1994 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon 13th Anniversary

The formidable 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon 13th Anniversary Release may be the finest Cabernet Sauvignon Joan and Bill Smith have yet made. It boasts an opaque purple color, followed by a smoky, toasty, mineral, and cassis-scented nose, great persistence in the mouth, massive body, and an expansive, chewy, blockbuster finish, without coming across as excessively heavy or overweight. Give it 5-6 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 20-25 years. It is a Cabernet legend in the making! La Jota's two Cabernet Sauvignon cuvees are similar in quality. The Howell Mountain Select and Anniversary Release share dense, concentrated, full-bodied personalities with superlative levels of fruit and extract. The Anniversary cuvee usually has a bit more depth, ripeness, and overall potential, but that is not always easily discernable when they are young. Each wine will last - at the minimum - 20 years. Readers can decide whether they prefer the more open-knit opulence of the 1994, the more austere, jagged tannins of the big 1995, or the forceful power of the 1996. Tel. (707) 965-3020; Fax (707) 963-7874