Napa Cabernet 2020: Vintage report and top recommendations

The 2020 Harlan Estate is such a pretty wine—compact, tightly knit, with a coiled-up energy that delivers surprise and intrigue in every swirl and sip as the wine evolves in the glass. Leading with beautifully delicate wild herbs, dried and crushed bay laurel and sage, red and black currant fruit, and a pop of liquorice intermixed with cigar leaf. Medium to full-bodied with a richness to the mid-palate and intense grip from the wine’s multidimensional acidity. Almost feathery and extremely fine tannins frame all this, and the wine finishes long, cool, and so composed. Tasted at Harlan Estate with director of winegrowing Cory Empting and Will Harlan, managing director at Domain H. William Harlan. Both expressed to me that the 2020 vintage—while challenging because of the fires—has resulted in a critical inflection point in the evolution of Harlan. ‘We gained 5-10 years of learning in one year’, said Will, intimating that their scrupulous probing and attention to detail amounted to a genuinely academic year in farming. Empting, for his part, explained that while it’s not unusual for picks at Harlan to begin in late August, the entire property was finished with harvest by 12 September—the earliest in the estate’s history. Empting said that his greatest concern was wind direction after the LNU fire ignited on 17 August. Favourable winds kept the smoke at bay for their Oakville vines. Most importantly, Empting emphasised that the growing season, which began dry and warm and continued as much, meant that picking by the second week in September didn’t mean picking underripe grapes. ‘We weren’t just picking early to pick early; the grape ripened earlier’, he said, and given the age of their vines (30-40 years) and the fact that as of this writing, some 70% of the vineyard is dry-farmed, the vines are adapting in ways Empting and even longtime vineyard manager Bob Levy hadn’t imagined. Fermentations were faster but not hotter as sugar levels were lower, and while they pulled back on punch-downs, the wine macerated on the skins longer. ‘The result and surprise are in the details and fine-ness of tannins’, remarked Will, ‘It's not a complete departure; we feel we have removed the clouding and can see it all so unobstructed’. In short, the structure of the Harlan estate has come into focus. In subsequent vintages, as with 2021 and 2022, grapes were harvested on the earlier side, never eschewing ripeness but paying closer attention to what ‘ripeness’ means for the vines growing at Harlan Estate. For my part as a reviewer, the best observation I can make is that there is indeed a remarkable freshness and tension, like turning the page of a great Fitzgerald novel only to find the story continues to build, surprise, delight, and inspire intrigue.

2020 Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery, Cabernet Sauvignon - St. Helena NV /// Lovely fragrant blackberry and black cherry fruit, cassis, and rich tobacco spices with lovely fresh earth notes and a sweet kiss of new wood cedar. Incredibly concentrated dark berry fruit with fabulously angular tannins with smooth long beams with crisp edges. Purple florals, dried sagebrush, and chocolate shavings with lids of graphite and deep iron-like mineral character. And a finish of dark saturated fruit that goes and goes for days. There are purple floras too. Polished and bright, with vivacious acidity and freshness evident from the sip to the finish. Wow, this wine. 98-100. // 13.7 ... has the potential to be a 100-point wine.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the famous gravelly loam soils of Beckstoffer Dr Crane in the St. Helena AVA. This is a site that consistently delivers a gorgeous Cabernet, almost no matter the producer. Still, in the capable hands of Paul Hobbs, even in a challenging year like 2020, when many producers opted not to bottle their fruit, this wine radiates balance, pleasure, depth, and curiosity. A burst of classic, dusty, iron-like Dr Crane minerality is accompanied by sagebrush after a cool winter rain, spearmint, and cedar spices. Pure, silken, energetic and layered with red, black, and blue-toned fruits, dark chocolate, and gravelly, fine-grained tannins with a firm backbone of racy acidity. Long, lean, and built for the long haul.

Here is one of the stars of this challenging vintage. A muscular wine, leading with tremendous freshness on the palate, restrained red-toned fruit, and very subtle yet elegant cedar wood intermixed with red-rock minerality. Medium to full-bodied, offering more black fruit on the palate, redolent of muddled blackberries and juicy plums. An iron fist in a velvet glove comes to mind, given the tannin texture, which leads with the furry, velvety side of the glove and transitions to an undercurrent of ironclad and dusty minerals. All this turns fresh and lively through the finish. Perhaps a bit hot on the alcohol, but this will soften soon enough—absolutely one of the more riveting wines of the entire vintage. I had the chance to taste this wine at Quintessa with Rebekah Wineburg, Winemaker and Rodrigo Soto, General Manager, and it was the last in a lineup of wines going back to the 1994 vintage, and it showed all I have written -- Wineburg and Soto are so finely in tuned with Quintessa’s vineyards that it’s almost no surprise they devised such a beautiful wine through such a difficult year, battling fires and dealing with obstacles related to the pandemic. Seek this out.

Balanced, polished, seamless, and elegant—and just what you’d expect from this Oakville estate, humbly delivered in 2020. I had the chance to taste this release at Screaming Eagle on a cool, rainy day at the end of March 2023. It possessed the freshness of the air outside, coupled with the warmth of the vintage, offering expressive blue and violet wildflowers, boysenberry fruit, graphite, cedarwood and spearmint and beautiful loamy earth notes. Medium-bodied and flush with the purity of red crunchy cherry and plum fruit augmented by undercurrents of blue and black-toned notes as well this vintage. All this is framed by a rich tapestry of long, silky, layered tannins and the finish is punctuated by rose petal notes. This wine is unquestionably in the running for an upgrade to a 100-point score. It's a dynamic, expressive, and gorgeous showing from the challenging vintage. The team’s unyielding effort to bring harmony and balance to the vineyard comes together in the glass. It's an example of how precision farming and precision. Winemaking can capture the essence of a winery's signature style.

Ripe and juicy blue fruit aromas on the nose with some soft wood spice, acaia, liquorice, a touch of California heat in the aromas but smells fresh and inviting. Clean, supple, lively, pure and focussed on the palate. Tannins take the fore, really quite mouthfilling with ash, smoke, tar, tobacco edges, leather and some meat, underpinning the blackcurrant, black cherry and blueberry fruit. Still quite tense, focused in the centre, driving from start to finish in one line, despite the slight weight and nice density of the tannins. A very soft vanilla sweetness is also apparent. It's both potent and poised, perfumed and pure. You can't get away from the liquorice and tar undercurrent that really marks the wine. Dark, savoury, brooding, a really complete wine. Lots of personality and manages the combination of having both Bordeaux and Napa sparkle. A delicious first vintage from the new Napa estate owned by Florence and Daniel Cathiard of Smith Haut Lafitte. Directors Justine Labbé and Fabien Teigen, consultants Michel Rolland and Frederick Ammons.

Cathy Corisons’ iconic Kronos Vineyard bottling from St. Helena is made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in 50% new French oak. Remarkable purity of fruit and savoury aromatics. This is a beautiful wine with finely-delineated blackberry, black cherry, black currant notes and expressive graphite minerality. Fresh, lively, and built like a skyscraper, with long, firm beams of cedary tannins and tangy blood orange acidity. The finish is long, vivid, and marked by dried herbs, citrus, and wildflowers: a real highlight and a bright spot in this challenging vintage.

A collaboration project between Dalla Valle Vineyards of Napa Valley and Ornellaia of Tuscany. This is the third release, and despite the challenging vintage, winemaker Maya Dalla Valle and founder and proprietor Naoko Dalla Valle, along with winemaker Axel Heinz and CEO Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja of Ornellaia have produced one of the standout wines of the vintage. Effusive blackberry aromas are intermixed with graphite, cassis, liquorice, toasty cedar wood and tanned leather. This is a seamless wine with superb structure, freshness, and depth of character. Medium to full-bodied with rich dark cassis, loamy earth, elegant, fine-grained tannins, dusted wild herbs, brown spices, and a fabulously long mocha-tinged finish. It almost defies gravity—dense and powerful, yet with a tremendous lightness of energy. Sold in 3-pack wooden boxes.

From winemaker, Andy Erickson comes this heady, perfumed Cabernet with excellent weight and plenty of tannins. Fruit-driven due to a slight backing of new oak in this vintage, blackberry and cherry lead the way, followed by cedarwood, sage leaf and bay laurel. Sumptuous, dense, and compact with long beams of very present yet compact tannins and excellent grip. Almost crunchy acidity is framed by graphite minerality, and the wine shows the intensity and power balanced by the freshness typical of Erickson’s winemaking. Sourced from three Coombsville vineyards: Meteor, The Rabbit Hole, and Collinetta. ‘We worked our asses off to make this wine,’ Erickson mused at his Coombsville estate. The Favia Wines are now featured on La Place de Bordeaux, and that comes with international attention Erickson sees the wines head to new markets around the globe, from Paris to the Philippines and Uruguay.

One of the more beautiful, fresh, and energetic 2020s of the vintage. Lifted red-toned fruits intermix with dusty minerals leading to a medium-bodied Cabernet rife with a lovely saline mineral edge and bright boysenberry fruits alongside red currants. Tightly-knit with very fine-grained tannins that are soft and almost satiny, with a tobacco and white-pepper-tinged finish that goes on and on to reveal dried sage and dark chocolate. Impressively fresh, and just 200 cases were produced—only the third vintage from Morisoli Vineyard. The contiguous 21.44-hectare site in Rutherford has been farmed by the Morisoli family since 1902. Spearheaded by Chris Morisoli (fifth generation) and his dad, Gary (fourth-gen), they hired winemaker Joel Aiken who served as Beaulieu Vineyard winemaker for 24 years. Under Aiken’s supervision, they are producing very limited production Cabernet off their family estate, which continues to sell grapes to producers such as Amici Cellars, Robert Biale Vineyards, Elyse, Etude, Sequoia Grove, among others. A unique feature of the back label is a set of two numbers that are grid coordinates, representing the vineyard and the Zaray-Panjwaji region in Afghanistan, where Chris Morisoli was stationed when serving in the military.

Such an elegant pure, pretty wine with finesse of character and juicy, bright energy. Heady and lifted aromatics lead with red and black-toned fruit, cherry and cherry pit, and lovely tobacco spices. Medium to full-bodied offering ripe strawberry, black cherry and blackberry underscored by crunchy acidity, almost like biting into pomegranate seeds. Silken tannins are long and beam-like, almost cedar-tinged, and flourishes of toffee and toasty oak round out a plush and fashionable wine. From Luc Morlet's estate in St. Helena, harvested at the end of September before the Glass Fire and aged 16 months in French oak, unfined and unfiltered.

A beautiful, full-bodied, mineral-driven, energetic wine with curvy edges from a very challenging vintage. The mineral-rich nose is infused with blackcurrant and Chambord, while the rich, dark berry fruit intermingles with cassis and a plethora of earth and salty mineral notes. Very precise tannins plump up with air, and the finish is marked by fresh, loamy soils and crushed stone notes. When winemaker Luc Morlet came across this 10.11-ha property for sale in the Oakville AVA, he noticed an unnamed creek running through it. Later, in 2016, Constellation Brands received permission to name it To Kalon Creek. Morlet says the site is low-vigour and comprised of 40-60% well-draining gravel planted two two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon and one-third Cabernet Franc. Harvest finished on 17 September 2023, well before the Glass Fire. In another vintage with far fewer challenges, this would almost undoubtedly be a 100-point wine, and I plan to review it again in a year and see how it is progressing.

From the Nathan Coombs Estate in Coombsville, Paul Hobbs has fashioned one of the most refined, expressive Cabernets of the vintage. Aged 20 months in 96% new French oak, from an inky purple-black colour, comes a purely vibrant, ethereal wine with pure dark fruit aromatics, elegant cedar spices, sagebrush and spearmint. Full-bodied and polished with silky blackberry and blueberry fruit, tobacco, leather, black currants, and structured, building tannins with fine-boned acidity. An absolute marvel of a wine with a finish that goes on for up to a minute.

From the legendary Fay vineyard, this 2020 Cabernet includes a 2% splash of Cabernet Franc, aged 21 months, in 85% new French oak. Expressive black cherry fruit is scented with crushed red rock minerality and notes of dried rose petals. Medium to full-bodied on the palate with a wealth of concentrated blackberry and cherry fruits supported by elongated, supple tannins. Fine-boned acidity brings clarity to this powerful, elegant, mineral-laced red, which possesses a balletic lightness balanced by muscular tension on the long, drawn-out finish.

<p>Winemaker Kirk Venge likes to age his Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Cabernet for 28 months in new French oak, and the result is a lip-smacking, opulent, sophisticated red offering up dark black fruits, dusty herbs, and toasty cedar wood. Medium-bodied, with density to the fruit weight balanced by coiled-up energy and tension. A rush of juicy warm fruit fills the mid-palate, and tannins build on the finish, which unspools in savoury earth, black tea, and more dried herbs.</p>

Cathy Corison's newest single-vineyard designate from Sunbasket Vineyard in St. Helena AVA, aged 20 months in 50% new French oak, shows the prowess of excellent winemaking. This tightly knit Cabernet is the iron fist in the velvet glove with lofty red-toned mineral aromatics atop cherry and black currant notes. At the same time, the palate is fresh and alive, sporting a linear quality that draws a straight line from the red- and black-toned fruit profile to the cedar-rich elegant, fine-grained tannins to the dried wild herb finish. This is a tightly-knit, masterful creation from the 2020 vintage and should be enjoyed now and often over the next 5-7 years, possibly longer.

Ripe black fruits, graphite, dusty herbs, and toasty oak with chocolate. Medium to full-bodied with intense grippy, angular tannins, saturated black fruits, dried thyme and sage, white pepper, and a long, satisfying finish. Harbison typically bottles three block-designate wines, but in 2020, they combined the best lots of those blocks, Horsehoe, Pony Express, and The Trail, and produced this wine. 125 cases total. Philanthropists Joe and Pat Harbison own this estate, which enjoys a border with Oakville’s Screaming Eagle. The winemaker is Jean Hoefliger.

A pretty, classic rendition of Napa Cabernet shines through in a challenging vintage. Pure blackberry fruit, graphite, herbs, and fine oak spices abound on this full-bodied Cabernet with notes of capsicum, black olive, and spiced plum and blackberry fruit, all laced with tobacco and leather—a real dynamite creation by Steve Matthiasson, exuding finesse, structured tannins and fine-boned acidity exuding freshness. The Cabernet grapes were de-stemmed and fermented on native yeast in stainless steel, then aged 18 months in 30% new French oak.

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from Beckstoffer Las Piedras at the foot of Spring Mountain in St. Helena. Power and precision align in this exceptional Cabernet from Paul Hobbs. Beautifully pure black fruit, minerality, and heady high-toned cedar spices all lead to a full-bodied palate with fruit as dark as night. Nuances of dried violets, black olives, and wild thyme and rosemary accompany a wealth of palate-etching tannins and fine-boned acid structure.

The 2020 Cask 23 blends 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes sourced from the best blocks within S.L.V and FAY vineyards. The wine is aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. Effusive black fruit aromas laced with liquorice, cedar and pops of capsicum. Plush, silky and full-bodied with saturated black satiny fruits, unsmoked tobacco and ultrafine pixelated tannins tinged with sagebrush and balanced by excellent acid tension. Tightly wound, with coiled-up energy and one of the most well-built wines of the vintage with excellent cellar potential.

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon was crafted by Boisset Collection's Stephanie Putnam. Incredibly fresh and vibrant with fragrant red florals and a beautiful streak of ironstone minerality framed by a dusty tannin backbone. Medium to full-bodied, balanced, and expressive of pure boysenberry fruit, tinged with baking spices and herbs. Complete and impressive. Sourced from a vineyard in east Yountville and one in Stag’s Leap District. Named for Wappo Hill, the present-day site of Jean Charles Boisset and Gina Gallo’s residence, but historically, the ancient apex of the Wappo Indian lands, and the name pays homage to their heritage. Aged 19 months in 100% French oak. 175 cases produced.

B Cellar works with nine different Oakville AVA Cabernet sites. Lovely dark berry fruits, dusty herbs, anise, and rose petal notes lead to a medium- to full-bodied wine offering more blackberry fruit on the palate, chocolate notes, and dusty iron minerality. Compact, tightly knit and a great effort for a challenging year. Winemaker Kirk Venge likes to ferment warm and, in this vintage aged the wine in 100% new French oak for 22 months. Bottled unfined, and unfiltered. Founded in 2003 by business partners Duffy Keys and Jim Borsack.

The Private Reserve is both expressive and reticent and, with some time, could prove a stand-out of the vintage. A very classic Napa Cabernet nose of blackberry fruits, graphite, and cedarwood enriched with baking spice notes. Full-bodied with plump, satiny tannins and decadent layers of compact dark berry fruits, cassis, loamy earth, and gravel, with focused energy and a long mineral-driven finish. One to drink now and often over the next 7-10 years.

Crafted by the talented Robin Akhurst, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 7 comes from Block 7 on the Milat Ranch in St. Helena. It was harvested relatively early in September, aged 16 months in 50% new French oak and is one of the most pleasure-packed, full-flavoured, delicious wines of the vintage. Pronounced blackberry and cherry fruits mingle with agave, dark chocolate, and decadent oak spices. Full-bodied, rich, and layered with satiny, plump tannins, the juicy dark-fruited profile meanders its way across the palate, picking up elegant wild herb and baking spices notes through a long currant-and high-toned floral-fueled finish. Just lovely.

The 2020 Monticello Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is a pleasure-packed, layered red with ample weight and structure, balanced by a remarkable lightness. Rich, savoury, and classically fashioned, leading with blackberry fruit aromas tinged with cedar spices, graphite, and wild herbs. Medium to full-bodied offering decadent inky black fruit and many of the same aromatic, savoury notes on the palate, along with black olive and tobacco leaf. Satiny fine-grained tannins are supported by a backbone of firm acidity, and the finish is long, refreshing and satisfying. 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc. Aged 18 months in French Oak barrels.

A dazzling bouquet of boysenberry and mulberry fruits, dusty wild herbs, black olive, white pepper, liquorice, and cedar wood. Quite beautiful on the palate with a medium-bodied feel, an undercurrent of tangy acid tension and a plethora of lovely floral flavours matched by pure ripe fruit notes of cherry, damson plum, and succulent blackberry. Long, lean, and structured with power and elegance—it strikes a real balletic chord making it a real standout this vintage. The winemaker for this wine was Sally Johnson Blum. Today, Philippe Melka's protege Matt Ward is in charge, joining in the fall of 2022.

The Setting is a partnership between winemaker Jesse Katz of Aperture Cellars and the Cova and McMahon families. This 100% Cabernet is sourced from the Skellenger Vineyard in Oakville and was aged 24 months in Seguin Moreau and Taransaud barrels. Opaque ruby in the glass, showing a good bit of restraint which relaxes with some aeration to reveal pretty dark black fruit, scorched herbs, coffee beans, and rich cedar spices. Full-bodied, with absolute power and intensity, running the full spectrum of black, red, and blue fruit notes framed by massive sculpted tannins. Pure power. Don't think of popping corks until 2024.

The 2020 VHR achieves a dramatic balance of opulence and structure. Leading with plump dark fruit, fragrant brown spices, capsicum and bay laurel. Full-bodied with satiny black fruit framed by firm, present tannins that build on the finish. There’s a suede-like swagger about this one, downright muscular and deserving of a good decanting—a nice showing for the vintage. Harvested from Blocks 1, 3, 4, and 6, and all before September 25. Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville is owned by the Philips family, who have been growers since 1959 and is a source for such producers as Harlan’s BOND Estate, TOR Wines, Dadlla Valle’s DVO, and Colgin, among other esteemed Napa producers. The vineyard manager is Mike Wolf, and winemaker Françoise Peschon produces the VHR wine.

The Rutherford Reserve leads with black fruits, toffee and oak spices. Full-bodied with ripe sweet blackberry and black cherry notes, building tannins that are a bit granular. The wine has plenty of grip and is built on 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with 10% Petit Verdot, aged 21 months in 80% new French oak. It is nicely balanced with a pH of 3.64 and is one not easy to put down.

Only the third vintage Black Stallion has bottled from the Rutherford AVA, and it's a savoury, pleasure-packed gem of the vintage. Gorgeous capsicum and dusty red cherry aromas tinged with vanilla and cedar. Medium to full-bodied with lovely boysenberry, spiced plum, red currants, tobacco, leather, and precise, fine-grained tannins. Long, lingering, spicy, and mineral-driven. Enjoy at cellar temperature.

Absolutely riveting with immense purity of dark black fruits, sagebrush, sandalwood and purple florals dusted with cinnamon. Full-bodied with concentrated satiny black fruits laced with wild herbs, cedar wood and tobacco. Gorgeously crisp tannins are finely grained, and the finish is long and punctuated by graphite and cassis. One of the most gratifying wines of the vintage from second-generation winemaker Maya Dalla Valle. Her parents, Naoko and Gustav, produced their first vintage of estate Cabernet in 1986. As Maya discovered her passion for the family business, she honed her skills by working at such places as Ornellaia, Bodegas Rolland, Petrus, and Chateau Latour. She was named winemaker of her family estate in 2021.

From owners Rich and Shannon Salvestrin and winemaker, Natalie Winkler comes this fashionable and dark-toned Dr Crane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Heady black fruit aromatics are charged with wet river stone, pulverised rock minerality, sagebrush, and cigar box. Full-bodied with enticing boysenberry and black cherry notes atop massive beams of fine-grained tannins. Long, powerful, and totally pleasing.

Fragrant dried thyme and mulberry notes with red liquorice, toasted coconut and iron shavings. Full-bodied with a real purity of blackberry fruit and mixed-berry compote. A dusty tannin backbone and a long mineral finish underscore the satiny fruit profile.

Winemaker Jason Moulton has aged this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Millennium MM Vineyard in Rutherford in 75% new French oak barrels for 26 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Powerful and pronounced aromas of blackberry fruits, toasty oak spices, and violets. Full-bodied with ripe, sweet blueberry and blackberry fruit, chewy, dusty tannins and racy acidity and a plethora of graham cracker crust and pie spice notes on the long, floral-driven finish. A complete package here.

The 2020 Harlan Estate is such a pretty wine—compact, tightly knit, with a coiled-up energy that delivers surprise and intrigue in every swirl and sip as the wine evolves in the glass. Leading with beautifully delicate wild herbs, dried and crushed bay laurel and sage, red and black currant fruit, and a pop of liquorice intermixed with cigar leaf. Medium to full-bodied with a richness to the mid-palate and intense grip from the wine’s multidimensional acidity. Almost feathery and extremely fine tannins frame all this, and the wine finishes long, cool, and so composed. Tasted at Harlan Estate with director of winegrowing Cory Empting and Will Harlan, managing director at Domain H. William Harlan. Both expressed to me that the 2020 vintage—while challenging because of the fires—has resulted in a critical inflection point in the evolution of Harlan. ‘We gained 5-10 years of learning in one year’, said Will, intimating that their scrupulous probing and attention to detail amounted to a genuinely academic year in farming. Empting, for his part, explained that while it’s not unusual for picks at Harlan to begin in late August, the entire property was finished with harvest by 12 September—the earliest in the estate’s history. Empting said that his greatest concern was wind direction after the LNU fire ignited on 17 August. Favourable winds kept the smoke at bay for their Oakville vines. Most importantly, Empting emphasised that the growing season, which began dry and warm and continued as much, meant that picking by the second week in September didn’t mean picking underripe grapes. ‘We weren’t just picking early to pick early; the grape ripened earlier’, he said, and given the age of their vines (30-40 years) and the fact that as of this writing, some 70% of the vineyard is dry-farmed, the vines are adapting in ways Empting and even longtime vineyard manager Bob Levy hadn’t imagined. Fermentations were faster but not hotter as sugar levels were lower, and while they pulled back on punch-downs, the wine macerated on the skins longer. ‘The result and surprise are in the details and fine-ness of tannins’, remarked Will, ‘It's not a complete departure; we feel we have removed the clouding and can see it all so unobstructed’. In short, the structure of the Harlan estate has come into focus. In subsequent vintages, as with 2021 and 2022, grapes were harvested on the earlier side, never eschewing ripeness but paying closer attention to what ‘ripeness’ means for the vines growing at Harlan Estate. For my part as a reviewer, the best observation I can make is that there is indeed a remarkable freshness and tension, like turning the page of a great Fitzgerald novel only to find the story continues to build, surprise, delight, and inspire intrigue.

2020 Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery, Cabernet Sauvignon - St. Helena NV /// Lovely fragrant blackberry and black cherry fruit, cassis, and rich tobacco spices with lovely fresh earth notes and a sweet kiss of new wood cedar. Incredibly concentrated dark berry fruit with fabulously angular tannins with smooth long beams with crisp edges. Purple florals, dried sagebrush, and chocolate shavings with lids of graphite and deep iron-like mineral character. And a finish of dark saturated fruit that goes and goes for days. There are purple floras too. Polished and bright, with vivacious acidity and freshness evident from the sip to the finish. Wow, this wine. 98-100. // 13.7 ... has the potential to be a 100-point wine.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the famous gravelly loam soils of Beckstoffer Dr Crane in the St. Helena AVA. This is a site that consistently delivers a gorgeous Cabernet, almost no matter the producer. Still, in the capable hands of Paul Hobbs, even in a challenging year like 2020, when many producers opted not to bottle their fruit, this wine radiates balance, pleasure, depth, and curiosity. A burst of classic, dusty, iron-like Dr Crane minerality is accompanied by sagebrush after a cool winter rain, spearmint, and cedar spices. Pure, silken, energetic and layered with red, black, and blue-toned fruits, dark chocolate, and gravelly, fine-grained tannins with a firm backbone of racy acidity. Long, lean, and built for the long haul.

Here is one of the stars of this challenging vintage. A muscular wine, leading with tremendous freshness on the palate, restrained red-toned fruit, and very subtle yet elegant cedar wood intermixed with red-rock minerality. Medium to full-bodied, offering more black fruit on the palate, redolent of muddled blackberries and juicy plums. An iron fist in a velvet glove comes to mind, given the tannin texture, which leads with the furry, velvety side of the glove and transitions to an undercurrent of ironclad and dusty minerals. All this turns fresh and lively through the finish. Perhaps a bit hot on the alcohol, but this will soften soon enough—absolutely one of the more riveting wines of the entire vintage. I had the chance to taste this wine at Quintessa with Rebekah Wineburg, Winemaker and Rodrigo Soto, General Manager, and it was the last in a lineup of wines going back to the 1994 vintage, and it showed all I have written -- Wineburg and Soto are so finely in tuned with Quintessa’s vineyards that it’s almost no surprise they devised such a beautiful wine through such a difficult year, battling fires and dealing with obstacles related to the pandemic. Seek this out.

Balanced, polished, seamless, and elegant—and just what you’d expect from this Oakville estate, humbly delivered in 2020. I had the chance to taste this release at Screaming Eagle on a cool, rainy day at the end of March 2023. It possessed the freshness of the air outside, coupled with the warmth of the vintage, offering expressive blue and violet wildflowers, boysenberry fruit, graphite, cedarwood and spearmint and beautiful loamy earth notes. Medium-bodied and flush with the purity of red crunchy cherry and plum fruit augmented by undercurrents of blue and black-toned notes as well this vintage. All this is framed by a rich tapestry of long, silky, layered tannins and the finish is punctuated by rose petal notes. This wine is unquestionably in the running for an upgrade to a 100-point score. It's a dynamic, expressive, and gorgeous showing from the challenging vintage. The team’s unyielding effort to bring harmony and balance to the vineyard comes together in the glass. It's an example of how precision farming and precision. Winemaking can capture the essence of a winery's signature style.

Ripe and juicy blue fruit aromas on the nose with some soft wood spice, acaia, liquorice, a touch of California heat in the aromas but smells fresh and inviting. Clean, supple, lively, pure and focussed on the palate. Tannins take the fore, really quite mouthfilling with ash, smoke, tar, tobacco edges, leather and some meat, underpinning the blackcurrant, black cherry and blueberry fruit. Still quite tense, focused in the centre, driving from start to finish in one line, despite the slight weight and nice density of the tannins. A very soft vanilla sweetness is also apparent. It's both potent and poised, perfumed and pure. You can't get away from the liquorice and tar undercurrent that really marks the wine. Dark, savoury, brooding, a really complete wine. Lots of personality and manages the combination of having both Bordeaux and Napa sparkle. A delicious first vintage from the new Napa estate owned by Florence and Daniel Cathiard of Smith Haut Lafitte. Directors Justine Labbé and Fabien Teigen, consultants Michel Rolland and Frederick Ammons.

Cathy Corisons’ iconic Kronos Vineyard bottling from St. Helena is made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in 50% new French oak. Remarkable purity of fruit and savoury aromatics. This is a beautiful wine with finely-delineated blackberry, black cherry, black currant notes and expressive graphite minerality. Fresh, lively, and built like a skyscraper, with long, firm beams of cedary tannins and tangy blood orange acidity. The finish is long, vivid, and marked by dried herbs, citrus, and wildflowers: a real highlight and a bright spot in this challenging vintage.

A collaboration project between Dalla Valle Vineyards of Napa Valley and Ornellaia of Tuscany. This is the third release, and despite the challenging vintage, winemaker Maya Dalla Valle and founder and proprietor Naoko Dalla Valle, along with winemaker Axel Heinz and CEO Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja of Ornellaia have produced one of the standout wines of the vintage. Effusive blackberry aromas are intermixed with graphite, cassis, liquorice, toasty cedar wood and tanned leather. This is a seamless wine with superb structure, freshness, and depth of character. Medium to full-bodied with rich dark cassis, loamy earth, elegant, fine-grained tannins, dusted wild herbs, brown spices, and a fabulously long mocha-tinged finish. It almost defies gravity—dense and powerful, yet with a tremendous lightness of energy. Sold in 3-pack wooden boxes.

From winemaker, Andy Erickson comes this heady, perfumed Cabernet with excellent weight and plenty of tannins. Fruit-driven due to a slight backing of new oak in this vintage, blackberry and cherry lead the way, followed by cedarwood, sage leaf and bay laurel. Sumptuous, dense, and compact with long beams of very present yet compact tannins and excellent grip. Almost crunchy acidity is framed by graphite minerality, and the wine shows the intensity and power balanced by the freshness typical of Erickson’s winemaking. Sourced from three Coombsville vineyards: Meteor, The Rabbit Hole, and Collinetta. ‘We worked our asses off to make this wine,’ Erickson mused at his Coombsville estate. The Favia Wines are now featured on La Place de Bordeaux, and that comes with international attention Erickson sees the wines head to new markets around the globe, from Paris to the Philippines and Uruguay.

One of the more beautiful, fresh, and energetic 2020s of the vintage. Lifted red-toned fruits intermix with dusty minerals leading to a medium-bodied Cabernet rife with a lovely saline mineral edge and bright boysenberry fruits alongside red currants. Tightly-knit with very fine-grained tannins that are soft and almost satiny, with a tobacco and white-pepper-tinged finish that goes on and on to reveal dried sage and dark chocolate. Impressively fresh, and just 200 cases were produced—only the third vintage from Morisoli Vineyard. The contiguous 21.44-hectare site in Rutherford has been farmed by the Morisoli family since 1902. Spearheaded by Chris Morisoli (fifth generation) and his dad, Gary (fourth-gen), they hired winemaker Joel Aiken who served as Beaulieu Vineyard winemaker for 24 years. Under Aiken’s supervision, they are producing very limited production Cabernet off their family estate, which continues to sell grapes to producers such as Amici Cellars, Robert Biale Vineyards, Elyse, Etude, Sequoia Grove, among others. A unique feature of the back label is a set of two numbers that are grid coordinates, representing the vineyard and the Zaray-Panjwaji region in Afghanistan, where Chris Morisoli was stationed when serving in the military.

Such an elegant pure, pretty wine with finesse of character and juicy, bright energy. Heady and lifted aromatics lead with red and black-toned fruit, cherry and cherry pit, and lovely tobacco spices. Medium to full-bodied offering ripe strawberry, black cherry and blackberry underscored by crunchy acidity, almost like biting into pomegranate seeds. Silken tannins are long and beam-like, almost cedar-tinged, and flourishes of toffee and toasty oak round out a plush and fashionable wine. From Luc Morlet's estate in St. Helena, harvested at the end of September before the Glass Fire and aged 16 months in French oak, unfined and unfiltered.

A beautiful, full-bodied, mineral-driven, energetic wine with curvy edges from a very challenging vintage. The mineral-rich nose is infused with blackcurrant and Chambord, while the rich, dark berry fruit intermingles with cassis and a plethora of earth and salty mineral notes. Very precise tannins plump up with air, and the finish is marked by fresh, loamy soils and crushed stone notes. When winemaker Luc Morlet came across this 10.11-ha property for sale in the Oakville AVA, he noticed an unnamed creek running through it. Later, in 2016, Constellation Brands received permission to name it To Kalon Creek. Morlet says the site is low-vigour and comprised of 40-60% well-draining gravel planted two two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon and one-third Cabernet Franc. Harvest finished on 17 September 2023, well before the Glass Fire. In another vintage with far fewer challenges, this would almost undoubtedly be a 100-point wine, and I plan to review it again in a year and see how it is progressing.

From the Nathan Coombs Estate in Coombsville, Paul Hobbs has fashioned one of the most refined, expressive Cabernets of the vintage. Aged 20 months in 96% new French oak, from an inky purple-black colour, comes a purely vibrant, ethereal wine with pure dark fruit aromatics, elegant cedar spices, sagebrush and spearmint. Full-bodied and polished with silky blackberry and blueberry fruit, tobacco, leather, black currants, and structured, building tannins with fine-boned acidity. An absolute marvel of a wine with a finish that goes on for up to a minute.

From the legendary Fay vineyard, this 2020 Cabernet includes a 2% splash of Cabernet Franc, aged 21 months, in 85% new French oak. Expressive black cherry fruit is scented with crushed red rock minerality and notes of dried rose petals. Medium to full-bodied on the palate with a wealth of concentrated blackberry and cherry fruits supported by elongated, supple tannins. Fine-boned acidity brings clarity to this powerful, elegant, mineral-laced red, which possesses a balletic lightness balanced by muscular tension on the long, drawn-out finish.

<p>Winemaker Kirk Venge likes to age his Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Cabernet for 28 months in new French oak, and the result is a lip-smacking, opulent, sophisticated red offering up dark black fruits, dusty herbs, and toasty cedar wood. Medium-bodied, with density to the fruit weight balanced by coiled-up energy and tension. A rush of juicy warm fruit fills the mid-palate, and tannins build on the finish, which unspools in savoury earth, black tea, and more dried herbs.</p>

Cathy Corison's newest single-vineyard designate from Sunbasket Vineyard in St. Helena AVA, aged 20 months in 50% new French oak, shows the prowess of excellent winemaking. This tightly knit Cabernet is the iron fist in the velvet glove with lofty red-toned mineral aromatics atop cherry and black currant notes. At the same time, the palate is fresh and alive, sporting a linear quality that draws a straight line from the red- and black-toned fruit profile to the cedar-rich elegant, fine-grained tannins to the dried wild herb finish. This is a tightly-knit, masterful creation from the 2020 vintage and should be enjoyed now and often over the next 5-7 years, possibly longer.

Ripe black fruits, graphite, dusty herbs, and toasty oak with chocolate. Medium to full-bodied with intense grippy, angular tannins, saturated black fruits, dried thyme and sage, white pepper, and a long, satisfying finish. Harbison typically bottles three block-designate wines, but in 2020, they combined the best lots of those blocks, Horsehoe, Pony Express, and The Trail, and produced this wine. 125 cases total. Philanthropists Joe and Pat Harbison own this estate, which enjoys a border with Oakville’s Screaming Eagle. The winemaker is Jean Hoefliger.

A pretty, classic rendition of Napa Cabernet shines through in a challenging vintage. Pure blackberry fruit, graphite, herbs, and fine oak spices abound on this full-bodied Cabernet with notes of capsicum, black olive, and spiced plum and blackberry fruit, all laced with tobacco and leather—a real dynamite creation by Steve Matthiasson, exuding finesse, structured tannins and fine-boned acidity exuding freshness. The Cabernet grapes were de-stemmed and fermented on native yeast in stainless steel, then aged 18 months in 30% new French oak.

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from Beckstoffer Las Piedras at the foot of Spring Mountain in St. Helena. Power and precision align in this exceptional Cabernet from Paul Hobbs. Beautifully pure black fruit, minerality, and heady high-toned cedar spices all lead to a full-bodied palate with fruit as dark as night. Nuances of dried violets, black olives, and wild thyme and rosemary accompany a wealth of palate-etching tannins and fine-boned acid structure.

The 2020 Cask 23 blends 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes sourced from the best blocks within S.L.V and FAY vineyards. The wine is aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. Effusive black fruit aromas laced with liquorice, cedar and pops of capsicum. Plush, silky and full-bodied with saturated black satiny fruits, unsmoked tobacco and ultrafine pixelated tannins tinged with sagebrush and balanced by excellent acid tension. Tightly wound, with coiled-up energy and one of the most well-built wines of the vintage with excellent cellar potential.

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon was crafted by Boisset Collection's Stephanie Putnam. Incredibly fresh and vibrant with fragrant red florals and a beautiful streak of ironstone minerality framed by a dusty tannin backbone. Medium to full-bodied, balanced, and expressive of pure boysenberry fruit, tinged with baking spices and herbs. Complete and impressive. Sourced from a vineyard in east Yountville and one in Stag’s Leap District. Named for Wappo Hill, the present-day site of Jean Charles Boisset and Gina Gallo’s residence, but historically, the ancient apex of the Wappo Indian lands, and the name pays homage to their heritage. Aged 19 months in 100% French oak. 175 cases produced.

B Cellar works with nine different Oakville AVA Cabernet sites. Lovely dark berry fruits, dusty herbs, anise, and rose petal notes lead to a medium- to full-bodied wine offering more blackberry fruit on the palate, chocolate notes, and dusty iron minerality. Compact, tightly knit and a great effort for a challenging year. Winemaker Kirk Venge likes to ferment warm and, in this vintage aged the wine in 100% new French oak for 22 months. Bottled unfined, and unfiltered. Founded in 2003 by business partners Duffy Keys and Jim Borsack.

The Private Reserve is both expressive and reticent and, with some time, could prove a stand-out of the vintage. A very classic Napa Cabernet nose of blackberry fruits, graphite, and cedarwood enriched with baking spice notes. Full-bodied with plump, satiny tannins and decadent layers of compact dark berry fruits, cassis, loamy earth, and gravel, with focused energy and a long mineral-driven finish. One to drink now and often over the next 7-10 years.

Crafted by the talented Robin Akhurst, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 7 comes from Block 7 on the Milat Ranch in St. Helena. It was harvested relatively early in September, aged 16 months in 50% new French oak and is one of the most pleasure-packed, full-flavoured, delicious wines of the vintage. Pronounced blackberry and cherry fruits mingle with agave, dark chocolate, and decadent oak spices. Full-bodied, rich, and layered with satiny, plump tannins, the juicy dark-fruited profile meanders its way across the palate, picking up elegant wild herb and baking spices notes through a long currant-and high-toned floral-fueled finish. Just lovely.

The 2020 Monticello Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is a pleasure-packed, layered red with ample weight and structure, balanced by a remarkable lightness. Rich, savoury, and classically fashioned, leading with blackberry fruit aromas tinged with cedar spices, graphite, and wild herbs. Medium to full-bodied offering decadent inky black fruit and many of the same aromatic, savoury notes on the palate, along with black olive and tobacco leaf. Satiny fine-grained tannins are supported by a backbone of firm acidity, and the finish is long, refreshing and satisfying. 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc. Aged 18 months in French Oak barrels.

A dazzling bouquet of boysenberry and mulberry fruits, dusty wild herbs, black olive, white pepper, liquorice, and cedar wood. Quite beautiful on the palate with a medium-bodied feel, an undercurrent of tangy acid tension and a plethora of lovely floral flavours matched by pure ripe fruit notes of cherry, damson plum, and succulent blackberry. Long, lean, and structured with power and elegance—it strikes a real balletic chord making it a real standout this vintage. The winemaker for this wine was Sally Johnson Blum. Today, Philippe Melka's protege Matt Ward is in charge, joining in the fall of 2022.

The Setting is a partnership between winemaker Jesse Katz of Aperture Cellars and the Cova and McMahon families. This 100% Cabernet is sourced from the Skellenger Vineyard in Oakville and was aged 24 months in Seguin Moreau and Taransaud barrels. Opaque ruby in the glass, showing a good bit of restraint which relaxes with some aeration to reveal pretty dark black fruit, scorched herbs, coffee beans, and rich cedar spices. Full-bodied, with absolute power and intensity, running the full spectrum of black, red, and blue fruit notes framed by massive sculpted tannins. Pure power. Don't think of popping corks until 2024.

The 2020 VHR achieves a dramatic balance of opulence and structure. Leading with plump dark fruit, fragrant brown spices, capsicum and bay laurel. Full-bodied with satiny black fruit framed by firm, present tannins that build on the finish. There’s a suede-like swagger about this one, downright muscular and deserving of a good decanting—a nice showing for the vintage. Harvested from Blocks 1, 3, 4, and 6, and all before September 25. Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville is owned by the Philips family, who have been growers since 1959 and is a source for such producers as Harlan’s BOND Estate, TOR Wines, Dadlla Valle’s DVO, and Colgin, among other esteemed Napa producers. The vineyard manager is Mike Wolf, and winemaker Françoise Peschon produces the VHR wine.

The Rutherford Reserve leads with black fruits, toffee and oak spices. Full-bodied with ripe sweet blackberry and black cherry notes, building tannins that are a bit granular. The wine has plenty of grip and is built on 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with 10% Petit Verdot, aged 21 months in 80% new French oak. It is nicely balanced with a pH of 3.64 and is one not easy to put down.

Only the third vintage Black Stallion has bottled from the Rutherford AVA, and it's a savoury, pleasure-packed gem of the vintage. Gorgeous capsicum and dusty red cherry aromas tinged with vanilla and cedar. Medium to full-bodied with lovely boysenberry, spiced plum, red currants, tobacco, leather, and precise, fine-grained tannins. Long, lingering, spicy, and mineral-driven. Enjoy at cellar temperature.

Absolutely riveting with immense purity of dark black fruits, sagebrush, sandalwood and purple florals dusted with cinnamon. Full-bodied with concentrated satiny black fruits laced with wild herbs, cedar wood and tobacco. Gorgeously crisp tannins are finely grained, and the finish is long and punctuated by graphite and cassis. One of the most gratifying wines of the vintage from second-generation winemaker Maya Dalla Valle. Her parents, Naoko and Gustav, produced their first vintage of estate Cabernet in 1986. As Maya discovered her passion for the family business, she honed her skills by working at such places as Ornellaia, Bodegas Rolland, Petrus, and Chateau Latour. She was named winemaker of her family estate in 2021.

From owners Rich and Shannon Salvestrin and winemaker, Natalie Winkler comes this fashionable and dark-toned Dr Crane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Heady black fruit aromatics are charged with wet river stone, pulverised rock minerality, sagebrush, and cigar box. Full-bodied with enticing boysenberry and black cherry notes atop massive beams of fine-grained tannins. Long, powerful, and totally pleasing.

Fragrant dried thyme and mulberry notes with red liquorice, toasted coconut and iron shavings. Full-bodied with a real purity of blackberry fruit and mixed-berry compote. A dusty tannin backbone and a long mineral finish underscore the satiny fruit profile.

Winemaker Jason Moulton has aged this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Millennium MM Vineyard in Rutherford in 75% new French oak barrels for 26 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Powerful and pronounced aromas of blackberry fruits, toasty oak spices, and violets. Full-bodied with ripe, sweet blueberry and blackberry fruit, chewy, dusty tannins and racy acidity and a plethora of graham cracker crust and pie spice notes on the long, floral-driven finish. A complete package here.