This blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot was aged 22 months in 80% new French oak barrels. Grapes come from Hess's Veeder Hills Vineyard atop its Mount Veeder estate. A full-bodied wine teeming with bright and fragrant wild herbs, spearmint, and spring flowers balanced by a more robust palate expression backed by dense and compact tannins laced with dark cocoa, toffee, and espresso bean, finishing with bold dark berry fruit, sea salt, and stony minerality.
95 points, Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter (May 2024)
The 2021 Hess Collection Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder Estate Grown comes mostly from above the fog line, offering classic mountain Cabernet aromas of sage, bay leaf, cassis and blueberry. It's full-bodied, plush, concentrated, nicely structured and layered, with a long, elegant finish. Made under the watchful eye of consultant Celia Welch, this is one of the winery's standout bottlings.
94 points, Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (Jan 2024)
Toasty, charred and graphite aromas quickly give way to more generous, concentrated dark chocolate, baked blackberries and baking spices. Its 9% malbec and 1% petit verdot add a touch of complexity. Firm in texture, richly tannic but almost drinkable now, it was aged in 80% new French oak. Best from 2028.
94 points, Jim Gordon, Wine Enthusiast (Feb 2024)
A distinctive version, with a mulled edge to its mix of rather ripe fig, boysenberry and blackberry compote flavors, which pick up hints of melted licorice, walnut husk and licorice root through the slightly burly finish. If you don't mind a rustic edge ... Best from 2026 through 2038. 2,978 cases made.
93 points, James Molesworth, Wine Spectator (Nov 2024)