Winemaker Notes
Blend: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, 5% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Relevant comes from younger vines and more loamy soils and is based on 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, and 5% each Merlot and Petit Verdot. Its deep ruby/plum hue is followed by a gorgeous bouquet of blackcurrants, mulled cherries, tobacco, chocolate, and spicy oak. Rich and medium to full-bodied, it has beautiful fruit, a great mid-palate, and velvety yet still present tannins. A gorgeous wine, it would run you twice the cost if it were from Napa.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Relevant comes from younger vines at Crown Point and is made in an earlier-drinking style. It's blended with 10% Malbec, 5% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot and was matured for 20 months in about one-third new French oak. It has aromas that might lead you to Europe rather than California, its deep core of cassis laced with alluring herbal undertones, plus accents of chocolate, soy sauce and garrigue. The full-bodied palate is plush and approachable, with an understated core of mineral-driven fruit, fresh acidity and a long finish laced with new oak spices.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
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.