Winemaker Notes
Thee 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon aromatics are defined by crème de cassis, tobacco leaf, spicy oak, and a graphite-like hint of lead pencil. On the palate, it is full-bodied with a perfectly balanced, pure, and multi-dimensional profile. Ultra-fine, gradually building tannins lead to a long, refined, yet powerful finish.
Blend: 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is more Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated and checks in as 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. It's another jaw-droppingly good wine from this team. Crème de cassis, graphite, tobacco leaf, spicy oak, and a Pauillac-like lead pencil character all define the aromatics, and it's full-bodied on the palate, with a flawlessly balanced, pure, layered mouthfeel, ultra-fine yet building tannins, and a great finish. It's borderline perfection, and quite possibly the finest Bordeaux blend I've ever tasted from Santa Barbara County. Drink bottles any time over the coming 20-25 years.
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Vinous
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the finest wines I have tasted at Crown Point. Seamless and refined in the glass, the 2021 hits all the right notes. All the elements come together beautifully. Winemaker Simon Faury has managed to soften the strong, pungent notes typical of Happy Canyon while also reigning back the bombastic intensity of the early years here. The 2021 is sublime.
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Wine Enthusiast
Lush aromas of savory walnut, charred coffee husks and blackberry align on the nose of this luxury-level bottling. The palate is smoothly textured with expertly polished tannins that presents charred espresso, toasted herb and suave berry flavors. The wine slides down very easily.
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James Suckling
So firm, layered and precise, an elegant, ageworthy wine that's balanced and concentrated. Cocoa, graphite, dark chocolate, dried blueberries, creme de cassis and spearmint. So much to enjoy in this beautiful polished and structured wine. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deriving from a selection of hillside blocks with the addition of Petit Verdot, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon offers a rich, saturated and lavish nose of black fruits, milk chocolate, espresso and roasted barley. The palate fittingly matches the aromas with a slick, luxurious texture that concludes with a fragrant, creamy finish framed by sturdy, grainy tannins. While this is quite seductive in its textural precision, the decidedly constructed feel on display here feels a bit forced.
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.