Winemaker Notes
Pair with steak, roasted lamb, or even mushroom risotto.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A lush, velvety red with soft power, offering ripe, relaxed black cherry and blackberry flavors on a bed of smooth tannins. Toast and baking spice flavors complement blueberries and dark plums on the palate, with spearmint and chocolate accents. Drink now or hold.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2022 Goldschmidt Vineyards Game Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon is a deep ruby color and opens with inviting aromas of sandalwood, fragrant spices, and a hint of dark fruit. On the palate, it delivers rich flavors of ripe blackberries and subtle oak accents, supported by fine tannins and a lively, lingering finish. Balanced and expressive, this Oakville Cabernet makes an excellent match with Korean-style grilled pork, where the wine’s spice and dark fruit complement the dish’s sweet-savory glaze and charred edges. (Tasted: October 26, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a three-acre parcel of vines planted in 1989, Goldschmidt's 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Game Ranch spent 17 months in 85% new French oak, lending this full-bodied wine a plush veneer of cedar and vanilla, even a touch of toasted coconut. The underlying fruit is more cherries and cranberries, plus undertones of dusty earth, creating an attractive tension between fruity and savory components. Like the other Goldschmidt offerings in this report, it's gently extracted and only modestly tannic, finishing mouthwatering and refreshing.
Yolyn and Nick Goldschmidt are owner/vintners, and Nick is the winemaker. The winery offices are located in Healdsburg. Both originally from New Zealand, Yolyn and Nick have spent time living and working in the wine areas of New Zealand, Australia and South America.
Their focus is Cabernet Sauvignon from two prestigious vineyards in Northern California — Vyborny Vineyard, located on the northeastern slope in the Alexander Valley, and Game Ranch, located on an old river bottom on the eastern bench of the Silverado Trail. Both showcase the optimum silhouettes of Cabernet Sauvignon from Alexander Valley and Napa Valley.
The rolling hills and gentle slopes near the town of Sebastopol were once home to apple orchards filled with songbirds. By the early 1990’s though, most of the orchards were replanted with grapes. The factors that define a quality Chardonnay vineyard are numerous, but Nick Goldschmidt believes matching varietal and rootstock to the right vineyard site yields the most flavorful grapes.
High quality grapes grow only under certain optimum soil conditions, including a balance of nutrients within certain clays. These clay minerals play a critical role, as they can retain water and act as harbors for nutrients better than other soil types. Clays that offer slow nutrient transfer to grape vine plants are preferred. The highest quality grapes grow on the fine-grained, shallow marine quartz sandstones of the Wilson Grove Formation, where Singing Tree is located. These formations tend to produce soils that are well balanced in nutrient content and water retention.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Home to some of the most sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon in America, Napa Valley’s Oakville district stretches across the center of Napa's valley floor and foothills between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. This AVA is home to the legendary To Kalon Vineyard and Martha's Vineyard, as well as many powerhouse wineries including Screaming Eagle, Silver Oak, Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Far Niente and Groth.
The climate is generally warm and agreeable, resulting in year after year of favorable vintages. Summer days see a gentle tug of war between warmer inland air and the cool air coming in from the San Pablo Bay, creating an ideal environment to grow red varieties. Oakville's diverse soils, namely ancient sea bedrock, clay and gravel, are well-drained, and perfect for high-caliber viticulture.
Cabernet here is often bottled varietally but is also popular in Bordeaux Blends. Oakville wines are known for their silky, sensual textures, structured tannins, dark and brooding fruit and lovely aromatics. These age-worthy and prestigious wines are favored by collectors throughout the world.