Le Big Boss Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Barrel fermented in mixed age French oak producing a medium clear lemon color. This wine has a luminescent, straw color with a subtle sheen. Meyer lemon, white nectarine, baking spice, and salt water taffy on the nose. The palette offers up warm oak spice, sandalwood, and stone fruit.

With a lemon-butter-cream texture, this wine is lush yet still very bright and fresh. Lively acidity, with a custard type of roundness/richness, and the warm oak spice follows through on the pallet. Delicious balance between richness and freshness.

As with all our whites, this wine will reward you for cellaring.

Reviews:

Bright straw. Fresh citrus and orchard fruits, smoky minerals and ginger on the incisive nose. Silky and focused on the palate, offering nervy Meyer lemon and green apple flavors that give way to deeper melon and peach with air. Finishes silky and long, displaying an echo of bitter citrus pith and lingering spiciness. - Vinous 90 Points

Bright, taut and focused, with spicy pear and Meyer lemon flavors that dance into a long and lively finish. Drink now through 2020. 680 cases made. - Wine Spectator 90 Points

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon offers an incredible aroma of big black, rich fruit, spring flowers, graphite and toast.  Full-bodied with stunning concentration and flavors of dark cherries, black plum, melted milk chocolate.  Well integrated French oak, this well balanced wine has supple, but ripe tannins and a lengthy finish.  From a single vineyard in Oakville.  14 months in 60% new French oak, Excellent value for Oakville-Napa Valley.  Just 350 cases produced.

Abeja Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley is made from 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot.

Aged for 20 months in 100% French, medium toast; 60% new, 40% one & two year old
The nose leads off with plum, bright blackberry, and dark bing cherries. A touch of dried blueberry rounds out the fruit profile. Floral notes and cocoa, with nuances of cedar and spice, are sprinkled throughout. All of these characters follow through on the palate and, with a pleasant minerality and continuity, weave a tapestry of complexity and youthful exuberance. 

"Plenty of blackcurrants and blueberries with a hit of new wood, too. Medium body, slightly firm tannins and a flavorful finish. This still needs some time to come together. Cabernet sauvignon with 1% petit verdot. Better after 2021."

- James Suckling (June 2020), 92 pts

Aromas of barrel spice, coffee, cherry, bittersweet chocolate, graphite and sautéed herb are followed by textured cherry and chocolate flavors. There's a pleasing sense of brightness to the acidity and deftness to the rich, creamy coffee and bright cherry flavors that keep the interest high. Plenty of tannic structure holds it all together. Coffee notes linger on the finish. It's far from a big bruiser and needs some time to all integrate but brings and abundance of rewards. Best after 2026 with a very long life beyond that.

-Wine Enthusiast 92 Points

Alejandro Bulgheroni Lithology Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Alejandro Bulgheroni Estate Lithology is a series of single vineyard and AVA-designated wines made from select sites within Napa Valley. Lithology Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is produced solely from fruit grown in the historic Beckstoffer to Kalon Vineyard planted in 1865 by W.H. Crabb and represents Oakville's famous bench land.

Review:

The 2019 Cabernet Franc Lithology Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard just shines for its bouquet, which is classic To Kalon with its floral, incense, spicy, red and black-fruited aromatics. These all flow to a medium to full-bodied, utterly seamless Cabernet Franc that’s balanced, has laser-like precision, and a great finish. This isn’t the biggest or richest wine in the lineup, but it’s Cabernet Franc in all its glory, with soaring aromatics and complexity, ample richness and texture, and a beautiful sense of finesse and elegance. It’s going to keep for 15-20 years with no issues.

-Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points

Composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2019 Lithology Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is a barrel sample with a deep garnet-purple color. It needs a fair bit of coaxing to unlock scents of blackberry pie, warm blueberries and cassis plus suggestions of spice cake, underbrush, candied violets and chocolate box. The full-bodied palate brings forth loads of earthy layers to accent the rich, black fruits, framed by plush tannins and lovely freshness, finishing long and fragrant.

-Wine Advocate 97 to 99 points


The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is one of the very finest wines I have tasted from Alejandro Bulgheroni's Napa Valley project. The 2019 To Kalon captures all the pedigree of this iconic Oakville vineyard, and yet also remains nuanced and wonderfully finessed for an intense wine. To Kalon Cabernets are rarely this elegant, but the Bulgheroni 2019 sure is.

-- Antonio Galloni 97 Points

Lexicon Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Lexicon varietal wines are carefully selected by Fran Kysela to show the essence of each variety, along with its terroir of origin, both of which are essential elements of a good wine.

Lexicon Cabernet Sauvignon offers rich and concentrated fruit aromas of red and black currant, cassis and black cherry along with black pepper and dried herb accents. It is soft and generous in the mouth, intense and complex, with supple tannins and elegant structure.

Pair with: Grilled meat, ribeye steak, filet mignon, roasted lamb with fresh herbs, cheesburger, semi-hard cheeses, truffled brie, portobello mushrooms.

Morlet Family Vineyards Mon Chevalier Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Malbec and Petit Verdot .

Located on the hillsides of Knights Valley, near Calistoga, this vineyard benefits from its proximity to Mount St. Helena, whose warm and windy climate is ideal for the long ripening of the Bordeaux red varietals. Handcrafted by using classical winemaking techniques, this special wine is dedicated to our son, Paul Morlet.

Dark red with a hue of purple. Intense and complex bouquet of red, black and blue berries intermixed with notes of blueberries, minerals (graphite, wet river rocks) licorice, fresh blond tobacco and a hint of lavender. Full bodied, the palate is reminiscent of the nose, with a richly tannic yet round frame and a great intensity. The hillside tannins and the classical aromatic complexity create a harmonious ensemble, leading to a very long and elegant finish. Built to age for decades, this collectible wine opens up after a few years of cellaring and is particularly representative of this special vineyard from the hillside of Knights Valley. Mon Chevalier features the interaction of the loamy, well drained and rocky volcanic soil, the typical sunny mountain climate and the low-interventionistic Morlet winemaking approach.

Propietary Name Mon Chevalier

Name Meaning My Knight Named after our son, Paul Morlet

Varietal composition 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot 2% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot

Type of wine Vineyard designated

Appellation Knights Valley

Vineyard singularity Morlet Family Estate Hillside 1100-1200 feet elevation Rhyolitic, loam & volcanic ash

Typical harvest date End of October

Picking Manual, small lugs, refer truck

Sorting Cluster by cluster, berry per berry

Fermentation Through native yeast Tank and Puncheons

Upbringing 16 months French oak from artisan coopers

Bottling Unfiltered

Cellaring time Decades

Serving Room temperature

Decanting recommended

Review: 

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier, which includes no Merlot (it’s 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Malbec and Petit Verdot) is a black fruited, powerful 2015 that just fills the mouth with fruit. Blueberries, plums, violets, chocolate, and savory herb notes all emerge from this full-bodied, big, meaty, licorice-laced effort that, like all of Luc’s wines, stays balanced, graceful and pure. Drink it anytime over the coming 25+ years.

-Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points