Louis M. Martini‘s cabernets have graced these pages frequently for years, and this Napa Valley-designated bottling makes a return look right here as soon as once more with its 2021 classic. This one is a mix of 91% cabernet sauvignon, 4% petit verdot, 3% merlot, 1% cabernet franc, and 1% malbec.
It’s secure to say that at this level, Martini has issues found out properly. This wine maintains its excessive degree of high quality from one classic to the following, presumably immune from the ravages of California’s fickle climate, and able to drink the day you purchase it.
Intensely purple in colour, the wine has the density one expects from a Napa cab, thick with notes of currants and plums, layered with tobacco, leather-based, and darkish chocolate notes — very mild on the tannins. A touch of violets on the nostril perk up some nuance, whereas the end of the wine lingers on black licorice sweet. Once more, we’ve touched on most of those tasting notes up to now, going again all the best way to the 2006 classic, and someway this wine appears hellbent on consistency. It’s a little bit like The Image of Dorian Grey, solely you may drink it.
A- / $55 / louismartini.com
2021 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
$55
