Lail Vineyards J. Daniel Cuvée Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

100 points - limited               Lail's J. Daniel Cuvee Reserve Cabernet is one of Napa Valley's highest-rated Cabs of the vintage - Limited. Only 470 cases produced. 100 Points Robert Parker: "Lail's 2021 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon blends lots from several high-end vineyards, including Heimark (Calistoga), Vine Hill Ranch (Oakville) and Steltzner (Stags Leap), plus Lail's own Mole Hill on Howell Mountain. It's an exciting wine, starting from the pulse-quickening aromas of raspberries and black cherries tinged with dark chocolate. In the mouth, this full-bodied beauty is richly concentrated, with a sensuous texture somewhere between silky and velvety, while the softly dusty finish shows terrific length and a spine-tingling hint of licorice. To reduce this wine to deceptively simple yet hard-to-pin-down words, it's complex, harmonious and elegant, yet it's enough of its place that it could only come from Napa Valley." 98+ Points Jeb Dunnuck: "One of the finest wines in the vintage, the Lail 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Dutch Henry Canyon area in Calistoga, Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville, and Stelzner in Stags Leap (which was added in 2018). It spent 20 months in 75% new French oak. Still tight and inward, it has sensational purity in its currant, mulberry, truffly earth, graphite, and leather aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied, rich, incredibly concentrated 2021 that has the vintage’s fresher, focused style, ripe tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and evolve for a quarter of a century. ...Robin Lail is one of the true icons of Napa Valley. Her great grand-uncle Gustave Niebaum was one of the pioneers for Napa Valley viticulture as well as the founder of Inglenook Vineyards. Her family’s fascinating history dates back to 1879, and Robin can truly boast of having worked with the best professionals and superstars of Napa Valley, from Robert Mondavi and Bill Harlan to Christian Moueix at Dominus. However, she’s on her own now with Lail Vineyards and has produced a bevy of extraordinary wines with the help of her wine consultant Philippe Melka. There are two pricing tiers, with the Blueprint wines the less expensive wines aimed at consumers and the restaurant trade, and the more limited production Georgia Sauvignon Blanc and J. Daniel cuvées of Cabernet Sauvignon for connoisseurs with thick wallets."

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