2018 Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill

2018 Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill

2018 Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill The 2018 wine is bright, punchy and structured. Blackberry jam, grilled herbs, lavender, menthol and crushed rocks all come alive in the glass. This searingly tannic, mountain Cabernet needs a good deal of time to open, but when it does, it dazzles. Bright floral notes, blood orange and slightly redder tonalities of fruit develop over time. The Pritchard Hill is a wine for readers who can be patient.

Sourced from the top 15-20% of Chappellet’s holdings on Pritchard Hill. Floral aromas of fresh violets, damp herbs and black fruits. Powerful and muscular on the palate, but a lean, toned muscle. Often, the flagship wine of a Napa estate pulls out all the stops with ripeness, but this bottling is impressively restrained and elegant.

98 Jeb Dunnuck: Always one of top wines in a vintage, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill is another gorgeous wine with a more plush, supple texture that hides solid underlying structure and tannins. Beautiful notes of blueberries, new leather, camphor, violets, and smoked tobacco all flow to a full-bodied, seamless, gorgeously textured beauty that’s very much in the style of the vintage. Possessing remarkable purity, flawless balance, and building tannins, give bottles 4-5 years of bottle age, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following 25+ years.

98 Robert Parker: The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill is composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot. It was aged in 100% new French oak for 22 months. The alcohol weighed in at 14.5%. Deep garnet-purple in color, it charges out of the gate with bold expressions of warm cassis, wild blueberries and black raspberries, plus hints of chocolate box, menthol, tapenade, smoked meats and pencil lead. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is bursting with vibrant black fruits, framed by fantastically ripe, fine-grained tannins and lovely freshness, finishing long and mineral laced. Chappellet has done an amazing job with capturing the spirit of this bright, vibrant vintage. These wines absolutely shimmer with energy!

96 James Suckling – “Blue fruit with boysenberry and floral aromas. Cassis, too. It’s full-bodied, yet very tight and toned on the palate with fine tannins that are formed and polished. A classic wine. Give this three or four years to soften.