2021 Cabernet Sauvignon / 90 Points / James Suckling

The wine showed a dark ruby almost opaque color. Blackberry, raspberry preserves, cassis, licorice, vanilla, oak and whiffs of eucalyptus all arrived on the nose. Black cherry, raspberry, vanilla, cassis, licorice, oak and eucalyptus followed on a palate teeming with black cherry. The wine was full-bodied and exhibited good length along with moderate tannins. This wine would be an ideal pair for a seared dry-aged New York strip steak.

Medium dark garnet. This is by far our favorite of the 2008-2010 Library Reserve Trio. It has an enticing, multifaceted nose of cassis, sweet oak, and a hint of forest floor. The palate has a velvet texture and is densely flavored and elegant with fine-grained tannins. Still a youthful wine with a long life ahead.

This annual post looks back at all the wines I wrote about in the previous year and singles out 50 that I thought were great wines. “Great” doesn’t necessarily imply the most profound, though several of these are as profound as wine gets; nor does it necessarily mean that these are the world’s famed wines intended for laying down in cellars for long aging. I don’t usually encounter such wines anyway.

Saturated ruby. The bouquet reveals explosive cassis and cedar aroma. The palate is silky and dense with sweet, expansive dark fruit flavors and a light earthy note. Well focused and tightly structured with still firm tannins finishing with lingering rich dark red fruit notes.

This full-bodied wine brings together flavors of black cherry and black olive, with substantial spiciness from oak and moderate tannins for a lip-smacking texture. Hints of vanilla, cedar and clove accompany the black fruit notes, adding complexity and interest.