Winemaker Notes
Despite the earlier picking, this vintage displays the site's impassive strength. Ink-dark and redolent of ripe blackberry and a touch of iodine, the imposingly structured wine ascends acutely on the palate and, cresting, descends like a waterfall to pool within cool, profound depths. Gravitas surrenders on the languorous finish to widening, concentric circles of stoic calm.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
It is a striking wine with a host of violet florals, crème de cassis, black cherry, and liquorice aromas. Super juicy fruit on the medium—to full-bodied palate is redolent of blackberry, black cherry, and plums. Burly tannins have a crisp edge and need time to soften. They counter the generosity of the wine, giving it a firm backbone. There's a fresh lift on the finish from a spine of bright, tingly acidity. Vecina is Bond's exceptional Oakville source within Vine Hill Ranch.
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James Suckling
Blackcurrants and blackberries with tree and bark aromas. Turns to graphite. Full-bodied with creamy, round tannins, but it’s very tight and compressed, giving a fine velvety texture to it. A persistent and thoughtful young wine. Drink after 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
For me, the most complete of the three vintages is the 2021 Vecina. Sourced from an east-facing parcel near the winery in western Oakville, it's perfumed and floral on the nose yet loaded with dark fruit as well. Medium- to full-bodied, it manages to be ripe, expansive and concentrated in the mouth while seeming to float across the palate on a wave of softly dusty tannins into a lingering, elegant finish.
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Vinous
The 2021 Vecina turned out beautifully. It opens with a blast of dark fruit, bay leaf, sage, leather and menthol. This super-classic, bruising, old-school-inspired Cabernet Sauvignon needs a number of years to be at its best. In this tasting, the Vecina exudes notable vertical intensity and plenty of tannic heft. It a gorgeous wine from Vine Hill Ranch, one of the most distinguished vineyards in Oakville and all of Napa Valley, for that matter.
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Jeb Dunnuck
As always, the 2021 Vecina offers a darker style in its red and black fruits as well as classy notes of graphite, violets, and scorched earth-like minerality. It's medium to full-bodied, has remarkable purity, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. Hide bottles for 4-5 years if you can, and it's going to drink well over the following two decades.
Rating: 96+ -
Wine Spectator
Still youthfully compact, this red’s coiled energy is waiting to unfurl, with ample notes of cassis, blackberry reduction, sage, cast iron and roasted apple wood held in check for now. The long finish keeps the mineral and fruit side in lockstep. Some patience is needed.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.