2009 Panek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Panek Vineyard is graced with exquisite finesse and silkiness in its red fruit and sweet tannin. Layers of seamless fruit caress the palate in this stunning Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2009 Panek is subtle, understated and totally classy. The Panek is clone 6 and 7 Cabernet, aged in 80% new barrels. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019. Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown and his wife Genevieve Marie Welsh are the duo behind the impressive Rivers-Marie wines. Brown is one of this generation’s most exciting young winemakers. His early work with Helen Turley and his first consulting clients, including Schrader, is well-known, but what is less well-known is the number of other winemakers whom he has inspired, directly and indirectly. Brown’s winemaking is deeply influenced by his knowledge and passion for the historic California Cabernets and Pinots of decades past, and the great reds of Burgundy and Piedmont, a perspective that is not too common among younger winemakers. The Rivers-Marie wines are made at Outpost, where Brown also makes the wines of his top-flight consulting clients. The Rivers-Marie Pinots will be reviewed in our February issue. For now, readers will find no shortage of great choices among these five stellar Cabernets. The only Cabernet I did not taste was the 2010 Napa Valley, which will be culled from the barrels that don’t make it into the top two selections. Tel. (707) 341-3127