cake of tannins, ghosting rich red
fruit in the end. -J.G. (504 cases) §

https://www.stagsleapwinecellars.com/ https://kenwoodvineyards.com/wines/jack-london-series/jack-london-dry-farmed-cabernet-sauvignon-2019 https://www.stagsleapwinecellars.com/ https://www.jordanwinery.com/product/jordan-cabernet-sauvignon-2017 https://www.notrevueestate.com/product/2019-Balverne-Cabernet-Sauvignon?pageID=D61B957F-B25A-ADE2-2E71-15B9967C248D&sortBy=Price&maxRows=12&&productListName=Balverne%20Wines&position=8

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2023