2021 Misc. Cabernets

To play with my new Coravin, I decided to finally pull corks on the four Misc. Cabernets in my cellar.

The four 2021 wines are sensational, the best in years from Misc, and at the level of a lineup from the very top wineries in Napa (and I mean the most balanced, sophisticated, interesting wines… not the ponderous blockbusters that get 100 and probably deserve 85pts)! You could spend $400 per bottle and not be able to tell which was which. All four are great, but I do have preferences. Right now I think the Oakville and Rutherford are probably most interesting, Diamond Mountain is maybe a hair behind them but I used the same score as for Rutherford, and Howell Mountain is most ready to drink, but least likely to gain much with three years in the cellar.

Bottle prep: I actually did this tasting using a Coravin, but used four glasses and let the wine sit for two hours before trying it, so we can call this a two hour decant. Then tasted before, during and after dinner. By the end all four had noticeably unwound, so I’m going to urge that you decant at least four to six hours before serving, at least at this point in their evolution.