2015 Adaptation Cabernet Sauvignon

Will 2015 prove to outdo even the legendary 2013 vintage? If this is any indication, it’s going to be a photo finish. Odette Estate’s wines have become Stags Leap’s most sought-after, thanks to Parker’s perfect 100 in their first vintage. The site is amazing, for sure, but credit also goes to winemaker Jeff Owens, who perfected his style at Plumpjack. There’s no Napa Cab quite like his, which seems to be loaded with dark chocolate, wild berry jam and tobacco wrapped around thick ropes of Stags Leap tannin. This is a massive, delicious wine that shows 2015 is going to be one for the record books.

About the wine

Odette’s 2015 Adaptation Cabernet is their boldest yet, which shows that this Stag’s Leap newcomer has its sights set at the very top. They’ve dosed their best Odette Estate fruit with some light-absorbing Cab from Howell Mountain’s famous Ink Grade vineyard. This creates a Stags Leap Cabernet with an appetizingly dark color. The palate shows every bit of the 97-point vintage’s famed ripeness and extract, as the wine spreads out and reveals a fudge-like richness to the tannin with lots of cola, anise and floral tones from expensive oak. The Stags Leap volcanic fruit pushes through all these exotic notes to lead the charge on a long finish of blackberry, black cherry and plum before concluding with a unexpected and tasty pomegranate note. All along, the signature cacao and cigar box character frames this in a deeply satisfying way. As a preview for the 2015 Odette Estate and Reserve wines, this is an utterly convincing case for locking in an allocation now! This will drink well for a decade while proving tough to resist right now.