Winemaker Notes
Try this with braised greens and Korean short ribs.
Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Game Trail emerges from a site planted at 1,400 feet in elevation in the Yorkville Highlands. Readers will find a dark, savory, almost pungent Cabernet Sauvignon that is deeply expressive of place. Blackberry, olive tapenade, black pepper, sage and lavender add to a palpable impression of gravitas. I would give the 2022 a year or two in bottle to shed some of its baby fat. It's an incredibly distinctive wine, that much is plainly obvious.
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Jeb Dunnuck
All Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Game Trail Clone 6 is bright and well-concentrated, with an intense structure of prominent tannin. The fruit profile is tart and savory, finely textured with a note of rose petal. There’s freshness for days and subtle oak influence that dials in more texture and spice. Cellar for another 8-10 years, when it should hit its peak.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Game Trail Cabernet Sauvignon is herbal on the nose: blackcurrant fruit is accented by tones of eucalyptus, green pepper, dried herbs and lavender. The full-bodied palate features concentrated layers of dark fruit. It’s structured by gently chewy tannins and bright acidity and has a long finish streaked with floral perfume.
Starting with only a handful of purchased grapes in 1978, Marietta Cellars has been a standout winery in Sonoma and Mendocino since the very beginning. Founded by Chris Bilbro, a Sonoma County native with winemaking roots dating back three generations, Marietta rose to prominence with its revolutionary Old Vine Red, a California red blend that essentially created the category. The winery has slowly expanded its estate holdings over the past thirty years, evolving into a beacon for high quality, balanced Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Rhône variety blends. Now fully estate-based and organically farmed, Marietta has vineyards spanning 310 acres in the Alexander Valley, McDowell Valley, and Yorkville Highlands. Notable among their heritage plantings are California’s oldest Syrah blocks, planted in the late 1800s.
Scot Bilbro, Chris’s son, has brought Marietta into its next, incredibly exciting phase. After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Viticulture and Enology in 2007, Scot joined the winery full-time, assuming the role of winemaker in 2012. Steeped in the history of the California wine country and the traditions established by his father, Scot combines his creativity and technical background in guiding the winery’s vision of viticulture and winemaking. Today, the fusion of traditional values and style with modern precision have culminated in the most highly regarded wines of Marietta’s four decade history.
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.
A unique appellation placed in between the warm, Sonoma County Alexander Valley and the cooler Mendocino County's Anderson Valley, the Yorkville Highlands’ gravel soils are ideal for Bordeaux varieties and other full-bodied reds.