2022 Cabernet Sauvignon / 94 Points / Tasting Panel

This immense wine is wrapped tightly in tannins, holding the black currant and black cherry flavors firmly in check while a drying sensation puckers the palate. It has good focus and concentration underneath all that, which bodes well for aging.

Offering an earthy, herbal bouquet with black and red currant notes that carry over to the full bodied palate. There’s good acidity and freshness, nicely concentrated black currant and licorice flavors and well integrated oak. Finishes with fine, round tannins. 

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.

The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon shows earth and dark red berries on the nose. It’s a bit lighter in weight with less fruit than the younger vintages of this wine, but it’s well balanced with firm, round tannins. Fruit and oak are well integrated, and it’s drinking nicely now.

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.