Winemaker Notes
Cassis, mocha, bay leaf, and freshly unearthed soil are some of the complexities that come to the fore with this wine. As it opens in the glass, it reveals even more layers, on top of a solid framework of tannin and a weighty, burnished mid-palate. And, yet the wine has a certain lightness of being that keeps you coming back. We all look forward to revisiting it frequently over many years.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville is a slightly broader, more expansive wine with textbook notes of crème de cassis, tobacco leaf, Asian spices, loamy soil, camphor, and chocolate. Offering full-bodied richness, a beautiful weightlessness on the palate, and building tannins, this is another gorgeous, seamless, singular wine from this estate that will benefit from short-term cellaring and evolve for 20-25 years or more.
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James Suckling
The aromas of ripe currants and fresh flowers just pop out here. Black cherries and blackberries, too, as well as lavender and currant bush. Full-bodied with a solid core of fruit and intense tannins, yet it remains energetic and precise. Layered texture. Great finish. This is a very typical, top 2018. From organically grown grapes. Try after 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville—pure Cabernet from Oakville Ranch—features obvious cassis fruit laced through with slightly herbal shadings, like sage and bay leaf. It's medium to full-bodied, structured, firmly tannic but ripe, rich and long, with a velvety finish that hints of black tea and mocha. Best After 2024
Favia Erickson Winegrowers is a collaboration between Annie Favia and Andy Erickson. Their philosophy is simple: create soulful wines that express the true nature of the vineyards from which they come. Annie and Andy focus on finding unique vineyard sites with soils, climate and aspects ideal for growing exquisite wine grapes, and develop strong relationships with their winegrowers to perfect viticultural practices. In the winery, they carefully coax the grapes into wine. Gentle handling, minimal intervention, and strict monitoring of the wine allow our grapes to speak for themselves.
Ultimately, Favia Erickson Winegrowers unites science, art and nature to produce unparalleled wines, each with its own distinct character.
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.
Home to some of the most sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon in America, Napa Valley’s Oakville district stretches across the center of Napa's valley floor and foothills between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. This AVA is home to the legendary To Kalon Vineyard and Martha's Vineyard, as well as many powerhouse wineries including Screaming Eagle, Silver Oak, Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Far Niente and Groth.
The climate is generally warm and agreeable, resulting in year after year of favorable vintages. Summer days see a gentle tug of war between warmer inland air and the cool air coming in from the San Pablo Bay, creating an ideal environment to grow red varieties. Oakville's diverse soils, namely ancient sea bedrock, clay and gravel, are well-drained, and perfect for high-caliber viticulture.
Cabernet here is often bottled varietally but is also popular in Bordeaux Blends. Oakville wines are known for their silky, sensual textures, structured tannins, dark and brooding fruit and lovely aromatics. These age-worthy and prestigious wines are favored by collectors throughout the world.