2023 Bevan Cellars Tench Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Russell Bevan doesn’t make polite wines. He makes wines that grab you by the shoulders and refuse to let go.  The Tench Vineyard is one of his purest expressions of that philosophy. Sitting on the rocky eastern edge of Oakville along the Silverado Trail, this site delivers Cabernet of almost shocking intensity and mineral depth.

The 2023 opens with blue and blackberries, currants, graphite, crushed rock and just a whisper of espresso. Those same notes surge onto the palate, joined by subtle dried herbs, dark chocolate, leafy tobacco and gravelly earth. It is full-bodied, deep and expansive, with ripe, polished tannins that wrap the mid-palate in a seamless, seductive texture.  A long, lingering finish and  aged entirely in new French oak. It already shows remarkable power and purity while still holding the structure to evolve beautifully over the next two decades.

This is Bevan at full throttle… flamboyant, commanding, and impossible to ignore.

Grape: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Appellation: Oakville, Napa Valley, California, USA

-Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points