Opaque black purple, completely blocking light. Meaty nose, intensely fruited, grating citrus-peel mineral rising up from muddy clay and gamey peat, ridiculous rich berry and piss-cured leather never taking a break.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Knight’s Valley. Who doesn’t recognize this area immediately from the old Beringer labels? I cut my teeth on that stuff, and with the possibly exception of BV Rutherford, was probably my earliest exposure to an AVA-designate Cabernet. For decades, that was the only place you saw the words, but recently, “Knight’s Valley” has been popping up all over the shelves.

In the mouth, chokingly concentrated and chafing tannic. Thick ripe boysenberry and candied plum vie for dominance over a dark-green pillar of roasted caramel briar achingly thick and simultaneously at one with the plush cherry and blood-orange pepper, perfectly melding their mind-numbing density until the sharp green tannin I SO love Sonoma Cab for slowly takes the upper hand, driving out everything ahead of it.

Most of the cabs I drink of this virility come from the other side of the hill and would cost THREE TIMES what this one does. They also typically come with a plushness quite in contrast with the unbridled frontier shown here. This thing paints Sonoma and Knight’s Valley in a whole different light. Only downside: your glasses will never being clear again.

2015 CHIRON Cabernet Sauvignon Pelkan Ranch Knight’s Valley Sonoma 14.9

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