2019 Rivers-Marie Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley California 750ml

The Herb Lamb Vineyard was lost in the fires of 2020, so this will be the last vintage of the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard. As with the Oakville Terraces release, it's a boderline perfect wine that has a captivating bouquet of cassis, blackberries, charcoal, lead pencil shavings, and even a hint of menthol. With full-bodied richness and depth, a concentrated, structured, yet seamless mouthfeel, and one great finish, it's another incredible wine from the team at Rivers-Marie. As with most 2019s, it has up-front appeal, yet my money is on a solid two decades of development. | 99 points, Jeb Dunnuck for jebdunnuck.com

This is it for Herb Lamb Vinyard for us for now, the vineyard was lost to fire in 2020. We did harvest fruit from the site last year but the smoke taint was too much to consider bottling it. So, 2019 is it. It's all a huge tragedy especially for Jennifer Lamb and her family who have put so much energy and passion into growing some of the best fruit in the Napa Valley. As I was writing this though, Jennifer reached out to say Herb Lamb Vineyard was replanted on Bastille Day 2021, amazing news after a tough year. This wine represents the second year of what was supposed to be a 10 year lease of the vineyard. To put a positive spin on things, the two wines that have come out of this lease are two of the best wines I've ever made. There's nothing else in Napa that tastes like Herb Lamb where the resulting wines feel like they have a foot in two different eras. The idea of varietal green-ness or herbaceous-ness is such a frowned upon trait in modern Cabernets. There's no getting around that here and it makes for such a compelling experience combining the best of Napa's past with all the current refinement in farming and winemaking. The varietal character is more of a top note of tobacco, olive, pencil shavings and menthol which become more pronounced as the wine opens in the glass. The fruit profile is blue and black fruits complemented with spring flowers, white chocolate and sandalwood. I'd love to see this one day pop up in the portfolio again but barring that, this is a great way to go out. 370 cases produced. | Rivers-Marie

Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown has a history of high praise and huge scores with Napa Cabernet Sauvignon he has crafted for prestigious labels such as Schrader, Revana, Pulido-Walker, Maybach...and a stable of others. The wines for his own label Rivers-Marie are no exception. He selects fruit from the vineyard sites he sources with such a studious calculation that his winemaking efforts are focused on framing the raw material to simply show it in context. | Falling Bright