Bella Oaks, Napa Valley, 2018

The 2018 marks the inaugural release of the new Booth Bella Oaks and Suzanne Deal Booth’s intention for the project is immediately obvious. This is a gorgeously sleek Napa Cabernet Blend that wends its way across the palate leaving a trail of pure seduction in its wake. Both dark and red fruits dot the nose alongside a note of floral lift and crisp graphite, then rooibos tea and black plums. Sensual, expressive and polished, the fruit on the palate is bolstered by a fine weave of steely tannins – a structure to support the already expressive notes of blue fruit, flowers and leafy tobacco notes. Dense and rich through the finish, this pulsates with life and yet, you get the sense this may take some years to fully reveal itself.