Vine Hill Ranch VHR Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 2019

Vine Hill Ranch VHR Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 2019

Just bottled, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon tastes like a barrel sample, such is its purity of fruit and lushness! It is the most overt, opulent young wine I have ever tasted here, and likely to require a number of years in bottle for some of the baby fat to melt away. Pliant and supple, with soft contours and tons of fruit, the 2019 is simply magnificent. I imagine the more savory, earthy notes that are so typical of VHR will develop in time. Even today, though, the 2019 is outrageously beautiful

100 pointsDecanter

“Fresh, enticing aromas of sappy red and black fruits, leather, sandalwood, cassis, violets and sweet cedar. Gorgeous on entry, brimming with elegance in its finely delineated fruit notes that lead with blackberry, and black cherry morphing into tangy red fruit and currants. Featherweight fine-grained tannins are almost powdery; a wealth of savoury mineral character floods the mid-palate like liquified granite. And it keeps giving, revealing wild herbs, sagebrush, bittersweet chocolate and brown spices. One of the more elegant 2019 Napa Cabs in this concentrated, dark-fruited vintage, with beautiful structure and a freshness that remains present in every single sip.”

98 pointsJames Suckling

“Flowers and brambleberries on the nose, together with lavender and sandalwood. Very perfumed. Full-bodied, yet very tight and polished, with gentle, graceful sensibility that shows through clearly and subtly. The tannins are soft and focused, providing finesse and a fine texture that runs the length of the wine. Very attractive now, but even better in 2025.”