Lail's 2021 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon blends lots from several high-end vineyards, including Heimark (Calistoga), Vine Hill Ranch (Oakville) and Steltzner (Stags Leap), plus Lail's own Mole Hill on Howell Mountain. It's an exciting wine, starting from the pulse-quickening aromas of raspberries and black cherries tinged with dark chocolate. In the mouth, this full-bodied beauty is richly concentrated, with a sensuous texture somewhere between silky and velvety, while the softly dusty finish shows terrific length and a spine-tingling hint of licorice. To reduce this wine to deceptively simple yet hard-to-pin-down words, it's complex, harmonious and elegant, yet it's enough of its place that it could only come from Napa Valley.
100 points, Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (Jan 2024)
One of the finest wines in the vintage, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Dutch Henry Canyon area in Calistoga, Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville, and Stelzner in Stags Leap (which was added in 2018). It spent 20 months in 75% new French oak. Still tight and inward, it has sensational purity in its currant, mulberry, truffly earth, graphite, and leather aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied, rich, incredibly concentrated 2021 that has the vintage’s fresher, focused style, ripe tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and evolve for a quarter of a century.
98+ points, Jeb Dunnuck (Feb 2024)
Matching power with complexity, Robin Lail's densely concentrated, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon once again goes deep in black currants, blackberries, cocoa and toasted oak flavors. Velvety, mouthcoating tannins give the structure for a long aging period. Best from 2027–2040.
98 points, Jim Gordon, Wine Enthusiast (Apr 2024)
From partners Robin Daniel Lail, Erin Lail, and Shannon Lail, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from Calistoga, Howell Mountain, Oakville, and Stags Leap District vineyards and aged 20 months in 75% new French oak and crafted by Philippe Melka and Maayan Koschitzky. The appellations shine through in this full-bodied wine. Heimark vineyard grapes from Calistoga deliver plump, juicy, black cherry, blueberry, and blackberry fruits. Stelzner vineyard from Stags Leap District layers in ironstone minerality, which resonates on the nose and palate, laced with Oakville herbs and toasty spices from Vine Hill Ranch, supported by mighty Mole Hill vineyard Howell Mountain tannins that are ripe, assertive, and beautifully pixelated. Notes of rich cedarwood, bitter dark chocolate, and espresso bean round out a balanced expression of Napa Cabernet.
98 points, Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter (Jun 2024)
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