2019 Cardinale Red

Luxurious, balanced, supple tannins running through damson, black cherry and pomegranate fruits, wrapped up in curls of cigar box, gunsmoke, liquroice root and grilled coffee bean. As it opens up, brighter notes of star anise, fennel and turmeric appear, this is beautifully complex and arresting. 100% French oak, 81% new. Christopher Carpenter winemaker, bottled unfiltered and unfined. Sourced from 12 vineyards, with Spring and Diamond Mountains dominant. This was the first vintage on the Place de Bordeaux.

Inky purple in colour, toasted oak on the nose, feels accomplished and sleek, a little overly polished, but packed with damson, black cherry, chocolate, hard to argue with. As it softens and opens, a creamy blackberry patisserie appears, with liquorice root, cigar box and blueberry. Textured, opulent, with a touch of heat on the finish. An impressive and interesting wine to be on the Place de Bordeaux, as this takes Cabernet Sauvignon from various sites across Napa Valley, including Stags Leap, Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain and Mount Veeder, and crafts a different expression with them each year, usually with a touch of Merlot. Winemaker Christopher Carpenter. It's a wine I look forward to getting to know better, and is one of the more concentrated 2019s from Napa. 100% new oak.

The 2019 Cardinale is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot, with the Merlot from a particular block on Howell Mountain. Overall, it's about 80% mountain fruit and 20% valley-floor fruit, according to winemaker Chris Carpenter. Cherries and cassis dominate the nose, while the full-bodied palate is rich and velvety, with a long, mouthwatering finish that adds barrel-derived notes of vanilla, powdered sugar and cedar.