Press Room

JCB Knockout Reviews

Score: 92 | January 31, 2024 | Wine Advocate

This taster gravitated toward the more inventive blends from JCB, like his 2021 The Knockout Red Wine, an assemblage of Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Nicely pure blueberry and blackberry fruit are accented by a healthy dose of vanilla, but this full-bodied effort offers ample concentration, silky tannins and a long, supple finish.

Score: 96+ | October 27, 2022 | The Wine Independent

A blend of 63% Petite Sirah and 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2019 Knockout is very deep purple-black in color. It needs some swirling to bring out notes of boysenberry preserves, chocolate-covered cherries, and blueberry pie with hints of dark chocolate, licorice, and tar. The full-bodied palate is firm and super-rich, with nice ripe tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long, long, long.

Score: 97 | March 10, 2022 | Jeb Dunnuck

The 2019 Knockout is, indeed, a knockout and if you’re craving sexy Napa Valley fruit and opulence, it won’t get much better. A blend of 63% Petite Sirah and 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, this full-bodied beast of a wine offers loads of darker fruits, violets, graphite, and leafy herb aromas and flavors. It has a stacked mid-palate, sweet tannins, and like all the wines from winemaker Stephanie Putnam, brings richness with no sensation of weight or heaviness. Drink it over the coming decade.

Score: 94 | January 1, 2022 | Vinous/Antonio Galloni

The 2019 Knockout once again lives up to its colorful name. This Petite Sirah/Cabernet Sauvignon blend packs a tremendous punch. Inky dark fruit, spice, lavender, chocolate and grilled herbs saturate the palate and all the senses as this heady, opulent 2019 takes hold. What can I say? There is nothing subtle about the Knockout, that is for sure. And yet, it most certainly delivers the goods.

-- Antonio Galloni

Score: 97+ | February 26, 2021 | Wine Advocate

Composed of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Petite Sirah, the 2018 Knockout has a deep garnet-purple color and rolls effortlessly out of the glass with audacious scents of baked plums, crème de cassis, mulberries and dark chocolate with nuances of bouquet garni, roasted coffee beans and tobacco leaf. The concentrated palate is full-bodied and then some, jam-packed with muscular black fruit preserves flavors and supported by firm, ripe, grainy tannins with a lively backbone and a fantastic wallop of a finish that's sure to put hairs on your chest. Love it. 50 cases were made.

Score: 95 | January 27, 2021 | JebDunnuck.com

Based on 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Petite Sirah, the 2018 Knockout Red is another classic wine in the lineup that has purity and freshness while still bringing plenty of opulence and texture. Beautiful notes of blackcurrants, scorched earth, and candied violets emerge from this full-bodied 2018, which has integrated acidity, fine tannins, and a great finish.

Score: 94 | January 1, 2021 | Vinous/Antonio Galloni

The 2018 Knockout (Cabernet Sauvignon/Petite Sirah) certainly delivers on its name. Rich, deep and explosive, with tons of supporting energy, the 2018 is a big wine. I would give the formidable Petite tannins a few years to settle down. Inky red/purplish fruit, spice, cedar, new leather and sweet pipe tobacco are all layered into the huge finish. -- Antonio Galloni