Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
What a velvety, intricate and layered performance this exceptional wine puts on. Ripe fruits, subtle oak spices and a silky mouthfeel combine for instant pleasure with each sip. Behind the black cherries, blueberries, vanilla and cinnamon touches are moderate tannins that will help it age nicely. Tempting to drink now, it will be best from 2027–2040.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
Intense aromas of blueberries, blackcurrants, ink pot and iron. Rose petal, too. Full-bodied, very layered and velvety with a chewy finish. Remains savory at the same time. The tannins are more spread out here, suggesting excellent potential for the cellar. This is the smallest amount ever made of this wine, from grapes grown in Gamble Ranch in Oakville and Lampyridae Vineyard in Mount Veeder. 847 cases made. Best after 2027.
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Jeb Dunnuck
There are 847 cases of the flagship 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve, a 100% varietal that spent 20 months in French oak (65% new). Its vivid purple/plum hue is followed by tight, closed wine that has solid potential in its pure cassis and blackberry fruits as well as notes of charcoal, iron, crushed stone, and spring flowers. It's concentrated and has good purity, plenty of mid-palate depth, and an outstanding finish. It has just a subtle hint of that background firm, chalkiness that's common in the vintage, yet everything else is in the right place, and it has lots to love. It will be interesting to see where this goes, but it's clearly up with some of the better 2020s out there.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of lots from Gamble Ranch and Borrow Pit, plus Lampyridae, the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve features a slightly lifted, herbal note set against a backdrop of ripe cherries and dusty earth. It's medium to full-bodied and crisp, with dusty tannins and hints of cassis on the finish. Without its usual Howell Mountain component, it's an atypical Private Reserve, tarter and more red-fruited than other vintages. Volume suffered as well, with just 847 cases produced instead of a few thousand.
Rating: 92+ -
Wine Spectator
Ripe, with dark plum and blackberry compote notes moving through, entwined with warm earth, alder and cedar. The finish has a savory echo amid the fruit, along with a touch of grain that's typical of the vintage. Best from 2024 through 2035.
As California's longest continuously operating winery, Beringer has been defining Napa Valley winemaking since it was founded by Jacob and Frederick Beringer in 1876. By continuing that pioneering spirit, Beringer established many 'firsts' as leaders in the wine industry. They were one of the first gravity fed facilities and among the first to operate using hand dug caves and cellars. Beringer were the first to give public tours in 1934, starting a Napa Valley hospitality tradition. They are the first and only winery to have both a red and a white wine named #1 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator Magazine. Today, they proudly celebrate and remain true to their pioneering legacy.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.