2017 Bryant Family Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

JS99  Extremely complex and fresh with blackcurrant, licorice and blueberry aromas. Fresh herbs, such as sage and mint, as well as crushed cloves add complexity. Always subtle. Full-bodied, tight and beautifully pointed. Juicy yet subtle fruit at the end. Gorgeous and serious. Drink after 2024.

JD98+ The flagship 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon is a brilliant, brilliant wine. Beautiful cassis, tobacco, leaf, chocolate, lead pencil, and a beautiful sense of minerality all emerge from the glass. This beauty is full-bodied, concentrated, and opulent on the palate, yet also delineated and pure, with stunning tannins. It’s rare to find this level of purity and precision in 2017, but this beauty never puts a foot wrong. I’d happily drink bottles today, yet it’s going to be best with 4-6 years of bottle age and I suspect still be glorious at age 30.

WA98 Composed of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon was aged in French oak, 100% new, and bottled in July 2019. Very deep purple-black in color, it needs a little coaxing to reveal wonderfully pure black cherry compote, cassis and black raspberry scents with touches of cedar chest, pencil lead, black olives and cardamom plus a waft of red roses. Full-bodied, the palate has great concentration and depth, with a solid backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and loads of freshness injecting energy into the black fruit and savory layers, finishing on a persistent mineral note. This is a truly gorgeous 2017! 443 cases were made.

“We chose to let it hang after the heatwave,” Kathryn Carothers, Bryant Family’s very talented, relatively new winemaker told me. “So, 2017 was very small production our end – everything we used is pre-fire.” Quantities may be minuscule this year, but the standard is high – these are some very impressive 2017s!