California

93 Points! Cassis, currants, tobacco, and lead pencil notes define the 2022 Ballentine Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Darker earth and graphite emerge with time in the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, with ripe tannins and impressive purity. This killer value shows authentic Napa character and will drink well for a decade. - Jeb Dunnuck

94 Points! I loved the 2023 Cabernet Franc Estate, which is based on 90% Cabernet Franc, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Petit Verdot and Malbec, all raised 18 months in 50% new French oak. Ripe red and black berry fruits, cedary herbs, spice, and floral nuances all emerge from this beauty, and it's medium to full-bodied, pure, balanced, and elegant, with finely polished tannins and outstanding length. This terrific wine will evolve nicely over the coming 10-15 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

93 Points! Luscious and forward, showing black cherries, plum skin and blackberries with vanilla bean, bay leaves, tobacco and toasty spices on the nose. Flavors of ripe black fruit, tar and vanilla. The palate is broad and creamy but framed with a judicious amount of new French oak. A blend of two estates in Calistoga and St. Helena. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

100 Points! An inky/plum/purple color is accompanied by a stunning bouquet of violets, charcoal, creme de cassis and a hint of toast. Prodigious when it hits the palate with a full-bodied expansiveness, there is not a hard edge to be found in the 1997, only velvety tannins, compelling depth and fruit intensity, and stunning purity. It is a perfect expression of Napa viticulture and wine that should continue to age effortlessly for two decades or more. An ideal warm, dry spring, June and July was followed by a surprisingly cool August that slowed down what looked to be rapid sugar accumulation in the grapes. September's temperatures were average to above average, without any potentially damaging heat spikes. This allowed the harvest to unfurl slowly, with no stress or imminent danger. For many Napa Cabernet Sauvignons, this resulted in one of the top vintages of the nineties. Consumers, observers and wine critics will undoubtedly argue for decades over which vintage of the nineties turned out to be the finest – 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 or 1997. The 1997 Insignia is a 20,000-case blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, with 60% coming from estate vineyards and 40% from growers. The alcohol came in at 13.8%. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com 2013

91 Points! Spicy, generous and complex, with sharply focused currant, plum and nutmeg flavors that zing right through the long finish. A wine with rambunctious flavors that become polished and lively on the finish. - Wine Spectator

92 Points! With a vintage that continues to show some surprising wines (1998 was panned early on), this offers a take on what a cool and wet vintage can provide -- a slightly more austere edge to the structure along with more mulled fruit notes (dark currant and cherry), paired with a decidedly earth-, sage-, charcoal- and black tea–fueled finish. -- Non-blind Groth Cabernet vertical (August 2024). Drink now through 2032. - Wine Spectator

98 Points! A brilliant showing for Christian Moueix’s well-known Napanook Vineyard, the 2001 Dominus is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. A classic in the making, this is a flawless, seamless example of elegant, complex Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that possesses a Bordeaux-like personality. This gorgeous, sexy, opulent, dense ruby/purple-colored wine reveals sweet caramel, mocha, creme de cassis and kirsch notes intermixed with a hint of espresso roast as well as underbrush. Ripe, long and full-bodied with well-integrated tannin, acidity, alcohol and wood, this prodigious 2001 is drinkable now and over the next 25+ years given this estate’s longevity track record. A virtually perfect wine, it is one of the most complex 2001s at present. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com 2011

94 Points! The 1997 Dominus, a blend of 86.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 4.5% Merlot, is showing fabulously well. With 14.1% alcohol and a pH that would make many New World oenologists shudder (about 3.95), this wine is a fleshy, silky-textured, opulent wine with a gorgeous nose of roasted herbs, coffee, jammy black cherry and plum-like fruit. Asian spice, licorice, and blackberry and cherry notes with tobacco spice all add to this complex, very involved, yet gorgeously symmetrical Dominus. The wine is medium to full-bodied, very concentrated, and silky-textured. It is gorgeous to drink now, but should age easily for 10-15 years. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

92 Points! The 1989 is undoubtedly the Cabernet Sauvignon of the vintage. The color is a dark ruby/purple and the nose offers up sweet, fragrant scents of black fruits, cedar, herbs, and spicy wood. In the mouth, there is extraordinary concentration, medium to full body, and an authoritatively rich, lingering finish. Terroirists will have a difficult time explaining why the wine tastes more like a Pomerol than Napa Cabernet. Interestingly, Moueix stated the key to his success in 1989 was to wait six to seven days after the rains had stopped before harvesting so the vines could shed their excess moisture. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

96 Points! This firm, ripe, muscular wine that's tight, deep, structured, intense and concentrated, serving up a mix of ripe currant, cassis, plum, black cherry and blackberry fruit that's clean, pure, complex and layered, with touches of anise, cedar and black licorice. Ends with chewy tannins. - Wine Spectator 

96 Points! Caymus has been around for so long there is a tendency to under-estimate their wines. However, they have a brilliant track record as evidenced by the decade old 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Vintage Selection. Abundant chocolaty, black currant, licorice and coffee aromas soar from the glass of this perfumed wine. It exhibits an opaque ruby/purple color, wonderful opulence, a deep, full-bodied mouthfeel, fabulous depth and not a hard edge to be found. While seemingly fully mature, the supple tannins, expansive fruit and glycerin, depth and overall balance suggest it will keep for another 15+ years. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com 2011

91 Points! Ripe, rich and complex, with layers of juicy plum, blackberry, anise, coffee and wild berry. Turns supple, with a sense of elegance and finesse. Firms up on the finish, where the tannins fold in. - Wine Spectator