Black, dense ruby right out to a thick purple edge. Heavenly woodsy floral, rich and concentrated with chunks of banana and deep musk, show this is a Napa Cab to be reckoned with in the grand landscape of big, bling-bro offerings obfuscatingly ripe and begging to be drank on release–with significant blossoming in near-term cellaring. The cherry mash clogs the nose, sweet with toasty round oak notes, tobacco and fresh-turned black soil. Decanted heavily.

In the mouth, the lush-fest continues. The thick blackberry stew benefits greatly by a sharp streak of acid and alcohol, thinning the massive entry into manageable layers of grit and grain. “Thick” is again a word impossible to avoid–a wine you CHEW, a wine you need to FLOSS afterwards: speckles of what will probably manifest as sediment still suspended in the wine, creating a meal in itself. Tannin is a soft affair, flowing seamlessly off the briary middle in a finish ridiculously lush and providing the most complex area of the wine. Black walnut, black coffee and sweet black cherry dominate the long finish, with a green uplift providing welcome respite from the sheer massiveness of the liquid.

A new project with Cary Gott at the helm, if you are into any of a huge list of Napa Valley top-shelf runners like Caymus, Pahlmeyer, or Silver Oak Napa, it will be a delicious bottle to own and share.

2016 CALLA LILY ‘Ultimate Red’ Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 14.5

https://callalilywines.com/