Laurel Glen Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 (750ml) *

High on Sonoma Mountain, this estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon comes entirely from a single vineyard, made as a 100% varietal wine and raised in French oak, a little more than half of it new. The 2016 vintage speaks to what that hillside AVA does with the grape: concentration held in check by structure, fruit that reads as much mineral as ripe.

The color runs deep, opaque purple at the core, and the aromatics move from crème de cassis and Morello cherry into darker registers of charcoal, graphite, and lead pencil, with vanilla, cedar, and a cool lift of menthol from the wood. It's rich but medium-bodied, dense and ripe on the palate with real purity of fruit, and the oak is still knitting in. There's enough freshness on the finish to keep it balanced, and the harmony here suggests it will age gracefully.