2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Harbison Vineyard

Russell Bevan’s 2018s and 2019s are superb. The wines are rich, powerful and exuberant, as they always are, but they also convey tons of site character. That makes tasting through this range fascinating. My preference in the range leans towards wines that offer a level of contrast to the flamboyant expression of fruit Bevan likes to coax from his sites.

The only problem with Russell Bevan’s 2018s is going to be choosing which wines to focus on, unless readers have the means to buy them all. I don’t really know where to start, except to say 2018 is the finest vintage I have tasted here. The 2018s are a sort of perfect storm that melds together the trademark richness Bevan seeks, with a balanced, long growing season and increasingly better vineyard sites. The result is a collection of wines I can only describe as thrilling. It’s hard to pick favorites, but the Saunders Franc, the Dr. Crane Cabernet and the Sentinel Ridge Cabernet are among the most impressive wines in a collection of 2018s that goes from strength to strength. The 2017s turned out well, although the challenges of the year are impossible to fully escape. Bevan was one of the most open and transparent winemakers in the valley when I stopped by to taste the 2017s from barrel. He showed me a wider range of wines than anyone else. That said, it is pretty clear that while the 2017s largely turned out quite well, the effects of heat expressed in elevated ripeness in some wines and hard tannins in others, is evident.