WINEMAKER'S NOTES:
Chappellet's Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon has been, since the beginning of their winemaking career, the most sought after wine of their portfolio. The wine is truly a love letter to the winegrowing potential of Pritchard Hill. The wine was inspired by Bordeaux, and like most left bank Bordeaux, the wine is a blend of predominately Cabernet Sauvignon with remaining amounts other classic Bordeaux blend varieties. The vines grow upon rocky, mountainside vineyards. After harvest and fermentation, the wine was aged for 22 months in 100% new French oak barrels.
TASTING NOTES:
Such an attractive and alluring bouquet of violet florals, blue fruit aromatics, sagebrush, bay laurel, and toasty cedarwood. Medium to full-bodied with a wonderfully rich fruit-forward palate of succulent blackberry, plums, and black cherry, nuanced by an inviting minerality with an ironstone quality laced by dried sage. The tannins are palate-etching and crisp and resolve with a fineness that leaves an overall impression of total harmony. Best from 2025; ideally, you'd hold off until near 2030 and enjoy until 2050.
- Decanter, 99 pts.
A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, all aged in new French oak, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill appears destined to be another classic. Penetrating aromas of cassis and red berries are joined by hints of violets, dried sage, crushed stones and pencil shavings on the nose, while the full-bodied palate is rich and intensely concentrated, framed by dusty tannins that linger easily on the long, mouthwatering finish.
Rating: 98+
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 98 pts.
The flagship 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill is based on 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. Dense purple-hued, with incredible aromatics of black and blue fruits, camphor, liquid violets, tobacco, and graphite, it has a remarkable sense of opulence in its aromas and flavors and delivers full-bodied richness, a massive mid-palate, building tannins, and a thrilling finish. It reminds me of an improved 2013. This heavenly Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon will evolve for 30-40 years in cold cellars and is another absolutely sensational wine from this estate. Don't miss it.
Rating: 98+
- Jeb Dunnuck, 98 pts.
Notes of crushed dark berries, chocolate black licorice, iodine, bark and graphite. Wide and encompassing on the palate with a full body and ultra-fine, almost weightless tannins. There is a fine, chalky minerality to it with sea shell, iron and cigar box undertones. Beautiful fruit. Firm and polished. Needs time. Try after 2026.
- James Suckling, 97 pts.
This fully embraces the hyperripe, polished style, offering a broad, creamy wave of cassis, melted licorice and blackberry preserves gilded liberally with violet and roasted vanilla accents through the finish. Should cruise in the cellar. Best from 2026 through 2040. 3,730 cases made.
- Wine Spectator, 93 pts.
