Baker and Hamilton by VHR 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa ~ 96 Points

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is a new wine made by the Phillips family, owners of Vine Hill Ranch, and winemaker Françoise Peschon. It is without question one of the most impressive debuts I tasted this year. Silky and gracious, the 2019 is a wonderfully understated, classy Cabernet that shows the more restrained side of the year in its super-classic mid-weight feel. Cedar, tobacco and sweet floral notes add gorgeous inner perfume. With the Baker & Hamilton Cabernet, the Philips’s aim to make a wine that will work well in restaurants and retail shops, so all of the wine is sold through distribution rather than direct. You don’t have to have a Nobel Prize to figure out what the vineyard source is. Let’s leave it at that.

FMW 96 Points: The Baker &Hamilton 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is beguiling, stunning from the get go!  The wine offers up an intense aroma of bright dark stone fruit,  flowers and spices that jumps out of the glass on impact. The palate is lush and full, and loaded with layers of dark red and black stone fruits, a whiff of vanilla and licorice.  This wine is gorgeous and beautifully delineated with a lot of pizzazz . Vibrant fruit and elegance are the keywords here!  This youngster finishes with a great crescendo of silky tannins and a  perfumed finish.

Wine Spectator 95 Points: “This is packed with vivid boysenberry, mulberry and black currant fruit that bursts forth with energy, while being held in check by graphite, anise and apple wood notes that lend good underlying tension. Features bramble and warm stone accents on the finish, as the fruit races through. Best from 2023 through 2038. —J.M.”