Winemaker Notes
100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from Happy Canyon Vineyard.
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Happy Canyon Vineyard RSW is a potent, brooding wine. Dark fruit, minerals, licorice, game, dried herbs and incense make a strong opening statement. Readers will have to be patient, as the RSW is a strapping, old-school Cabernet Sauvignon that needs time to soften, as the chocolatey tannins are pretty imposing.
Rating:94+
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.