Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 2001, Napa, North Coast

Wine Advocate 97:

The spectacular 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve came in at 14.2% natural alcohol. The good news is that winemaker Ed Sbragia produced 10,000 cases of this beauty. Just hitting late adolescence, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon cuvee exhibits an opaque dark purple color along with a beautiful, smoky, sweet black currant, licorice, truffle, toast and underbrush-scented nose. With fabulous concentration, great intensity and tremendous purity, this voluptuously textured, full-bodied classic is one of the all-time great Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons. While drinkable now, it will continue to evolve for at least another 20 years.

Dominus Proprietary Red Wine 2003,Napa, North Coast

Wine Advocate 95:

The 2003 Dominus is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot (14.1% alcohol). Remarkably, it is the 20th vintage for Christian Moueix. Always a Bordeaux-inspired wine with restraint yet substance as well as a textured richness, the 2003 exhibits a deep plum/ruby/purple color, a creamy, opulent texture, no hard edges, and a wonderful sweetness of foresty, black currant and cherry fruit mixed with underbrush and hints of Chinese black tea. Well-proportioned and full-bodied, yet never over-stated or out of balance, this is another beauty from Moueix. Drink it over the next 15+ years.

Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2004, Howell Mountain, Napa, North Coast

Wine Advocate 94:

I don’t know whether it’s me, the vintage character, or whether Randy Dunn and his son have intentionally softened their wines, but these 2004s are more opulent and up-front than previous renditions. Yet, they lack neither concentration nor richness. Reticent but promising blackberry and black currant fruit as well as licorice aromas jump from the glass of this inky/purple-colored 2004. Rich and broad with sweeter tannins than one expects in a ten-year-old Dunn Cabernet, it reveals impressive richness, power and purity, but is still an adolescent in terms of its evolution. Slightly more evolved than the Dunn Cabernets of the early and mid-1980s, it can be drunk now or cellared for another 20-25 years.