2023 Anonymous Wine Collective "Hillside Block 92" Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2023 Anonymous "Hillside Block 92" Oakville Cab is a singular wine that really shows the qualities of the site and character of the vintage. Sourced from one, incredibly steep hillside parcel of vines with some of the most radically rocky soils I've ever seen in any vineyard on the planet. Honestly, this site looks almost too much hassle to even farm. The vines struggle almost as much as the folks who have to farm it entirely by hand! It's easy to imagine the roots snaking around pure basalt boulders on their way down into the red volcanic loam. With a panoramic view across the Oakville Valley floor several hundred feet below, this west facing terrace is among many of the most famed vineyards in all of Napa having produced several 100-point wines. Directly above, heading up the mountain sits Pritchard Hill and many more iconic estates. From a site like this you might expect pure, unbridled power and richness...however, the cool and moderate 2023 vintage allowed the fruit here to remain nicely balanced. The wine was also raised entirely in four, 500L French oak Puncheon casks. These double size barrels impart less oak flavor and allow less oxygen to breathe through the extra thick oak staves. The result is a wine that's quite linear and fresh. Given that the wine hails from the east Oakville hills, it's actually quite a Bordeaux-esque expression of Cabernet with floral violet notes, bright fruit, a fine, but grippy tannin structure, subtle barrel spice and lots of graphite and volcanic mineral tinges. Having tasted the individual components and composite blend from barrel and now the finished wine, I do believe that in a few weeks / months the wine will fill out a little more in the mid-palate and show more density of fruit. It certainly loves a good 2-3 hour decant if you're drinking it right away to allow the wine to gain volume in the glass. Ideally give this wine a couple months to round out in bottle (there's no rush) and enjoy anytime over the next 10-15 years. The winery's own bottling from this vineyard sells for $150+.
Elsewhere:
$150
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Staff Reviews
Review Date: 07/2025
Email Aaron
Review Date: 07/2025
Email MariahNotes
I’ve dreamed of making this wine ever since I first walked this vineyard several years ago. The vineyard is truly one of the most dramatic and singular sites in the Napa Valley. High in the east Oakville hills, this vineyard is incredibly steep with radically rocky soils. The earth here is a vibrant red loam with a huge number of basalt rocks and boulders protruding through the surface. By boulders I mean, as big as a car boulders where they had to skip several vines in the row because of a boulder! Block 92 is like a solar panel facing west with a panoramic view over the Oakville valley floor below. The combination of these radical volcanic soils and steep, west facing aspect means that this block typically produces quite a ripe, flamboyant style of Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2023 however, the growing conditions were very moderate without the typical heat spikes we’ve come to expect in September. So this wine has a wonderful freshness and vitality to go with the opulent red fruit and crushed rock mineral. The wine was aged in 500L French oak Puncheons, 50% of which were new. Puncheons hold twice the amount of wine than a typical barrel, so the oak impact is more like 25% new oak. The larger cask with thicker staves also helps retain freshness, focus and linear vibrancy. ***Just bottled in July, 2025 - please decant for an hour if drinking as a young wine.***
Product Details
Origin: Napa Valley, California, United States
Type/Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon and Blends
Alcohol Content: 14.5%
SKU: #1872884