The single-varietal 2021 Kodo Cabernet Sauvignon is deep garnet-purple in color. It gallops out of the glass with powerful notes of creme de cassis, blackberry preserves, and juicy black plums leading to nuances of lilacs, menthol, crushed rocks, and tapenade. The full-bodied palate shimmers with energetic black berry and mineral layers, supported by super fine-grained tannins and wonderful tension, finishing long and earthy. The long-established vineyard is in Oakville, very close to Vine Hill Ranch and Missouri Hopper, and was recently replanted. This is the first vintage of this new wine. Kodo is Japanese for 'heartbeat.' (LPB) 98+

This is the first vintage of Kodo (Japanese for 'heartbeat'), which comes from M-Bar Ranch Vineyard, abutting Vine Hill Ranch. Aged 22 months in roughly 85% new oak. This is a powerful, intense wine with crisp, fine tannins and a subtle cocoa nib quality. The wine is super perfumed with rose petals, mocha intermixing with blackberry and cherry, and graphite and sagebrush. It's focused, long on the palate, and super-expressive out the gate with a firm spine of racy, juicy acidity. The soils are super black and rich, imbuing this wine with that richness. Enjoy it now and over the next two decades if you can lay enough bottles down. The project is the personal project of winemaker Nigel Kinsman and his wife, Shea. The name is derived from their surnames. Their first vintage was 2in 016, and the wines are currently made at Wheeler Farms in St Helena. They are sourced from five single vineyard sites: M-Bar Ranch and Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville, Ecotone, and the former Reverie site on Diamond Mountain, as well as Sleeping Lady Vineyard in Yountville. (JC)

This is super solid, with a dense core of blackberry and boysenberry reduction flavors that are tightly wound for now amid apple wood, licorice and walnut husk accents. Shows dark earth and fresh tobacco details on the finish as the fruit pumps through. (JM)