This is an excellent young Cabernet Sauvignon that will take some bottle age. Coming on the heels of the high-scoring 2004, it’s full-bodied and extraordinarily rich, with intense blackberry, black currant, chocolate, coffee and cedar flavors, wrapped into near-perfect tannins. Shows great grapes and a deft winemaking hand.
— S.H.
(3/1/2009)
Other wineries have produced very good vineyard-designated Cabs from this mountain property. Now Brandlin has a go, and the wine shows promise. It’s considerably more tannic than most expensive New Age Napa Cabs, so dry and astringent that it demands cellar time. But it should develop, to judge from the powerful core of black currant fruit. Best after 2008 and…
— S.H.
(2/1/2008)
Marries ultrarich fruit with hard mountain tannins and plenty of new oak to produce a wine that needs time to come around. It’s explosive in blackberries, cherries and black currants, and those big tannins make it feel as astringent as sandpaper. Similar to the 2004, it wants at least six more years in the cellar.
— S.H.
(12/1/2011)
This is a gigantic Cabernet. It detonates on the palate with an explosion of blackberries, black currants, chocolate, anise and smoky cedar, wrapped in firm, dusty mountain tannins. It’s the perfect example of a mountain Cab that should age, but there can be no guarantees. Try after 2011.
— S.H.
(12/1/2009)
Even for a Mount Veeder Cab, this one’s pretty tannic. It also seems very oaky, with lots of caramelized, charred wood. Somewhere underneath it all are blackberries and black currants that are sweetly ripe. Your best bet is to cellar it, but its future is uncertain given the initial irregularities.
— S.H.
(10/1/2010)