2018 William Harrison Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 94 points

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  1/30/2023 - mflesh wrote: 95 Points

  These are dropping like flies. Had seven, and now 2. Sigh. These are so approachable, and yet the structure is incredible in this wine. So polished, rugged, and intense. Blackberry and black cherry cassis and vcanic character that is quite typical for this microclimate shines through. The aromatics on this wine are incredible, and the palate is all still the darker black cherry, and still quite brambly. The middle of this wine shows its youth as it swings back to a sweeter black fruit, and this is where the herbal quality of a lot of the Wm. Harrison wines start to show off. The wine finishes with a lot of chewy but still stiff oak tannin with explosive black pepper that will be still be around a while. Rutherford dust finish. Very rounded and verbose and "pop and pour" ready. A fair amount of this review is copied from my previous review from almost 2 years ago which is still quite current yet this wine has gained an extra layer and for that, worthy of a 95. This will be amazing in 2025 although I am sure, by that time, I will probably have zero of these! Drink or hold over the next decade.

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  11/8/2022 - HOS Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Decanted for 1/2 hour. Roasted herbs on the nose, blackberries and currant on the tongue Silky smooth , full bodied with a long finish. More European than Napa which is a hall mark of Harrison Finesse not power.

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  7/17/2022 - Woodbridge Brad Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Sat with Bill and Dee and savored this, good bread and some cheese, it is a big wine that is not over ripe nor syrup but real. Pricy but a great value compare to other NV wines. This iron fist is a velvet glove is the style of wine that I wish winemakers more aspired to produce.
  
  Close but really not ready to be its best, it will easily go 15 years.

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  2/19/2021 - mflesh wrote:

  Well, this is a treat. After letting this one sit a while, I decided to spend a little time with the 2018 William Harrison Cabernet. This wine is massive. Wm Harrison Wines seem to really be locked up upon arrival (see Chardonnay and Rutherford Red for best examples). But, the Cabernet usually does need to sit 6 months and then decant 4-5 hours before showing itself. This wine is a horse of a different color. Out of the gate, it explodes with a massive amount of dark black cherry cassis. You can definitely tell the terroir here is a bit different than a lot of other Rutherford vineyards but that is to their advantage most certainly. It makes the wine deeper, darker, complex. The aromatics on this wine are incredible, and the palate is all that darker black cherry, hint of black cherry cola, dried boysenberry. The middle of this wine shows its youth as it swings back to a sweeter black fruit, and this is where the herbal quality of a lot of the Wm. Harrison wines start to show off. The wine finishes with a lot of chewy but still stiff oak tannin that will be around a while. The wine was definitely not showing all it had, even after 1 hour, but I'm impressed with how verbose and "pop and pour" this wine is NOW, and am really dreaming of 2025 when this one is just going to run the table with wines that are 5x the price. McKahn is doing something special in Rutherford, and he is really locked in to this estate's fruit and doing some wonderful things.

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