The 2017 Monte Bello is a towering triumph of California Cabernet Sauvignon. The final blend includes 15% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc. The colossal nose reads like a dictionary definition of young Monte Bello, with inky black fruits, fragrant dried herbs, treated leather and a refreshing, breezy lift that continuously bounds from the glass. The palate continues the immense heft and gravitas of the nose, with ample mid-palate richness buttressed by forceful, penetrating and vigorous tannins. The oak integration throughout is remarkable, its edges gently buffed rather than vigorously polished. Overall, this is an incredibly impressive, complex and multifaceted wine that should have no problem aging for five decades. (ML)

This shows incredible intensity and depth of blackberries, pine needles, blackcurrants and black olives. Conifer, too. Love the nose. Full-bodied with so many layers of fruit and very fine, creamy tannins. It goes on for minutes. Impressive density with such weightlessness. Superb wine.

This wine may have the most intense and vibrant color of any of the 2017 cabernets we tasted. It definitely has the most vibrant length of flavor, with a complexity that lasts for minutes after each taste and makes it seem disrespectful to spit. Everything about it is a seamless pleasure, particularly the way it incorporates the freshness of cabernet grown in limestone into pure black- cherry flavors, saturated without any sense of weight. The fruit, organically grown and spontaneously fermented, has nothing to get in its way, delivering a fragrance of roses and black raspberries over that dark cherry core, the fruit tannins reading as depths of umami earthiness completely integrated into the silken texture. This wine advanced for several days after it was first opened, then retreated, then came back on the fifth day as a dark, seductive beauty, a Monte Bello that will live for decades. (JG)