Now, to begin with, even the regular 2021 Vina Robles Estate Cabernet is the product of a VERY strict selection. With over 2400 acres of vineyards, the winery uses only a tiny fraction of their very best fruit for their own wines, selling off the rest. All that they harvest is very strictly sorted. (They have one of the few optical sorters in Paso.) And it’s aged in only low and medium toast oak barrels from “coopers known for their subtlety.”
Winemaker Kevin Willenborg, who began his career at Petrus and made Coppola’s Rubicon before joining Vina Robles, selects only the very best of the best for this top Cabernet. Again, unlike the regular (which also sees some American and Hungarian barrels), this is aged entirely in the finest French oak.
The results are simply extraordinary. While this wine is not submitted for reviews, if the regular 2021 Vina Robles Cabernet is a 93 (a score it’s definitely earned), this one is easily a 96, if not higher.
At this price, it’s not only the best buy in top-level Paso Robles Cabernet (and by a mile)…this may be the best American Cabernet for the money period.
Needless to say, this is yet another illustration of why so many Paso Robles producers call 2021 their finest vintage ever. Even at its normal $40 price, this one WAY overdelivers.