Reviews

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.

Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the Cabernet Sauvignon JCB #1 cuvee is always made in a more elegant, seamless style, and the 2018 is an incredible wine in every sense. Rock star red and black currants, dried tobacco, cedary spice, and hints of chocolate all define the bouquet, and this full-bodied beauty has a seamless, elegant texture, great tannins, and the class to evolve for two decades.

Also all Cabernet, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon JCB #10 is slightly deeper purple-hued and offers a more blockbuster styled bouquet of blackcurrants, dark chocolate, scorched earth, and graphite, with full-bodied, richness, beautiful purity, great tannins, and a balanced, layered, age-worthy style. It needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30 years or more.

Also all Cabernet, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon JCB #10 is slightly deeper purple-hued and offers a more blockbuster styled bouquet of blackcurrants, dark chocolate, scorched earth, and graphite, with full-bodied, richness, beautiful purity, great tannins, and a balanced, layered, age-worthy style. It needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30 years or more.

Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the Cabernet Sauvignon JCB #1 cuvee is always made in a more elegant, seamless style, and the 2018 is an incredible wine in every sense. Rock star red and black currants, dried tobacco, cedary spice, and hints of chocolate all define the bouquet, and this full-bodied beauty has a seamless, elegant texture, great tannins, and the class to evolve for two decades.

The 2018 Surrealist is a wild, over the top wine, but in all the right ways, if that makes sense. Super-ripe red berry, kirsch, rose petal and sweet spice all race out of the glass. Heady and flamboyant to the core, the 2018 is immensely enjoyable, but readers have to appreciate this style. There is not much subtlety, not much left to the imagination. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot work so well here. -- Antonio Galloni

The 2018 The Leopard is, surprisingly, not one of the more extroverted wines in the lineup. A rush of ripe red berry fruit, spice, licorice, cedar and sweet pipe tobacco give the 2018 striking aromatic lift to play off the intense, jammy red fruit. Ripe and yet medium in body, the 2018 has a lot to offer. Syrah, Petit Verdot and Malbec complement a core of Cabernet Sauvignon so well here. -- Antonio Galloni

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Phi, a tiny lot of one barrel, is an exciting wine. Inky and opulent to the core, the 2018 races across the palate with striking richness. Inky fruit, chocolate, espresso, sweet French oak and rose petal build in a Cabernet endowed with unctuous intensity in a decidedly flamboyant style. -- Antonio Galloni

EDITOR'S CHOICE - This wine's nose is a picture of subtlety. Hints of blossom, chalk, pear and lemon are so tender you feel you have to sniff again and again. The palate becomes a picture of smooth, gentle harmony and depth. Freshness, fruit, texture and chalky depth make for a gorgeous constellation. ANNE KREBIEHL MW

Notes of yeast, chalk, ripe Amalfi lemon peel and white summer blossom unite into a seductive, creamy nose on this wine. Toasty, oaky smoke also hovers but is beautifully subdued. The palate also encompasses these notions but focuses on concentrated, stony depth and pithy texture. It's smooth, cool and bold. Give this elegant wine some time. Drink 2022–2040. ANNE KREBIEHL MW