Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full report and buyer’s guide to the vintage’s finest wines

Having tasted over 500 wines, Jonathan Cristaldi delivers his summary and buying advice for the Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 releases. Drought conditions, light winter rains, and a cool spring set the stage for one of the best growing seasons in the last 25 years.

After a delayed bud break, near-perfect conditions persisted throughout Napa Valley, and harvest came on the early side, delivering positively gorgeous wines that are concentrated, layered, and framed by ripe, sleek, and densely packed, super-fine tannins, with loads of savoury qualities and vivid minerality.

Napa Cabernet 2021 vintage rating: 5/5

Authenticity, complexity, density and power are the hallmark traits of the 2021 Napa Cabernet wines. Savoury-packed and mineral-rich with ample mid-palate concentration and densely layered red and black-fruited profiles, wines are framed by compact tannins that etch themselves onto the palate with a fine, pinpoint granularity. They are unquestionably age-worthy wines.

The low-yielding 2021 crop of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in Napa Valley delivered bewildering wines of authenticity, total intrigue, bordering on the flirtatious, with captivating complexity and staying power designed to build impressionable nuance over long-term cellaring.

So, if you stopped reading this report right here and set about buying up as many bottles as you can find, you’ll be thanking us in the years to come. But read on to understand why this is such a terrific year.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Napa Cabernets of 2021

A dream come true

Stylistically, smaller berries and lower yields imbued the 2021s with ample mid-palate concentration and densely layered red and black-fruited profiles framed by compact tannins that etch themselves onto the palate with a fine, pinpoint granularity.

The name of the game is patience when it comes to the best Cabernets, of which there are many—and those can cellar for decades. Early enjoyment requires letting the wines breathe before pouring.

‘The first thing to note is there was a massive sigh of relief coming off the back of 2020,’ said consultant winemaker Nigel Kinsman. ‘So much so that I remember being ecstatic as the fruit was being weighed and seeing what we had and counting our blessings.’

According to almost every grape grower and winemaker throughout Napa, 2021 was an ideal season—a gift following the 2020 fires and massive concerns of smoke taint. As Atelier Melka’s Maayan Koschitkzy puts it: ‘2021 was a dream vintage for us.’

Click here to see all Cristaldi’s notes and scores for over 500 2021 Napa Cabernets

Trying circumstances

Dreams aside, ‘2021 was definitely a drought year,’ said consultant winemaker Celia Welch, ‘and many of the challenges revolved around ensuring that the vines stayed balanced with shorter shoot lengths, smaller canopies and an overall smaller crop.’

Welch acknowledges that there is bound to be a scarcity of 2021 wines due to the reduced crop size but encourages seeking them out for ‘their flavour intensity and concentration [that] will give the fruit essences great durability’.

Welch also painted 2021 in a broader sense of what was happening in the world with testing and every attempt made to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while keeping businesses running.

‘For winemakers, this meant that we were trying to make sure we had barrel deliveries on time, enough manpower to get the harvesting and fermentations managed appropriately, all while staying healthy ourselves.’

Napa Cabernet 2021: Cristaldi’s wines of the vintage

Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Nathan Coombs Estate, Coombsville

Ovid Cabernet Sauvignon

Rudd Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Philip Togni, Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain

Matthiasson, Phoenix Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Macauley Vineyard, Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Ad Vivum, Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville

Ulysses, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Dry beginnings

Tracking the growing season from the tail end of 2020, the winter rains came late, not until November and December and not quite enough of it. By early spring, drought conditions persisted, followed by a relatively cool spring.

Temperatures rarely rose above 26.6°C (80°F) until May and June. Bloom and veraison were relatively rapid, and July, August, and September were warm, but temperatures rarely spiked above 32°C (90°F).

‘Across the valley, winemakers knew they didn’t have sufficient water resources to take the fruit through to the end of harvest,’ said TOR winemaker Jeff Ames, ‘and many had to drop fruit, which further decreased yields.’

‘2021 required a lot of patience,’ said Nick Gislason, winemaker for Screaming Eagle, ‘The growing season was even-keeled and on the later side. There were no pressures during harvest. The single biggest marker of our wines is intensity and focus with real perfumed notes.’

Though cool weather in the spring delayed bud break, the perfect growing conditions that persisted throughout the summer months led to an earlier harvest—a pivotal fact because, by October, a series of atmospheric rivers brought nearly 25cm (10 inches) of rain.

Wrapping up early

‘Harvest was completed by mid-September,’ said Rudd Estate winemaker Natalie Bath, ‘which was early for us.’ Rudd Estate is on the eastern side of Oakville, where vines are subject to late afternoon sun and heat. In 2021, even with a relatively mild season, diligent canopy management was critical to ensure ‘a crescendo of acidity,’ said Bath.

Selective berry picking was also crucial in helping balance the fruit concentration and tannin levels in the wines. Many producers focused on lighter toasts with their oak ageing programme, and the best efforts led to wines imbued with the power and darkness of the vintage balanced by almost bewildering freshness.

Excellence in restraint

Many winemakers compare 2021 to 2015, 2013, 2014, and 2001—all vintages marked by building drought conditions, minimal winter and spring rains, and reduced yields, which leads to power, concentration, and an overwhelming freshness factor in the finished wines.

‘The 2001 vintage is a close match for me,’ says Peter Michael winemaker Robert Fiore, ‘because it was a year that produced very dark and tannic wines with considerable structure.’

Tor Kenward and Jeff Ames find the 2021s similar to 2013, describing them as ‘sophisticated’ and ‘with plenty of staying power.’

Larkmead winemaker Avery Heelan found the tannin profiles ‘big and rustic, similar to the 2014 vintage,’ yet was quick to point out that ‘the [growing] seasons were completely different’ – she argues that historic vintage comparisons are becoming difficult ‘considering the increasing effects of climate change over the last 25 years.’

‘We had some of the smallest berries ever in 2021, and that bodes well for making high-end wine,’ said Kinsman.

‘Loose clusters and more sunlight meant we got more tannins, but the tannins are super-fine. If you like less flamboyant wines, 2021 is your vintage. Mineral-driven, and savoury.’

Napa Cabernet 2021: Cristaldi’s six best-value wines of the vintage

Black Stallion Estate Winery, Collector Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, 2021

Whitehall Lane Millennium MM Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, 2021

Corison Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa Valley, 2021

Clif Family Winery Kits Killer Cab, Oak Knoll, Napa Valley, 2021

Materra, Cunat Family Vineyards, Diamond Mountain Reserve, Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley 2021

Crossroads By Rudd Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, 2021

See all wines rated 98-100 points in this report

Napa Cabernet 2021: Cristaldi’s top-most recommendations

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