Decanter.com
byJonathan Cristaldithe2/28/2024
Sourced from 45-year-old vines planted at over 365m in elevation, Cathiard Vineyard's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the highest point on their Napa Valley property. This incredibly fresh, 100% Cabernet sees 22 months in oak. It offers a sumptuous and seductive nose of rich black currants, walnuts, and a creamy richness imbued with fragrant toasted cedarwood, nuanced by tinges of graphite. Full-bodied, with a deep and concentrated mid-palate of black cherry and blackberry fruits laced with tobacco and wild herbs, the palate presents powerful tannins that feel precision-sculpted, forming long beams that build in intensity through a lengthy finish marked by black liquorice, crème de cassis, dark chocolate, and finally an aromatic lift of bright, wild herbs – a profound expression of Cabernet in a great vintage. My colleague, Georgina Hindle, also sampled this wine in her report 'March releases on the Place de Bordeaux 2024: Report and top-scoring wines", and my tasting with Florence and Daniel Cathiard and winemaker Justine Labbé at their estate Napa Valley estate confirmed much of the same reaction. I'd wager this should be re-tasted in a year or two as I could see it rising a point or two. Points aside, this is a beautiful wine that will deliver loads of pleasure for decades.