2021 Vine Hill Ranch ‘VHR’ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA (750ml)

WINEMAKER’S NOTES:

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Extended Age is bright, fresh and nuanced. In this tasting, the Extended Age comes across as quite different than the straight VHR Cabernet, which is fascinating to see after 2018, where the wines are more similar. The Extended Age seems to have a bit more of everything; more fruit, more energy and more drive. I cant wait to taste it from bottle.

TASTING NOTES:

Fresh, enticing aromas of sappy red and black fruits, leather, sandalwood, cassis, violets and sweet cedar. Gorgeous on entry, brimming with elegance in its finely delineated fruit notes that lead with blackberry, and black cherry morphing into tangy red fruit and currants. Featherweight fine-grained tannins are almost powdery; a wealth of savoury mineral character floods the mid-palate like liquified granite. And it keeps giving, revealing wild herbs, sagebrush, bittersweet chocolate and brown spices. One of the more elegant 2019 Napa Cabs in this concentrated, dark-fruited vintage, with beautiful structure and a freshness that remains present in every single sip.

– Decanter, 100 pts.

Flowers and brambleberries on the nose, together with lavender and sandalwood. Very perfumed. Full-bodied, yet very tight and polished, with gentle, graceful sensibility that shows through clearly and subtly. The tannins are soft and focused, providing finesse and a fine texture that runs the length of the wine. Very attractive now, but even better in 2025.

– James Suckling, 98 pts.

Just bottled, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon tastes like a barrel sample, such is its purity of fruit and lushness! It is the most overt, opulent young wine I have ever tasted here, and likely to require a number of years in bottle for some of the baby fat to melt away. Pliant and supple, with soft contours and tons of fruit, the 2019 is simply magnificent. I imagine the more savory, earthy notes that are so typical of VHR will develop in time. Even today, though, the 2019 is outrageously beautiful.

– Vinous, 98 pts.

This red is beautifully rich and supple in red fruit, polished tannin and a depth of layered complexity. It is broad and generous, with complexity to age and fresh, lasting acidity that illuminates and energizes the palate. Enjoy from 20292039.

– Wine Enthusiast, 98 pts.