The 2019 Black Sears Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a regal, commanding Cab whose beauty may have begun at skin level, but whose depths seem without end. It's a classic expression of both the varietal and its mountain home - powerful and enduring, lovely and vibrant.

The nose resonates with aromas of baking spices, tobacco, and ripe plum. On the palate, this high-elevation Cabernet delivers the classic notes of charred meat, graphite, and leather. The fruit is a symphony of blackberry, currant, and a whole bowl of cherries - a reminder of just what a gift this whole thing all is. The mountain tannins are unusually soft and swollen for Howell Mountain, but the minerality and earthiness coalesce around the sunny acidity, and hold the whole affair up like a corset on a Rubenesque queen.

Pair with tenderloin, polenta, roasted vegetables, and quinoa. Immerse yourself in the multiphonic sheets of sound from the late, great Pharoah Sanders. Crack open whichever Henry Miller novel was most deserving of having been banned, and note that hedonism is a rational response to beauty and pleasure, and that if we are going to be mystical about it, Love is Everywhere.

Winemaker: Thomas Rivers Brown

Barrels: 100% French Oak – 2/3 new, 1/3 year-old, 22 months

ABV: 14.3%

345 cases produced