2018 Cabernet Sauvignon

These new and upcoming releases from Cornell are positively stellar. Readers will note the introduction of a new second wine, Courtship. The first two editions are impressive, to say the least. Cornell is also experimenting with an extended barrel version of their flagship Cabernet that is incredibly distinctive.

Winemaker Elizabeth Tangney describes 2018 as a year marked by cool weather and no major shock events, with wines that required a bit more time to extract. Two thousand nineteen saw more heat, especially at the end of September, although harvest wrapped up later. Tannin levels are higher, and the wines extracted more easily than in 2018. Over the last few years, Cornell has come on strong with a series of superb wines. This district on the Napa/Sonoma border, a corridor that includes Pride, Fisher and Vineyard 7&8, is one of the most intriguing micro-areas in Northern California for the production of world-class Cabernet Sauvignon.

I was quite simply blown away by the wines I tasted from Cornell this year. It wasn’t that long ago that I didn’t include these wines in my regional reports because they weren’t interesting enough. Somewhere around 2013, things started to change for the better. Today, Cornell is one of the most exciting and dynamic estate wineries in northern California. The rugged hillside vineyard lies on Spring Mountain, just beyond Pride, on the Sonoma side of the mountain, a part of Sonoma that is especially well suited to the cultivation of Bordeaux varieties. Winemaker Elizabeth Tangney and Consulting Winemaker Françoise Peschon are doing brilliant work. The 2017 turned out beautifully, while the 2018 may very well turn out to be epic. Readers who enjoy the more classically-leaning side of Napa/Sonoma Cabernet will absolutely adore these wines. Kudos to Henry and Vanessa Cornell for their unrelenting drive to excellence. The results of many years of hard work and significant investment are in the glass.