We can’t promise many other LIBRARY RELEASE 97-99 pointers under $60 with ritzy winemaking behind them in the coming months. Or years. And if you love all manner of big, rock & roller, coat your molars, shirt staining, no constraining style Cabernet, this one’s for you. Even with 100% new oak thrown on it, the intensity of the fruit just soaks it all up to attain sublime submission, a miraculous feat only witnessed in Cabs grown way above the fog line.

Julian Gonzalez crafted this blockbuster. He’s the one who led all consulting programs under the legendary Paul Hobb$ 🤑 since 2007. So, you know it has all the trademarks of a high-end Cabernet - fitted with structure, density, polish, and complexity that rivals a Unified Engineering class at MIT. This is to say, it’s not at all a shy wine, and it explodes from the glass like a genie from the lamp and fills the room with untamed aromatics of exotic woods and flowers.

Showing a nice balance between Old World style and flashy modern Napa Cabernet - dark black and blue fruit rises up, with tobacco and tar, and a fascinating minerality all wrapped in a robe of expensive new French oak. Definitely give this one some time to breathe before you pour a glass, or let it rest for a few years - it can go the distance.

What else can we be said? Other than please move quickly. Cabernet never lasts long around here with these kinds of accolades, and there are but a few cases of this one to go around!

97 Points – The Tasting Panel

“Above the fog line of Atlas Peak, the windy 32-acre Meadowrock Vineyard sits on rocky volcanic soils. Aged 22 months in French oak and coming in at 14.8% ABV, this wine takes a majestic stance. Regal but not austere, it generates immense flavors of blue and black fruit; a brightness arises along with wound-up tannins ready to unfold on the palate, which opens to minerality, sweet tobacco, slate, and a parade of dried flowers.”