Generations Cabernet Sauvignon Reviews

Aromas of blackcurrant, tobacco leaf and iodine. Full-bodied and rather juicy. The silky tannins are coated in black fruit. Nicely balanced and long. Best after 2024.

This well-concentrated, ripe and luxurious wine coats lush blueberry and blackberry flavors in fine-grained tannins for a rich mouthfeel. It shows excellent complexity, layering and a lingering finish.

A ripe, lush style, with flattering waves of cassis and creamed plum laced with sweet toast, light anise and apple wood. A nice underlying structure provides balance while letting the fruit hold center stage. Drink now through 2032. 1,502 cases made.

Aromas of blackcurrant, tobacco leaf and iodine. Full-bodied and rather juicy. The silky tannins are coated in black fruit. Nicely balanced and long. Best after 2024.

The 2019 Generations, Raymond's top bottling, is terrific. The blend, taken from sites in St. Helena and Oakville, works so well here. Pliant and silky, with notable depth, the 2019 is wonderfully expressive right out of the gate. Black cherry, plum, lavender, spice and menthol build into the voluptuous finish.

-- Antonio Galloni

Dark and winey, with steeped black currant and fig fruit flavors forming a muscular core, while notes of roasted alder, warm loam and licorice fill in on the finish. A hefty, solidly built wine for fans of the style. Best from 2022 through 2032. 1,750 cases made. — JM

The 2018 Generations captures the Raymond style at its best. Heady and flamboyant to the core, the 2018 boasts striking richness in its inky dark fruit, chocolate, licorice, spice, leather and menthol flavors. The 2018 is an unapologetically rich, full-throttle Cabernet, with all the elements impeccably balanced. Readers who enjoy opulent Napa Valley Cabernets will love it.

-- Antonio Galloni

This is solid, with mulled plum and blackberry fruit forming the core while notes of bay, sassafras, tobacco and alder weave around. Nice loamy tug through the finish, with the fruit keeping pace. Best from 2021 through 2031. 1,208 cases made. — JM

Bold, rich and plush, with silky tannins giving this backbone and a sense of sturdiness, yet the core blackberry and black cherry flavors glide across the palate, leading to a long, seamless finish. Best from 2020 through 2032.

Sweet dark cherry, plum, chocolate, espresso, lavender, cloves and licorice all run through the 2015 Generations. Ample and flamboyant, with silky, plush tannins, the 2015 will be easy to drink and enjoy pretty much upon release. Most of the fruit is sourced from a vineyard in St. Helena.

Tasted as a barrel sample, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Generations is a ripe, sexy, full-bodied 2016 that has loads of black cherries, currants, chocolate, and roasted herb aromatics. It’s a big, rich, opulent wine that has plenty of underlying structure and tannic grip. Still, it has the purity of the 2016 vintage front and center.

A chewy and flavorful red with dark berry, dark chocolate and hazelnut character. Full body, round tannins and a rich finish. Old school but I like it. Needs a year or two to soften.

This is a juicy and ripe yet structured wine with tremendous grip. Coconut and plum notes meet on the palate, providing deep fruit accented with black pepper and clove. 

Lavishly oaked, exhibiting a strong mix of mocha, espresso and smoke notes. The fruit holds its own, with dense blueberry, blackberry, black licorice, tobacco leaf and savory roasted herb flavors, ending with a long, full, sustained aftertaste. — J.L.

A blend of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot, this wine speaks to power, offering juicy, velvety texture around brawny components of leather, coffee and black plum. Concentrated and intense, it needs time to open in the glass before pairing with thick cuts of meat.  — V.B.

Opulent and intense, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Generations is quite powerful, with huge, inky fruit and searing tannins. This is an especially deep, extracted Cabernet, but it has also just been bottled. It will be interesting to see how the 2013 develops. Today, it is almost forbiddingly intense, yet there is plenty of stuffing lurking beneath. - Antonio Galloni

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon comes across as quite polished and nuanced, with lovely brightness, tension and energy. Dark red and bluish fruit, spices, mint, licorice and sweet spices are some of the signatures. Today, the 2014 is quite impressive. - Antonio Galloni

The outstanding 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Generations is a blend of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot. It reveals a dense purple color as well as lots of licorice, blackcurrant, tobacco leaf and crème de cassis characteristics. Opulent, full-bodied, fleshy and succulent, it should drink well for 10-15 years. – Robert Parker

Aromas and flavors of terracotta, walnuts and ripe fruits follow through to a full body, with soft tannins and a round-textured finish. Lovely mouthfeel in this early-drinking cab.

Good dark red-ruby. Sexy aromas of blackberry, mocha, coffee and minerals. Sweet, bright and classically dry, showing lovely definition and perfume to its musky blackberry and mineral flavors. Tannins are a touch dry but I like this laid-back style. Ultimately more complex than the 2010.

Bright medium ruby. High-toned, very primary aromas of blueberry, licorice and menthol. Densely packed but not yet particularly sweet, with sexy mineral lift to the black fruit flavors. The largest-scaled of these three vintages and evolving quite slowly. The fruit comes from western St. Helena and the eastern side of Oakville and includes some clone 337 for the first time.

Bright medium ruby. Cassis, licorice and crushed rock on the nose, lifted by a violet topnote. Suave and varietally accurate, with good inner-mouth energy and lift to the dark berry and fresh herb flavors. Finishes with serious tannins and lingering sweet berry fruit. Raymond is now under the Boisset Family Estates umbrella following its purchase by Jean-Charles Boisset in August of 2009. Boisset, who also has a major presence in Burgundy, told me he looks for refined wines--"almost in a pinot style." Philippe Melka is in charge of winemaking here.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Generations looks to be the finest wine made at Raymond in many years. It boasts a deep ruby/purple color along with notes of graphite, subtle charcoal, asphalt and background oak. Deep and full-bodied with terrific fruit intensity, this beauty should drink well for 15 or more years. Much in keeping with this vintage, it is upfront and intense.

A flashy wine—dry and rich and dense— that manages to be drinkable now, yet also ageable. The flamboyant black currant, chocolate, spice and oak flavors are delicious, and while the tannins are pretty strong, they’re finely ground, giving the wine a nice grittiness. This blend will age well through 2020.