Cabernet sauvignon, which was replanted in 2014, has both been absent or considerably diminished since that yr as a result of the younger vines endure throughout sizzling vintages and don’t have ample high quality to enter the mix. However 2014 remains to be a pleasant classic, and the 2016, with its youth and sternness, highlights VCC’s potential to mix energy and beauty for one more 100 years.
And energy appears to prevail over grace within the 2017 to 2020 vintages, partly as a result of their youth and partly to the warmer local weather throughout these years. In 2017 and 2018, the vineyard’s extraordinary capacity to interpret heat vintages appears to emerge. In 2017, the tannins are extra angular however the wine is wealthy, deep and completely balanced. The 2018 season appears to have given much less darkish and deep fruit, but the wine reveals a candy dynamism on the palate. The 2020 classic, due to the shortage of cabernet sauvignon, reveals an enviable olfactory openness and an embroidered palate, with plenty of good substance for the lengthy haul.
Nonetheless, regardless of a minimal distinction in absolute worth, it’s in 2019 that VCC’s signature kind returns: the brilliant supple darkish fruits with austere and earthy tones paired to a strong but well-controlled construction equal magic in a bottle.
– Aldo Fiordelli, Senior Editor
