Readers, I’ll be writing extensively about cabernet sauvignon wines from California throughout the next month, including a major post on classically proportioned wines from some old-line wineries; debut wines that I thought should be embraced or avoided; and caberets from a series of younger producers.

We start today with two wines from a small producer in the Red Hills district of Lake County, the county just north of Napa. Red Hills was approved as an AVA (American Viticultural Area) in September 2004. Lying at the foot of Mt. Konocti and along the southwest shore of Clear Lake, Red Hills is an appellation encompassed within the Clear Lake AVA.

Snows Lake Vineyard offers two wines, called, appropriately, One and Two.
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The Snows Lake One 2005, Red Hills, Lake County, is 100 percent cabernet sauvignon. It ages 21 months in French oak, 64 percent new barrels. The bouquet offers an immediate burst of slate, lead pencil, cedar and tobacco leaf, smoky and toasty oak and hints of intense and concentrated black currants and black raspberries; given a few moments, the nose draws up touches of leafy, dried herbs, brambles and underbrush. All of these elements testify to the wine’s structural integrity and tannic power. In the mouth, though, Snows Lake One 2005 feels sleek and elegant; it’s packed with spice and black fruit flavors but it’s neither fleshy nor over-ripe. The wine gains depth and dimension in the glass, darkening, as it were, as more mineral, tannin and oaken qualities make themselves known. The finish concludes with another burst of spice and a wild high-note of foxy plums. This would be great with a crusty rib-eye steak just off the grill, but will drink best from 2010 or ‘11 through 2015 or ‘16. Excellent. About $45.
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Snows Lake Two 2005, Red hills, Lake County, is a blend of 72 percent cabernet sauvignon and 28 percent cabernet franc. The oak treatment is slightly different; the same 21 months aging in French oak, but 46 percent new barrels. The alcohol level is slightly lower, Two having 14.2 percent and One measuring 14.5 percent, which seems to be the standard nowadays. The cabernet franc lends Two a bit of a darker color and perhaps its sense of being a little denser; certainly the cabernet franc also contributes to the wine’s intensity of licorice and lavender, its touch of astringency balanced by a cleansing element of blueberry tart. Two is compelling in its vibrancy and resonance and the concentrated of its spicy black fruit flavors, but the tannins are rigorous, and they seem to grow more powerful, and the mineral quality grows more forceful, as the minutes pass. Tasted side by side, these cousins reveal, as they should, similarities of place and grape variety as well as the divergences that derive from different intent and treatment. Give Two a little more time, say 2011 or ‘12 through 2016 to ‘18. Excellent. About $45.
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Judd’s Hill is a busy place. First, of course, it’s a winery, owned by Art and Bunnie Finkelstein, former owners of Whitehall Lane, a producer of exemplary cabernet. Assisting are son Judd Finkelstein and his wife Holly. Judd’s Hill makes about 3,000 cases of wine annually, keeping things small to concentrate on the details. There’s also a frenetic side to the enterprise, one of which is Judd’s Enormous Wine Show, a sort of demented love child of a blog and a video created by Judd Finkelstein and his childhood friend, Rudy McClain. (I’m always amazed that people even have childhood friends. Sniff. Sob.) Another aspect of Judd’s Hill is MicroCrush, a custom winemaking service; if you have a ton of grapes or if you’re looking for a ton of grapes, MicroCrush will take care of everything, all the way to bottling the final wine.

O.K., great, but what about the wine from Judd’s Hill?

I tried four red wines recently and found them to range from excellent to exquisite.
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Let’s take the oldest wine first. The Judd’s Hill Estate Red Wine 2002, Napa Valley, is a blend of 88 percent cabernet sauvignon, 7 percent merlot and 5 percent cabernet franc. The winery typically holds the Estate Red Wine back a few years so that it’s mature or ready to drink on release. This is a large-framed, serious wine, delirious with minerals, rapturously fruity and blessed with great dimension, detail and gravity. Black currants and dusty plums are permeated by cedar and tobacco with touches of walnut shell and underbrush. The texture feels like velvet, but the wine is not opulent or voluptuous, its sensuous nature held in check by grainy, chewy tannins, dense and moderately spicy oak — 20 months in a mixture of new and old French barrels — and a scintillating acid backbone. There’s nothing over-ripe or demonstrative here; rather, the emphasis is on intensity and balance. The finish brings in hints of bark and mossy forest floor for some austerity. Still, at not quite seven years old, the wine feels young, and should drink well with roast beef and grilled steaks through 2015 or ‘16. Production was 280 cases. Excellent. About $75.
This wine is garbed in the winery’s previous rather stodgy label; these other three come dressed in the more modern label shown above.
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My first note on the Judd’s Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Napa Valley, is “superb.” I suppose I could stop there — I mean, you can take my word for this — but I’ll fill in the background anyway. It’s interesting that the composition of this wine and its oak treatment are the same as for the Red Wine 2002 mentioned just above, a fact that testifies to a healthy consistency of viewpoint and technique. Of course there are differences too; first, 2005 and 2002 are different (and excellent) vintages, each with its own nature, and, second, the grapes for the Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 derive from three vineyards, while the Red Wine 2002 comes from one estate vineyard in Conn Valley, east of the town of St. Helena. So, in saying “superb,” partly what I refer to is this wine bold, classic structure, a sort of architecture of depth and breadth with framing and foundation provided by bastions of dry, grainy tannins and buttresses of oak. So deep purple that it’s almost black, the wine weaves black and red currant and blackberry scents and flavors with cedar and walnut shell, briers and brambles and undercurrents of mossy earthiness. Imponderable intensity and concentration here, leavened by winsome strains of licorice, lavender and potpourri. Try from 2010 through 2015 or ‘16. Production was 1,580 cases. Excellent. About $45.
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The Judd’s Hill Old Vine Petite Sirah 2005, Lodi, was so profoundly earthy and minerally that at first I thought something was “off” about it; was it a tad “corked”? Repeated swirls, sniffs and sips revealed, however, that the wine was simply so pure and intense and concentrated that it radiated authenticity and individuality almost unprecedented. This is, I’m saying, the real goods when it comes to petite sirah. The wine is deep, rich and spicy, on the one hand, bursting with ripe, slate-glazed black currant, blackberry and plum flavors yet, on the other hand, it features such heart-stopping tannins that the glass feels heavier in your hand than it should (sort of). Immense gravitas is the raison d’etre. There’s 12 percent zinfandel in the blend. A true smoked ribs wine, through 2011 or ‘12. Production was 360 cases. Excellent. About $30.
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Honestly, though, my favorite of this quartet is the gorgeous Judd’s Hill Pinot Noir 2007, Central Coast, from the San Ysidro Vineyard in the southern Santa Clara Valley. Now when I say “gorgeous,” I’m not implying that this is a pushover, a pretty face of a wine, because, as all great pinot noir should, this possesses that paradoxical quality of feeling full-bodied and complete at the same time as it feels spare and reticent and delicate. Gorgeous it is, though, with a panoply of dried sweet spices ranging over red and black currants and plums and an almost insane level of violet and rose petal and an irresistible satiny texture. A few minutes in the glass conjure hints of mulberry and raspberry, along with, from mid-palate back, increasing dryness and austerity. Interestingly, five percent syrah grapes go into this wine; to buck it up a bit perhaps? to add color and depth? Why? The last thing this wine needs is bolstering of any kind, a factor acknowledged in the oak regimen: eight months in neutral French barrels, so the wood influence offers gentle shaping to the wine rather than a direct influence. Anyway, this is the sort of shimmeringly pure pinot noir that restaurants serious about their California lists should have a few bottles on hand for discerning patrons eager to avoid the flamboyance that characterizes too many examples of the state’s pinot noir. 668 cases. Excellent. About $26.
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Rummaging around in the freezer Friday night — “dum-dee-dee-dum-dum-dee-dee” — my hand lights on a package and I exclaim, “Sacre bleu, qu’est-ce que c’est?” It’s a smallish rib-eye steak, but pretty damned thick, too. Ah, this will be good, because the steak derives from an animal nurtured at Westwind Farms in East Tennessee, a family-owned establishment that adheres to strict principles of grass-fed, organic, free-range meat. The first time we ate a roasted chicken from Westwind, I though, “Holy moly, this is what the first chicken off the Ark must have tasted like.”

So, I thawed the steak in the microwave and set it aside, and prepared some little tomatoes for broiling; yeah, I’ve been big on those this week. I didn’t have any potatoes, so (under my injunction against going to the grocery store) I made a little pasta as a side-dish. I chopped a quarter of a preserved lemon, some roasted garlic and the now inevitable oil-cured olives, put them in a small bowl and added capers, salt and pepper and minced rosemary.

One can make all sorts of sauces to accompany steak, but I though “Oh, no, let’s make this pure and intense,” just the steak, some salt and pepper, and the cast-iron skillet. Years ago, in The New York Times, an article in the food section described how French chef Alain Ducasse cooks a rib-eye steak. Instead of dropping the thing in a hot pan with butter or olive oil and searing the hell out of it, he stands the steak on its fatty side (holding it with tongs so it doesn’t tump over) and gently, over medium heat, renders that fat; the idea is not to cook the fat but to melt it. Then he adds a little butter to the pan with the rendered fat, turns up the burner — but not to High, he likes Medium High — and cooks it for about five minutes on each side for medium rare. The outside still gets wonderfully crusty, and the flavors are locked within.

So that’s what I did, and after letting the steak sit on a cutting-board for a few minutes, I sliced it and cried “Whoo-hoo!” when I saw how perfectly rosy-red-pink the interior was. Then it was a matter of “plating the food” — I poured the pan juices over the steak — as they say in the restaurant biz and sitting down to dinner. This was, frankly, close to the best steak I have eaten in my life.

I opened two bottles from St. Supéry, the Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, Napa Valley, and the Élu 2004, Napa Valley, both current vintages.

The St. Supéry Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, Napa Valley is predominantly cabernet with 10 percent merlot and three percent petit verdot. Though smooth and mellow, it’s quite hefty, even sleekly muscular. Aromas of cedar and tobacco, spicy oak and walnut shell gradually cede space to scents of ripe and roasted black current and black cherry. The black fruit flavors persist in the mouth, while retaining the rigor of polished oak and tannins and the essential backbone of acidity. After a few minutes, the chief characteristic of the wine is a tremendous depth of minerality; there’s austerity on the finish, though etched with hints of bitter chocolate and exotic spice. I would love to try this wine on its 10th birthday. At a little more than five years after harvest, the wine went beautifully with the medium rare rib-eye steak, pitting its spareness and fat-cutting earthy/mineral nature against the meat’s superb texture and favor. Excellent. About $38.

Élu 2004, Napa Valley, is a blend of 66 percent cabernet sauvignon, 23 percent merlot, eight percent cabernet franc, two percent petit verdot and one percent malbec. It opens with dust, minerals and leather, and then emits scents of black cherries, red and black currents and licorice; the bouquet is, actually, extraordinarily seductive. Luscious black fruit flavors, with that tinge of red fruit, are ripe and fleshy, almost meaty, yet are never over-ripe or flamboyant, because balance comes from a riveting quality of iodine and sea-salt minerality. The wine delivers terrific tone and texture, detail and dimension; oak is fairly lavish but not obtrusive or overbearing, and while the finish brings in a note of stewed plums and fruitcake, the raison d’etre of the wine’s conclusion is to express the power and dignity of fundamental tannins. A great cabernet sauvignon (and a great steak wine), one, again, that I would like to try on its 10th birthday. Exceptional. About $70.

Trivium is a collaboration of Napa Valley grape-grower Doug Wright, winemaker Jack Stuart and marketer Stu Harrison. The winery’s debut product is Trivium Les Ivrettes Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, St. Helena. Composed of 100 percent cabernet sauvignon grapes, the wine spent 19 months in oak, 85 percent French barrels, 60 percent new.

This is a great Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon. Nothing opulent or flamboyant here, the wine beautifully balances elegance and power and seems to draw for its dense and concentrated character upon the nature of the soil and strata on which the vineyard stands.

The bouquet is deep and rich, packed with cedar and lead pencil, wheat-meal and walnut shell, and black currants slightly macerated and roasted. This is a cabernet of awesome purity and intensity that gradually unfurls a seamless amalgam of ripe black fruit, formidable but smooth tannins and polished oak, all enlivened by plangent acidity. The presense, the substance are tremendous, yet the wine feels neither obvious nor ponderous. The finish brings in some austerity, along with notes of fruit cake and baking spice. A terrific achievement that devotees of classic Napa cabernet won’t want to miss. Best from 2010 through 2015 or ‘16. Excellent. About $60.

Production was 318 cases, so mark this wine Worth a Search.

Amicus is the flagship wine of X Winery, founded by Reed Renaudin in 2001. He is winemaker and CEO. The winery concentrates on cabernet sauvignon from the Napa Valley’s hillside districts and sauvignon blanc from Lake County. Renaudin also makes limited quantities of chardonnay, zinfandel, pinot noir and petite syrah and the Red X blend, the cheapest wine at about $14, and a perennial favorite on BTYH. Except for Amicus, prices for the X wines are under $25.
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The Amicus Special Blend 2005, Spring Mountain District, is a powerhouse of a red wine, huge, vibrant and dynamic. The blend is 51 percent cabernet sauvignon, 28 percent merlot, 11 percent petit verdot and 10 percent cabernet franc. The wine ages 30 months(!) in French oak, 50 percent new barrels. Spice, leathery tannins and minerals assail the nose and fill the mouth; the wine offers incredible density and concentration, embodied in a core of very intense bitter chocolate, macerated black currants, lavender and granite. Chewy, grainy tannins bring in a tide of underbrush, forest floor and walnut shell to tie up the finish in a knot of austerity. Best to ponder this wine, or let it ponder itself, until 2010 or ‘11 for drinking through 2015 or ‘17. On the other hand, we drank this with a rib-eye steak, and they sang in primal harmony. Production was 400 cases. Excellent potential. About $40.
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Huge in every dimension, the Amicus Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Spring Mountain District, is all about structure, though, interestingly, it allows more glimmers of fruit than its cousin Red Blend ‘05. Black plum, blueberry and black currant flavors are permeated with cedar, smoke and tobacco leaf and the elements that attend on the presence of formidable tannins: leather, underbrush, briers and brambles. In its own way, however, the wine is vivid and vital, creating an impression of succulence married to severity. The wine is 100 precent cabernet; it ages 30 months in French oak, 50 percent new barrels. Production was 224 cases. Enormous potential, from about 2011 or ‘12 through 2016 or ‘18. Excellent. About $55.
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Mike Dragutsky and David Sloas, two doctors from Memphis, launched Cornerstone Cellars in 1991, when Sloas was visiting winemaker Randy Dunn on Howell Mountain and Dunn offered to sell him 4.8 tons of cabernet sauvignon grapes, a gesture that falls into the “can’t refuse” category, even after a sanity check. Seventeen years later, Cornerstone turns out 2,000 cases together of a Howell Mountain bottling and a Napa Valley bottling (the majority is Napa), is available in almost every major market, and boasts as winemaker Celia Masyczek, who was named Winemaker of the Year by Food and Wine magazine in its October issue.

These are serious cabernet sauvignon wines — 100 percent varietal — for serious cabernet drinkers. The wines age about 22 months in French oak, of which 75 to 85 percent are new barrels. Devotees of the plush, super-ripe, toasty and spicy Napa style should look elsewhere; Cornerstone cabernets offer purity and intensity, resonance and rectitude and, still, for all the emphasis on structure, loads of flavor.

The wines from 2004 are sold out at the winery but can be found in retail stores and in restaurants around the country. The 2005s are being released this month.

Here are my notes on the Cornerstone Howell Mountain and Napa Valley cabernets from ‘04 and ‘05.
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The Cornerstone Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Napa Valley, looks as inky as midnight and feels as deep as the valley where the grapes are grown. At four years after harvest, the wine is both tight and generous, a sleek amalgam of earth, iodine and slate slicked with cassis, black cherry and plum. The structure is purposeful, unassailable, the tannins dense and chewy and fathomless, and yet the wine is downright delicious, its concentrated black fruit flavors opening to touches of smoke and black pepper. You could open this tonight with a steak or let it rest a year or two; in any case, this should drink well through 2016 or ‘18. Excellent. About 60 or $65.
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For the first time, the Cornerstone Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Napa Valley, used a large component of grapes from the UC Davis vineyard in Oakville; the difference is immediately apparent in boldly expansive aromas of black currant, black cherry and cedar with a briery-brambly element right up front. Like its older cousin, this is a solid, firm and resonant cabernet, unfolding layers of clean earth and granite-like minerals, well-oiled tannins and polished oak, intense and concentrated black fruit flavors, all permeated by the vital presence of vibrant acid for the essential factors of balance and magnetism. Try from 2010 to 2018 or ‘20. Excellent. About $60 to $65.
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It says something about the quality of the grapes and the skill of the winemaker that the Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon wines from 2004 and 2005 seem to express so eloquently the consistency of a true house style. It’s almost superfluous to say that each rendition offers tremendous depth and dimension, that each is so intense and concentrated that one glass of wine seems to hold twice that amount; there’s a complete sense of the vineyards having drawn the geological life of the bedrock up through the roots of the vines. The difference between the wines seems to lie in subtleties of structure and texture; ‘04 is all about power and dynamism and delineation, while ‘05 (still a powerful wine) is more shapely, a little more nuanced even in its size and substance. If you will forgive a musical analogy from Beethoven, the ‘04 is the “Hammerklavier” sonata; the ‘05 is the “Waldstein.” In any case, these are cabernets for the longterm; try the ‘04 from 2011 or ‘12 through 2020 or ‘24; try the ‘05 from 2012 or ‘13 through 2024 or ‘25. Both rate Excellent. About $80 to $85, not chump change, but you’re buying monuments here.
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On the plate: A rib-eye steak from a grass-fed, pasture-raised all-organic bovine. I marinated the steak in red wine and garlic for an hour and grilled it outside over hardwood charcoal, about five minutes on the first side and four minutes on the second, so it came out a rosy medium-rare. Wow, it was scrumptious, with that perfect balance that great steaks have of ripe, fleshy meatiness (or beefness) with succulent texture and earthy minerality. Hey, sounds like a great cabernet!

In the glass: Five cabernet sauvignon wines and one cabernet franc that had been waiting for me to open and try on the right occasion. It’s much better to sample wines like these at the dining table with the appropriate food than standing up in the kitchen going through them as if in a laboratory, though sometimes that situation has to prevail, too, as in, “O.K., guess I better do these 12 pinot grigios under $12.”

Mainly, these cabernet-based (and cabernet franc-based) wines do not display the over-ripe, over-extracted, over-oaked character that has turned California’s cabernet wines into parodies of cabernet and into a sea of sameness from producer to producer and year to year. Mainly, these are wines of vigor and rigor that allow structure and fruit and acid to speak both for themselves and in harmony. One is a bargain; the others are expensive, though with the way prices have risen, does $30 still count as an expensive wine? Now $90, yes, that’s a kick in the wallet.

Here are the wines in the order of tasting.
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Spellbound is a label from Folio Fine Wine Partners, a company launched by Robert Mondavi Jr. and his wife Lydia after the sale of Robert Mondavi Winery to Constellation late in 2004. The Spellbound Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, California, offers lots of personality for the price. Composed of 76 percent cabernet sauvignon, 9.5 percent petite sirah and 14.5 percent “other proprietary reds,” the wine, a dark ruby color with a deep purple center, immediately delivers a snootful of dusty plums and black currents permeated by lavender and licorice, cloves and sandalwood. It’s ripe, meaty and fleshy in the mouth, quite dense and chewy, fit for rolling around on the tongue, and the oak comes up from mid-palate back, contributing serious touches of walnut shell and underbrush. Drink now through 2011 or ‘12. We were immensely impressed with the quality of this wine. Very Good+, and at about $15 it represents Great Value.
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One of the problems with being around for 30 years is that you disappear into the background, a circumstance that has lately befallen the venerable Markham Vineyards. To sample what this winery is doing right, however, try the Markham Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Napa Valley. The color is dark ruby shading to a purple-black center; aromas of woody spice and spicy wood, like old church altars permeated by centuries of smoke and incense, testify to oak aging, but the wine also smells of mint and minerals, and intense, concentrated roasted plums and black currants. The wine tastes ripe and fleshy, but neither too ripe nor too fleshy; black fruit flavors are infused with licorice and lavender, while the structure of dense, chewy tannins is bolstered by lively acid. The wine reveals lovely poise and balance but power too, while on the finish a few minutes bring out its underbrush and brambly character, leading to a bit of austerity from mid-palate back. Try from 2010 to 2015 or ‘16. Excellent. About $30.
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Lord have mercy, the Tom Eddy Wines Elodian Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Napa Valley, teems with iodine and granite; it’s as savory as rare beef strewn with sea salt and as winsome as spiced, roasted and macerated black currants, cherries and plums can be, with their keen mineral edge and vibrant acid. The wine gets “darker” in the glass, more intense, rootier, earthier, yet it offers beguiling and impressive class and character. This is 100 percent cabernet sauvignon, aged 28 months in French oak, 70 percent new, yet one does not smell, taste or feel the oak as anything but an essential, supporting role. A cabernet wine for grown-ups. Drink 2009 or ‘10 through 2014 or ‘15. Production was 400 cases. Excellent. About $40.
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The Oakville Ranch “Robert’s Blend” 2004, Napa Valley, is composed of 83 percent cabernet franc and 17 percent cabernet sauvignon. This is truly a serious wine; it’s dark and deep, profoundly spicy, indubitably tannic and minerally, bursting with the untamed wild blueberry, mulberry and dusty leather notes, the bitter chocolate and walnut shell of the best cabernet franc. Lots of gravity, broad dimension and detail — the wine feels fathomless, inexhaustible. In the practical sense, this should be consumed from 2010 to 2018 or ‘19; in the world of my fevered imagination, it feels ageless. The wine spends 25 months in French oak, 80 percent new barrels. Production was 122 cases (244 six-packs). Excellent. About $90.
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The highly publicized first release of Rockaway Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Alexander Valley, a project of Rodney Strong Vineyard, speaks of its pedigree in every aspect, from the tall, etched Bordeaux-style bottle with its deep punt and broad shoulders, to its team of winemakers and consultants and vineyard managers; did it really take all these people to make this wine? The price tag confirms that pedigree, or at least its delusions of grandeur. The wine is 92 percent cabernet sauvignon and four percent each malbec and petit verdot; it ages 24 months in new French oak. I wanted there to be more “here” here; certainly the wine has many of the contemporary virtues going for it, but it feels as if it had been designed by a committee, a trait that many California “cult” cabernets share. Of course the wine is dense and intense, concentrated and minerally; of course the tannins and oak feel packed in, polished, sleek. We would expect no less. And I’ll admit that the next day, the Rockaway 2005 offered tremendous vigor and resonance; 12 or 14 hours added detail and complexity to the wine. I still sensed something missing, however, call it heart and soul, call it character and individuality; Rockaway 2005 is typical of the best that Sonoma County can produce, but it doesn’t go beyond that common standard. Drink now through 2015 or ‘16. Still, I have to rate it Excellent. About $75.
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The Tom Eddy Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Napa Valley, the current release of this wine, is 100 percent cabernet sauvignon, one-third of the grapes drawn from high in the Diamond Mountain District and two-thirds from the loamy soil of the valley floor in St. Helena and Oakville. The point is that the wine is not an expression of a particular vineyard or designation but of the Napa Valley itself, and that’s certainly how it feels, as deep, as rocky, as alluvial as its historic origins. This is a cool, clean and powerfully minerally cabernet, effortless in its confidence, eloquence and elegance but with foundations that rest on bulwarks of polished oak — 28 months in French barrels, 85 percent new — and grainy tannins. And let’s not forget the vibrant acidity that keeps the wine lively and resonant and courses through structure and ripe black fruit flavors like dark electricity. Yeah, damnit, I love this wine, though I could never afford to buy it. 544 cases (1088 six-packs). Drink from 2010 through 2018 or ‘20. Exceptional. About $90.

When I wrote about cabernet sauvignon wines from Napa Valley and Sonoma County last week, I omitted one because I thought it deserved mention by itself.

The first vintage from this new winery, the Phifer Pavitt “Date Night” 2005, Napa Valley, made from cabernet sauvignon grapes with a touch of petit verdot, is a dark, heady, smoky, exotic scrumptious wine, and before you say, “Oh, right, typical modern California,” let me add that it is not over-opulent, not overdone’ it’s stylish but not mannered. Yes, the black currant flavors, threaded on a line of mulberry, are rich and ripe, fleshy and meaty — and deepen as moments pass into platonic plums — but the wine is kept taut and controlled by chastening elements of mocha powder and dried ancho chili, by an immense mineral character, and by polished tannins that lend some earthy austerity to the finish. Seventeen months in French oak, 65 percent new barrels, provide firm, close to formidable, foundation and framework. Almost the most notable aspect of this wine is its complete sense of confidence and presence, its liveliness and vitality, its supple expressiveness, its dark and statuesque charisma; there’s something of the ultimate reaches of the cabernet sauvignon grape about it, it’s that pure and intense. We drank this with a medium rare strip steak, grilled outside over hardwood charcoal, and the match was pure delight and gratification. We nibbled some exquisite dark chocolate to finish the meal, sipping the rest of the wine, and the synergy practically blew our heads off. This is one of the best debut wines I have ever tasted from Napa Valley. Drink now through 2015 or ‘17. Production was 300 cases. Exceptional. About $75.

Vintage 2005 was a splendid year for cabernet sauviignon in California, a year perhaps to rival 2001. Much depends upon the winemaker, of course; many a ton of terrific grapes has been ruined by over-oaking in the winery, while in lesser years thoughtful and careful winemakers can turn out great wine; this is a principle that prevails in all the world’s winemaking regions.

These 12 examples of cabernet sauvignon or cabernet-based wines were tasted within the last six months; I’ve been saving them for a moment when they could logically work together in one post. They are not all excellent wines, but neither are any of them marred by the contemporary bedevilments of too much oak, too much alcohol and too much ripeness. My favorites here — and they will be readily apparent — display the best balance between elegance and power, between fruit and structure. They don’t give too much away too quickly; they prize gravitas and detachment and austerity. Well, o.k, a couple are pretty shamelessly appealing, but then they roll out their serious natures.
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It’s a bold move to name your cabernet blend Maximus and then give it the nickname “Feasting Wine;” shades of banquets and revelry! The Bennett Lane Maximus “Red Feasting Wine” 2005, Napa Valley, however, is densely structured enough that I would hesitate to open a bottle for tonight’s banquet; feasting in 2010 through 2015 or ‘16 would be more like it. The blend is 64 percent cabernet sauvignon and 25 percent merlot, and you would be forgiven for thinking that we’re on our way to something modeled on St. Estephe or St. Julien, except that the other 11 percent is syrah, a grape that the Bordelaise don’t even dream about. Maximus ‘05 opens with distinct aromas of cedar, tobacco and walnut shell that unfold around elements of intense and concentrated black currant, black cherry and plum. The flavors are similar, but deep, rich and spicy, quite earthy and minerally. The texture is dense and chewy with slightly gritty tannins that help make this a solid and substantial wine rather than a supple or vibrant one. Very Good+ with a nod toward Excellent potential in three or four years. About $35.
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For 2005, winemaker Marco DiGuillio took the Black Coyote Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, which is 100 percent cabernet, from the Stags Leap District to Atlas Peak. The immediate impression is of roots and branches, briers and brambles and cedar; then come black currants, plum pudding, saddle leather and licorice. Aged 22 months in French oak, 85 percent new barrels, this is a wine that almost vocalizes its marriage to the subtleties and blandishments of wood, while stewing in a welter of immense polished, grainy tannins. The wine is very smoky, very minerally and increasingly austere, yet its core feels not ponderous but resonant and lively. Production was 800 cases. Try from 2010 or ‘11 through 2015 to ‘18. Excellent. About $65.
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If you are like me — and you may be in ways that I cannot begin to fathom (or want to know about) — then you think that the Blackstone label represents the cheap seats of restaurant wine lists and grocery store shelves, especially that ubiquitous merlot, so serviceable, so innocuous. So who can blame the producer for wanting to move up the scale? I tasted the Blackstone Rubric Sonoma Reserve 2005 blind and was knocked out by the quality, especially when I learned the price. The salmagundi of a blend is 65 percent cabernet sauvignon, 14 percent syrah, 9 percent cabernet franc, 8 percent petite sirah, 2 percent merlot and — ready for this? — 2 percent teroldego. No one would blame you, mon lecteur, for never having heard of this grape — nor had I — but a few minutes with my research staff, Miss Google, provided its provenance; it’s a rare red grape found in Italy’s northeast region of Trentino-Alto Adige, especially in the zone called Campo Rotaliano, where its wines are highly valued.

So, Blackstone’s Rubric 2005 radiates purity and intensity of black fruit scents and flavors; it’s dark, high-toned and vibrant, and it offers lovely balance and integration, though it could use a slightly lighter hand with the easy fix of spicy oak. The wine is both tightly wound and generous, in the way that wines can be when a resolute structure supports lavish notes of lavender and licorice twined with minerals and walnut shell. Not a great wine, but I’ll happily rate it Very Good+ — it could use some fine-tuning — and recommend consumption through 2012 or ‘13 with hearty red meat dishes. About $19.
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The grapes for the Chateau St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Sonoma County — 88 percent cabernet sauvignon, 10 percent cabernet franc, 2 percent petit verdot — derive from vineyards in Knights Valley, Alexander Valley and Sonoma Valley. This is a “vinted” wine according to the label. Nothing wrong with purchasing grapes to make your wine; many a venerable house in Burgundy was built on the same principle. This all-too-typical example however, while competently-made, feels as if it were fashioned by a committee. Yes, it’s pungent and savory with ripe, dusty, minerally black currants, black cherries and plums; yes, the tannin and oak are sleek and polished; yes, it gathers notes of leather and minerals and charcoal, briers and brambles, cedar and tobacco; yes, it’s dense and chewy. So do and so are a hundred other cabernets from Napa and Sonoma. From Chateau St. Jean, we need more personality, if actual character is not too much to hope for. Very good+. About $27.
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I have probably said this a thousand times, but once more won’t hurt. Because they are elegant rather than monumental, because they are poised instead of exuberant, wines from Clos du Val tend to be undervalued if not downright ignored. Whenever possible in a restaurant, if I’m dining on beef especially, I order a bottle of Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon, because I know that it will have both the character and the sensuous appeal to match the dish and satisfy my palate. “Oh,” you’re saying archly, “a restaurant wine,” as if that’s a term of condemnation, as if wine’s primary purpose were not to, you know, be drunk with food.

The Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Napa Valley, delivers exquisite balance and equilibrium along with purposeful intensity and concentration; it is, in other words, a perfect example of the permeation of power and elegance. The blend is a Pauillac-like 85 percent cabernet sauvignon with 10 percent cabernet franc, 3 percent merlot and 2 percent petit verdot; the winery’s co-founder Bernard Portet was born in Bordeaux, and his father was, for many years, technical director at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. The wine is drenched in ripe cassis and black cherry etched with nuances of cedar, walnut shell, dried flowers and dried spice; these aspects rest on formidable, completely present but never overdone elements of polished oak and well-oiled tannins that layer suppleness over a foresty character — briers and brambles, moss and dried mushrooms — that increases in austerity through the long finish. Paramount about this wine is its quality of vitality and resonance. There has been comment, if not complaint, from critics that Clos du Val has within the last decade forsaken its righteously tannic and austere fashion for a more stylish, approachable wine. If that has happened, I see the benefit in a cabernet that might be drinkable now — Clos du Val cabernets are wonderful with medium rare steak — but that will age gracefully for 10 or 12 years, properly stored. Excellent. About $32.
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You could swim in it. That’s my first impression of the Fritz Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Dry Creek Valley, it’s that seductive and sumptuous. Billowing dried spice, ballooning cassis and black cherry, unfurling lavender and licorice; and then, inky minerals that form the wine’s bed-rock, bold tannins and polished oak that sculpt a firm, supple Brancusian structure and bring in the burgeoning austerity on the finish. Perhaps it’s the 10 percent malbec that lends the wine an intriguing, slightly tart note, a hint of cranberry and blueberry and exotic spice. Lest you worry that this sensual carnival of a wine is too heady to bear, consider that the alcohol level is a sensible 13.8 percent. The ultimate impression is of muscular elegance. Try from 2009 through 2012 or ‘15. Excellent. About $30.
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