Winemaker Notes
One of Paso Robles best known Cabernets – drawn from J. Lohr's top vineyards throughout the appellation.
Delicious with rosemary- seasoned ribeye, and garlic roasted potatoes with parsnips and fennel.
Blend: 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc & Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Easily accessible aromas of black cherry, cola, vanilla, and star anise draw the nose deeply into this bottling. The palate is rich and very polished, offering minty black cherry, dense fudge, and lovely violet flavors that are sure to please most red-wine drinkers.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Hilltop is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged in French oak. Solid darker currants, plums, leafy tobacco, and cedar pencil notes emerge from this varietally correct effort. It's medium-bodied and focused on the palate, showing an elegant mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. Drink 2025-2035.
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.