The 100% Cabernet Sauvignon bottling is sourced from vineyards on Pritchard Hill, St. Helena, and from John Caldwell’s Block-15 parcels in Coombsville’s volcanic sub-soils.

This is a Bordeaux, Left Bank look-a-like offering a multi-dimensional performance in the glass. This opaque robed wine has a brilliant purple rim and a heavenly bouquet of wild purple violets and lavender. The enticing aromas reveal its underlying pedigree and draw you in to a much anticipated sip. The framework is well structured and bolstered with blackberry compote, boysenberry and ripe macerated black currants that are mouth coating, lasting through the length of the wine. Melded into the complex framework are brown spices, graphite, coffee beans and a dusting of cocoa powder on the edges. It is extremely well balanced with ripe rounded tannins and an underpinning of delicate acidity, which indicates the long-term aging potential of this wine. The memorable finish lasts for minutes and at times the glass is hard to put down. Be patient, perhaps ten or more years, to unveil this precious gemstone from Napa Valley. There is a modest 360 case production of this exquisite Cabernet Sauvignon.

By W Peter Hoyne