Winemaker Notes
Delicious with rosemary-seasoned ribeye and garlic roasted potatoes with parsnips and fennel.
Blend: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
J. Lohr’s three Paso Robles estate vineyards—Shotwell in the El Pomar District, Beck in the Creston District, and Gean in the Adelaida District—are home to the grapes that make up this expressive red. Each site adds its own personality traits that, combined with a new proprietary yeast strain called the Hilltop isolate and the finest French oak barrels, result in the best-ever vintage for this iconic label (Clone 7 Cabernet Sauvignon was first planted at Hilltop Vineyard in 1989). The wine, which has 6% Petit Verdot and 4% Cab Franc blended in, makes a memorable first impression with serious scents of blue fruit covered in violets. Dense on the palate, graphite joins notes of plum, tar, and licorice as well as curvaceous yet arresting tannins. The fruit engages with concentration and turns blacker and bolder on the finish.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
6% Petit Verdot; 4% Cabernet Franc. In the right places and from the right makers, Paso Robles Cabernet has been making great strides in recent years, and this lovely effort from J.Lohr will go a long way in changing the minds of those who would dismiss the district’s worth as a producer of notable versions. It is a generous, nicely textured, incisively varietal, moderately full-bodied working whose curranty, oak-enriched flavors build and build, and, while still on the young side and certain to be even better with age, it already shows surprising polish and layering. It compares very favorably with its cousins costing two and three time as much, and, as fine Cabernets go, this one is a bona fide bargain
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Wine Enthusiast
This bottling shows accessible aromas of black cherry, toasty oak, grilled teriyaki meat and a hint of purple flowers. The palate brings blackberry and smoked meat flavors framed by tannins that rise up toward the finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 J. Lohr Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon is solid and well-built. TASTING NOTES: This wine rewards on the palate and in the finish. Its aromas and flavors of bright berries and oak should pair nicely with a well-marbled, prime-graded grilled ribeye. (Tasted: September 12, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
For more than fifty years and through two generations, the Lohr family and their team have been leaders in the California wine industry. Founder Jerry Lohr and his three children Steve, Cynthia, and Lawrence oversee one of the country's most successful and trusted fine wine labels. With first plantings in Monterey in 1972 and then in Paso Robles in 1986, the team helped write the book on sustainable winegrowing on the Central Coast.
Today, J. Lohr farms more than 4,000 acres of estate vineyards in Monterey's Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands appellations, Paso Robles, and St. Helena in the Napa Valley. They produce eight tiers of award-winning releases: J. Lohr Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, J. Lohr Cuvée Series, J. Lohr Vineyard Series, J. Lohr Gesture, J. Lohr Pure Paso Proprietary Red Wine, J. Lohr Estates, J. Lohr Monterey Roots, and ARIEL Vineyards.
J. Lohr is a Certified California Sustainable Vineyard and Winery and was honored with the 2020 Green Medal Leader Award in recognition of the company's decades-long commitment to sustainability.
As Paso Robles, California has soared in number of wineries and gained in popularity, Cabernet Sauvignon has firmly taken root as the region’s number one varietal. Alone, it accounts for just over 40% of plantings and is grown throughout both the western and eastern sides of the appellation. Though viticulture here dates back to the 18th century, Cabernet Sauvignon didn’t emerge as a significant grape here until the 1970’s. But since then it has definitely made up for lost time.
Legendary winemaker and consultant Andre Tchelistcheff first recognized Paso’s potential with Cabernet Sauvignon in the early 1960’s. The calcareous soil and dramatic diurnal temperature changes of Paso’s westside particularly intrigued him. Today modern winemaking techniques and focused experimentation with various clones, rootstocks and vineyard strategies optimize the region's ideal combination of soil and climate to deliver the best fruit possible.
The results are evident in the glass. Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon can be mesmerizing, with rich aromas and flavors of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, graphite, toasty oak, vanilla and spice. The structure, balance and unbridled opulence of these wines impress from first sip to last. Not surprisingly, Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignons have steadily grown in reputation, not just in the U.S., but around the world.