2014 Oakville Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Oakville Ranch's 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon is elegant, polished and refined, all while expressing the power that seems to come so naturally up on the hills of Eastern Oakville. Bright, red-toned fruit, sweet tobacco, licorice, menthol and spice all flesh out in this deceptively mid-weight Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2014 has a bit less obvious size than some of the other wines in this tasting, and yet it has more than enough persistence and overall depth to be compelling.

A blend of 84.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15.1% Cabernet Franc and 0.4% Petit Verdot, the inky purple-black colored 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon has a baked blueberries and stewed plums-scented nose with notions of underbrush, Mediterranean herbs and tilled soil. Full-bodied and concentrated, it is a little firm but with good expression, finishing long and earthy.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is a blend of 84.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest primarily Cabernet Franc with a tiny dollop of Petit Verdot, offers gorgeous crème de cassis, licorice and some spicy oak. About 75% new oak was used by winemaker Jennifer Rue, and the wine was scheduled for bottling after I tasted it. The alcohol is 15.2%. This wine will be released next fall. It is full-bodied, rich and a classic Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, with notes of fruitcake, blackcurrants, licorice, cedar wood and graphite. It is full, but the tannins are sweet, like most 2014s, and it should age nicely for 15-20 years.