Lail Vineyards - Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee 2021 (750ml)
Price: $295.00
| Producer | Lail Vineyards |
| Country | USA |
| Region | California |
| Subregion | Napa Valley |
| Varietal | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Sku | 8557 |
| Size | 750ml |
Wine Advocate: 100 Points
Lail's 2021 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon blends lots from several high-end vineyards including Heimark (Calistoga) Vine Hill Ranch (Oakville) and Steltzner (Stags Leap) plus Lail's own Mole Hill on Howell Mountain. It's an exciting wine starting from the pulse-quickening aromas of raspberries and black cherries tinged with dark chocolate. In the mouth this full-bodied beauty is richly concentrated with a sensuous texture somewhere between silky and velvety while the softly dusty finish shows terrific length and a spine-tingling hint of licorice. To reduce this wine to deceptively simple yet hard-to-pin-down words it's complex harmonious and elegant yet it's enough of its place that it could only come from Napa Valley. Part of the Napa Valley aristocracy proprietor Robin Lail magically appeared at the Atelier Melka offices just as we were getting ready to lunch on sandwiches ordered in from a local deli. It gave us a chance to catch up informally before tasting her wines as I hadn't seen her for some years since British wine commentator Will Lyons and I collaborated to present a Sauvignon Blanc tasting session as part of the Professional Wine Writers' Symposium in 2015. Lail is fifth-generation Napa boasting such illustrious winemaking relatives as Gustave Niebaum (her great-granduncle) and John Daniels Jr. (her father). She's got a track record of her own as well partnering with Christian Moueix to begin Dominus and with Bill Harlan to start Merryvale. In 1995 she and her two daughters established Lail Vineyards working with Philippe Melka from the very beginning. Lail is now an ambassador for the Porto Protocol a group of wine producers dedicated to mitigating climate change and promoting sustainability. While many people find it easy to draw the connection between those issues and working organically or regeneratively in the vineyards a large portion of wine's carbon footprint can be attributed to packaging. Going forward Lail said her wines would eliminate foil capsules and transition to lighter-weight glass bottles. Of the several wines released each vintage Lail says the J. Daniel Cuvée is the most important to her. "It represents?carried forward in time?the wines made by Niebaum and my dad." Fittingly it's often one of the best wines made in the valley with an uncanny sense of balance. The 2021 which is scheduled to be released in March is a terrific example. The 2021 Blueprint while not at that level is a relative bargain among Napa Valley Cabernets carrying a suggested retail price of less than $100. Published: Jan 31 2024
Jeb Dunnuck: 98+ Points
One of the finest wines in the vintage the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Dutch Henry Canyon area in Calistoga Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville and Stelzner in Stags Leap (which was added in 2018). It spent 20 months in 75% new French oak. Still tight and inward it has sensational purity in its currant mulberry truffly earth graphite and leather aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied rich incredibly concentrated 2021 that has the vintage?s fresher focused style ripe tannins flawless balance and a great finish. It's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and evolve for a quarter of a century.
Vinous: 97 Points
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvée is exceptional. Inky vibrant and beautifully savory the 2021 is one of the best editions I can remember tasting. The 2021 is a blend from Vine Hill Ranch Heimark Mole Hill and Steltzner a combination that works so well. Blue/purplish fruit lavender graphite and spice build into the super-expressive finish. The move toward greater freshness over these last few years has really paid off. I especially admire the precision here. This is an archetype for contemporary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. - By Antonio Galloni on December 2023
