2010 Cabernet Sauvignon

Readers will find much to admire in these current and upcoming releases from Mayacamas and winemaker Braiden Albrecht, including several of the small-lot bottlings the estate has begun to offer in recent years. The flagship Cabernets offer plenty of mountain structure, but they show a bit more polish than the wines of the past. As always, Mayacamas bolsters their range with a handful of library releases from the Bob Travers era, arguably the most historically significant period for Mayacamas, for the time being. As gorgeous as those wines are, Travers bottled his wines cask by cask, introducing an element of variation that was common at the time but harder for consumers to accept today.

Every time I go to Mayacamas there is something new to see. The redevelopment of this historic estate proceeds at what looks like a very rapid pace, even if it will be many years before the results of the work being done today shows up in the wines. Mayacamas is most known for their epic Cabernet Sauvignons, but this year I was equally impressed with the whites, and I say that as someone who has never found the same level of excitement in those wines as I have in the reds. The new team headed by viticulturist Phil Coturri and winemaker Andy Erickson is doing important work in redeveloping the vineyard while keeping the healthier existing vines in production for as long as possible. Many of the improvements are noticeable in the whites already, where the wines tend to be more transparent and susceptible to less than ideal practices.