Rubicon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, 2022

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Rubicon shows a bit better balance than the Cabernet Sauvignon, but it is heavily marked by overripe, roasted fruit, an overall lack of freshness and limited mid-palate depth. The challenges of the growing season appear to have been considerable here.

DRINKING WINDOW 2025 - 2030

date of review 12/2025

Medium intensity ruby red, one of the standouts of the lineup. Full dark berry and mint leaf Cabernet character, generous, juicy, with energy and forward motion. This delivers campfire, liquorice, cocoa bean and incense without missing a beat. A warm vintage, so the challenge was being ready to pick and to avoid dehydration, meaning a touch of irrigation at the end of August, and to compensate during winemaking by soft extractions, 75% new French oak for ageing. New winery, built into a knoll within the property, opened for this 2022 vintage, with over 100 stainless steel vats. Harvest September 1 through to the end of the month. Director of winemaking Philippe Bascaules, Todd Devincenzi winemaker.

DRINKING WINDOW 2027 - 2042

date of review 08/2025

Out of barrel, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Rubicon boasts exciting scents of ripe cherries, dusty earth and baking spicescinnamon, vanilla, cardamomplus more obviously oak-derived notes of cedar. It's medium to full-bodied, reflecting a freshness that belies the vintage's heat, framed by silky tannins and possesses ample concentration and length on the finish without any feeling of excess weight.

DRINKING WINDOW 2025 - 2040

date of review 10/2024