2021 Di Costanzo Cabernet Sauvignon Montecillo Vineyard
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Tasting notes
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Montecelio Vineyard shows a touch of surmaturité, with earth, licorice and cassis notes that veer toward plumminess on the nose. It's full-bodied, round and velvety but also a touch coarse (texturally) compared to the Caldwell bottling. The drying, tannic finish is appropriately chewy, reflecting the mountain structure and dry farming.
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Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
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The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Montecillo Vineyard is one of the best wines I have ever tasted here. Dark, sumptuous and wonderfully dynamic, the 2021 captures all the natural intensity this site is so well known for. Black cherry, gravel, lavender, spice and dried herbs all power through in this heady, dense Sonoma Valley Cabernet.
A new bottling for Di Costanzo (and the winery's first white wine), the 2021 Chardonnay Di Co—from a one-acre parcel planted four years ago to cuttings from the Chuy Vineyard—was entirely barrel fermented in 40% new French oak. Boasting lovely scents of toasted hazelnuts and cashews, it follows those up with ripe pear, pineapple and melon-like fruit, plus a slightly honeyed note. Despite being labeled at 13.2% alcohol, it comes across as substantially fuller. It's plump and succulent, with a long, mouthwatering finish.
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Montecillo Vineyard exists in a totally different realm; one of true and profound beauty. Explosive in its aromatic presence and deep on the palate, the 2021 is shaping up to be a magnificent wine. Quite simply, it represents everything Sonoma County Cabernet is, and everything it can be. What a wine. Gravel, incense, tobacco, menthol, blackberry and espresso build into the huge, dramatic finish. This is one of the great, great wines of California.