Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Derived from young vines at China Blue and Happy Canyon Vineyards, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon opens with a classic bouquet of leather, dried herbs and dark chocolate, set against a core of red and black fruit. The palate is supple, polished and elegantly plush, culminating in a rich finish framed by chalky tannins.
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Vinous
Decidedly red-fruited, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon (Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara) shows all the classic Cabernet signatures, unfurling in the glass with bittersweet chocolate, red cherry, tobacco, mocha and dried herbs. Medium-bodied and nicely structured, it remains hemmed-in and calibrated through the even-tempered finish.
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.
On the eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley, the rolling hills of the tiny Happy Canyon AVA produce top quality reds from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and whites from Sauvignon blanc. The region’s low-nutrient soil grows smaller vines and in turn, higher quality wine grapes.