At the time I bought these, they were a bit of an oddity. Relatively unknown winery–known as pretty much a zin & blend house–down in the then-new tin city by the river in Healdsburg. They didn’t make cab every year and I had never visited. I found a few bottles at Tip Top Liquor by the railroad tracks headed out Dry Creek Valley on sale and gave it a try. HOLY WOW. Went back and cleaned out the shelf and found some more at another retailer. They were one of the then-becoming-rare wineries to offer futures and I signed up greedily. Fast-forward to my current evisceration of all things 2012 from the cellar and discovered I have close to a case of these. STILL: holy wow.

Black as night in the glass, traces of sediment stirred in from the trip up the stairs. Incredible mint and soft Christmas spice, heady glimpses of fennel and nutmeg gracing the nose. Below–and throughout that–ridiculous berry positioning itself as restrained amid fluffy floral and dry vegetation.

A sort of green-jalapeno essence greets the tongue, but it’s not a heat: merely the nuance of them being chopped and bleeding. Perfection in balance: the fruit a thin elixir of blueberry and gooseberry, still green and vivid in its lack of tertiary. Perfect layers of oak and chalk and mineral morph slowly into exuberant tannin, the brittle grist of which delicately props chunky berry. A spell-binding wine.

2012 SAPPHIRE HILL Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 14.5

www.sapphirehill.com/