Hess Collection Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

The 2021 estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon provides a beautiful complexity, elegance and structure the winery has come to expect from their mountain fruit. Aromas of dark black fruit and bramble highlight the Cabernet Sauvignon at the heart of the wine. They integrated a touch of Malbec to provide mouth filling notes of cassis and boysenberry, and to develop a softness in the tannins, making this a wonderfully round wine. It has a perfectly balanced structure with well-integrated toasted oak that offers subtle notes of cocoa on the lengthy, pleasing finish.

Wine Spectator: 93
A distinctive version, with a mulled edge to its mix of rather ripe fig, boysenberry and blackberry compote flavors, which pick up hints of melted licorice, walnut husk and licorice root through the slightly burly finish. If you don't mind a rustic edge. Best from 2026 through 2038.

Wine Advocate: 94
The 2021 Hess Collection Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder Estate Grown comes mostly from above the fog line, offering classic mountain Cabernet aromas of sage, bay leaf, cassis and blueberry. It's full-bodied, plush, concentrated, nicely structured and layered, with a long, elegant finish. Made under the watchful eye of consultant Celia Welch, this is one of the winery's standout bottlings.

Decanter: 95
This blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot was aged 22 months in 80% new French oak barrels. Grapes come from Hess's Veeder Hills Vineyard atop its Mount Veeder estate. A full-bodied wine teeming with bright and fragrant wild herbs, spearmint, and spring flowers balanced by a more robust palate expression backed by dense and compact tannins laced with dark cocoa, toffee, and espresso bean, finishing with bold dark berry fruit, sea salt, and stony minerality.

Decanter: 95

This blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot was aged 22 months in 80% new French oak barrels. Grapes come from Hess's Veeder Hills Vineyard atop its Mount Veeder estate. A full-bodied wine teeming with bright and fragrant wild herbs, spearmint, and spring flowers balanced by a more robust palate expression backed by dense and compact tannins laced with dark cocoa, toffee, and espresso bean, finishing with bold dark berry fruit, sea salt, and stony minerality.

Jeb Dunnuck: 91
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder is upfront and fleshy, with lots of classic darker, almost blue fruits in a plush, medium to full-bodied, chocolaty Cabernet that has classic Mt. Veeder tobacco and wild herb-like nuances. It's beautifully balanced and will shine through 2033.