Charging out of the box with lush, Napa-like nuances, few spots in Sonoma can muster this sort of elegance, but Chalk Hill does it easily. Gone are the sometimes-coarse textures of structure Alexander Valley manages with aplomb, and in their place are rich velvet and deep dedication to gloriously-ripe Cab and conspicuous oak treatment. Nearly impenetrable black-ruby in the glass, the rim fading slightly to the bluish-purple of adolescence. Smoky and dense in the nose, the blackberry a musty roil laid out on earthy splendor.

But don’t be too sure of the early appeal of lushness. Tasting it produces far thinner allusions to concentration where beautiful acid and powerful tannin vie for spots of acclaim alongside said fruit–propelled by a moderate ABV. Berry runs hi-bitter-note to pomegranate extent, a green ire massaging earlier ideas of chubbiness and lushly-imagined oak–which feels American upon casual contemplation. Peppery and vibrant–even brittle in areas–the middle swarms with impossible grandeur blowing up to tannic magnificence in a chalkily-steroidal finish begging for decades of age. A stupidly delicious wine that will take the paint off your car. This is Cab.

2019 BALVERNE Cabernet Sauvignon Chalk Hill Sonoma 14.3

www.balvernewines.com/