2018 Greer Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

I was able to taste two vintages of the Greer Cabernet, both brilliant wines coming from a tiny three-acre vineyard on the Rutherford Bench. The wines have been made by Aaron Pott since 2001. Starting with the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, this beauty offers incredible purity and precision in its cassis, candied violets, green tobacco, and lead pencil-like aromatics, and it certainly wouldn't be out of place in a lineup of top First Growths from Bordeaux. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied and has a concentrated, rich mid-palate, beautiful tannins, and a great finish. This is classic 2018 in its purity, freshness, and structure. It needs 4-6 years of bottle age and will have 30 years of longevity. It will most likely merit a triple-digit rating at maturity. (JD) 97+

Every year at Premier Napa Valley we assemble a team of our sales specialists and spend several days traversing the region tasting hundreds of the very finest wines made. Harlan, Dominus, Opus One, Bryant, Heitz, Shafer, Cardinale, Bond and many many more. During the event this year, no wines impressed me more than those from Greer. At the Rutherford Dust tasting, in a packed room of very impressive wines, these absolutely stood out for their incredible balance, refinement, purity and crystal clear sense of place. These are absolute benchmark expressions of the west Rutherford bench. This tiny estate vineyard is sandwiched in by some of the most famous vineyards in the region including Scarecrow, Staglin, Bella Oaks, Morisoli, and Inglenook. This is seriously world-class dirt for growing Cabernet and wow they certainly know how to make the most of it! A tiny 3-acre site planted in 2005 with an historic wooden barn still standing in the center, this estate is beautifully understated, even diminutive, but one sip of the wine and you'll see how special it is. The wines have been made since the first vintage in 2007 by acclaimed winemaker Aaron Pott who learned his craft from luminaries like John Kongsgaard and Michel Rolland and at properties like Troplong Mondot and Quintessa. The nose on the 2018 vintage is all mulberry and cassis fruit with dry tobacco leaf and camphor mingled in adding a beautiful savory nuance to the suave and sophisticated fruit profile. Blackcurrant leaf, subtle bay laurel tones, and plenty of that oh so special Rutherford dust soil profile. The structure is refined and polished, but leaves you in no doubt that this wine has incredible ageing potential. A simply stunning wine that can, and will, hold it's own with the finest Cabernet based wines on the planet.