MAYACAMAS (2020) CABERNET

Lots of fruit but also that tannic drying feeling in the finish. Can I add a new descriptive word to my wine vocabulary? This wine was trippy, as well as grippy! I was watching The Perfect Storm (2000) and riding this wine’s waves at the same time. I loved the movie and the wine, and I loved the movie with the wine! It is possible that the wine overshadowed my grilled pork chop and may not have been the right pairing for that particular cut of meat. In fact, after I poured it and started sipping, dinner was significantly delayed. In the background, the score of The Perfect Storm was playing with my emotions (!) and contributing to the experience of drinking this beautiful Mt. Veeder Cab. I need more of this. It made me feel sorry for everyone who wasn’t me last night. Apparently, 2020 was a difficult vintage, but this wine was delicious. Okay, what do the real critics and wine-people say?

A creamy texture surrounds pretty floral and black fruit flavors in this elegant, poised wine. It escaped the vintage’s smoke effects, and offers pure blackcurrant and black cherry flavors that expand on the palate and linger in the finish. Medium- to full-bodied. Made from 100% cabernet sauvignon. From organically grown grapes. JAMES SUCKLING

Jeb Dunnock said: The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon is nevertheless a beautiful wine. Offering ripe black fruits intermixed with smoky herbs, graphite, and cedar pencils, it has medium-bodied richness, a pure, focused mouthfeel, firm yet integrated tannins, and outstanding length. This structured, Bordeaux-like effort is unquestionably a success in the vintage and should benefit from another 2-3 years of bottle age and shine over the following decade or so. It will be interesting to see if the fruit holds up to the tannins here when all is said and done.