“Smith-Madrone has done it again”

Stephen McConnell reviews the 2021 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon:

My first *major* 21? Possibly, and at three, there’s a lot of room here for polish and beauty over the next 20 years. Super ripe in the nose, with plentiful banana notes laid along dusty lines of black black cherry while pomegranate etchiness punctuates everything. Dark and sultry though. Not quite “impenetrable”, but dark and thick with a rosy, thin clear rim. In the mouth, a spine-tingling acidity plays down into ratcheting tannin and dank earth, nearly obfuscating the generosity of the bouquet. As Spring Mountain–and this producer–SHOULD. I mean… There’s a fair lineage here of stupidly-ageable cabs which also–somehow–manage to be fairly enjoyable in youth. Glassine and balanced with a bit of air, the fruit never letting go of abrasive, while charming points of berry and soil highlights infiltrate the ridiculous structure. It’s a brick wall of tannin, but massaged into fullness hard to argue with. No surprise: Smith-Madrone has done it again. Probably the finest *bargain* cab made in Napa. Year after year. Get on the list. These are the bargains amid all the Napa price-point horror stories. Since 1971.