Country: US / Matthew’s Block
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California
Winery: Melanson / Napa Valley
With its big, hard tannins, this is one for the cellar. There’s a certain austerity that suggests the rocky soils of this mountain vineyard. But the fruit, packed into a dense core, is ripe and suggestive of blackberry and cherries. The youthful brawniness softens after some time in the glass or decanter, but you’re best off aging it until 2019 or so.