Paradigm Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot, 1% Cabernet Franc
20 months in French oak (only about a third of that is new oak) and for 20 more months in bottle before release
Our winemaking "style" is solely determined by this place or terrior we call "Paradigm." Winemaking is agriculture when you own your vineyards and are able to farm them to promote the very best Earth will give you. All of our selections of wines are made from five varietals on the estate. Every wine is 100% farmed and grown by us.
Complexity in our wines supported by luscious fruit and acidity is our hallmark. Our efforts during harvest and barrel cellaring concentrate on maintaining the freshness from the first day we handpicked each vineyard block. Simple winemaking protocols are employed while crucial “timing” oriented winemaking decisions rule each day.
This wine is deeply pigmented with ruby/garnet color. First sniff is Oakville Cabernet all the way. Nice layers of ripe berry and cherrylike fruit with a matching complement of toasty French Oak from an assortment of Coopers and different barrel ages. Gorgeous across the palate with a silky yet dense mouthcoating impression. Ripeness is key and the result is a wine with perfect balance and flow - just plain delicious. It’s a big, beautiful wine now but has tremendous aging potential. — Heidi Barrett
The nose of our the Cabernet Sauvignon shows remarkable purity, opening with juicy fruit-punch and layered notes of blue and red fruit dried with sweet herbs. The palate builds with blackberry pie filling, baker’s chocolate, and freshly ground coffee, underscored by an earthiness of loam and underbrush. Acidity is finely tuned, carrying structure through the middle and sides of the wine. For those who can wait, cellar this bottle for several years. For those who cannot, double decant 4–5 hours before serving and let the wine come fully alive.
Blackberry pie filling, baker’s chocolate, freshly ground coffee, earthy loam and underbrush, red and blue fruit dried with sweet herbs
Review:
"How do you do Cabernet the Donelan way—and do it in Sonoma? The answer began with archetyping older styles of Cabernet. The vineyard lies near Skipstone, encompassing sites such as T-T Vineyard, Obsidian, and Constant on Diamond Mountain. For Joe Donelan, the goal was to craft a Cabernet reminiscent of what Mondavi was producing in the 1970s and early 1980s—wines defined by freshness, clarity, and balance rather than sheer weight. The result is vivid, bright, and pure-fruited, with an immediate freshness factor. Red berry fruit, cherry, and cassis lead the way, framed by a medium-bodied structure with velvety-textured tannins and a creamy mid-palate that makes the wine deeply engaging and remarkably easy to drink. Sagebrush and black olive notes lend savoury complexity, joined by subtle hints of tobacco, all carrying through to a long, mineral-driven, fruit-focused finish. - Jonathan CRISTALDI"
Decanter (January 5th 2026), 97 points