2014 Forman Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Winery Direct Library Release)

The 2014 Cabernet from Ric Forman is another absolutely superb wine that seems lower in octane than its stated level of 14.8% on the label. The bouquet is precise and beautifully vibrant, offering up a complex blend of sweet cassis, dark berries, Cuban cigar wrapper, a nice discreet touch of eucalyptus, dark soil tones, coffee bean and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and light on its feet, with superb soil signature, a lovely core of fruit, fine focus and grip, ripe, moderately chewy tannins and a long, nascently complex and very classy finish. This is a stunning young bottle of cabernet, with the inherent complexity and transparency one used to find routinely in young Médoc.