2022 Rubicon

Auslieferung bis zum Frühjahr 2026!
Delivery until Spring 2026!

(Napa Valley; 85% Cabernet Sauvignon; 6% Cabernet Franc; 6.5% Merlot; 2.5% Petit Verdot; 14.3% alcohol; aged for 18 months in 75% new oak). From a very hot vintage, so the secret here is in the very gentle extraction. The fruit was all sourced from Inglenook’s more volcanic terroirs. This is immediately tight and taut, tense and quite racy for a wine with so much mid-palate density. Cedar. Incense. Candlewax. Black pen ink. Black tea. A mix of red and darker berry fruits. Bramble, mulberry and a little black cherry, but with a few raspberries and black raspberries thrown in too. This has the most gracious of tannins, ultra-fine grained and super svelte. Impressively aerial and crystalline too. I love the gentle taper towards the finish, as the diameter of the spherical core slowly descends to a distant vanishing point on the horizon.
97/100 Colin Hay; The Drinks Business

Medium intensity ruby red, one of the standouts of the lineup. Full dark berry and mint leaf Cabernet character, generous, juicy, with energy and forward motion. This delivers campfire, liquorice, cocoa bean and incense without missing a beat. A warm vintage, so the challenge was being ready to pick and to avoid dehydration, meaning a touch of irrigation at the end of August, and to compensate during winemaking by soft extractions, 75% new French oak for ageing. New winery, built into a knoll within the property, opened for this 2022 vintage, with over 100 stainless steel vats. Harvest September 1 through to the end of the month. Director of winemaking Philippe Bascaules, Todd Devincenzi winemaker.
96/100 Jane Anson