Reviews

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Generations is deep garnet-purple in color with an earthy, dried herbs and scorched earth-scented nose over a core of blackberry pie and cassis with Indian spices and menthol. Full-bodied, concentrated and rich in the mouth, with firm, grainy tannins and a savory/earthy character, it finishes long with a mineral hint.

Sporting a deep garnet-purple color, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville District Collection leaps from the glass with intense plum preserves and exotic spices notes with eucalypt, chocolate box and cedar notions. Full-bodied, rich, opulent and decadent in the mouth with grainy tannins, it finishes lively and long.

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon St Helena District Collection opens with a deep garnet-purple color and a savory/meaty nose of smoked bacon, earth, crème de cassis and incense with suggestions of cinnamon stick, cloves and dried flowers. The full-bodied mouth is velvety and well balanced with plenty of expressive, subtle flavor layers and a long, earthy finish.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville District Collection has a boisterous baked berries, mulberries and black forest cake-scented nose with plenty of spices, dusty earth and licorice. Full-bodied, rich, spicy and bold in the mouth, it has a long finish.

Aromas of smoked meat and spice give way to black cherry, earth and stony mineral flavors in this dense, powerful red. The tannins are dominant for now, but there is freshness and a long, complex finish that reveals promise for the future.

This is intense, starting out on the elegant side and building slowly to attain greater density and power. Spice, raspberry and cherry flavors form the center, with a layer of chalk and stone underneath. Shows fine concentration and balance, delivering a long, minerally aftertaste.

Bright medium red. Sexy, almost exotic sweetness to the aromas of cherry, raspberry, wild herbs and stone. Wonderfully ripe but dry, conveying a rare combination of outstanding volume and great finesse without any impression of dryness--or easy sweetness, for that matter. A classic uncompromising young Bonnes-Mares but without the hardness of old-style wines from this long-aging grand cru. The spicy finish rises inexorably. As youthful as this is, its remarkably fine-grained texture gives it an easy digestibility. This protected site really seals in the heat, said Vincent, who brought in this fruit at close to 13% potential alcohol and did not chaptalize.

The 2014 Proprietary Red Surrealist, a blend that is intriguing in itself (59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Petit Verdot, with only 350 cases produced), is a wine with huge tannins, massive concentration, lots of cassis and blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with licorice and subtle toast. It is a big wine that should drink well for 30 or more years.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon JCB No. 1, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon bottled unfined and unfiltered after spending 19 months in 65% new French oak, has an opaque purple color, a glorious nose of graphite, blackberry, licorice, incense, Asian spice and white chocolate. The wine has great fruit on the attack, an opulent, full-bodied, multi-tiered mouthfeel and a layered, pure finish of a good 45+ seconds. It is a brilliant wine and will drink well for up to 20 or more years.

The 2014 Proprietary Red Passion, which spent 17 months in 42% French oak and is a blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot, exhibits a complex, fragrant nose of unsmoked cigar tobacco, chocolate, camphor, vanillin and oodles of blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. It is long, rich, sensual, lush and best consumed over the next 12-15+ years.