O’Shaughnessy’s 2018 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is a gorgeous and multilayered wine that showcases the complexity of all seven of the Bordeaux varietals that they farm. The wine is dark ruby red with aromas of raspberries, currants, ripe plum, and a bit of smoke. Focused flavours of wild cherry jam, plum butter, and raspberry preserves are followed by a long finish with integrated acidity and complex palate-filling tannins. Muscular, but with restrained elegance, this wine carries the O’Shaughnessy trademark of balance and power.
“Blue flowers and fruit on the nose, as well as licorice, tea leaf and dark chocolate. It’s medium-bodied with firm, tight tannins and fresh acidity. A distinct, saline streak cuts through the dark fruit. Try from 2023.”
93 points, JamesSuckling.com, Jan 2021
“A unique blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 5% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot, and 2% each of Saint Macaire, Carmenere, and Cabernet Franc. Charred wood, pipe tobacco and black cherries on the nose. Texturally, the most focused and persistent of the O’Shaughnessy Cabernets. The palate is both generous and nimble, showing substantially chewy, textbook Howell Mountain tannins. A rustic Cabernet housed in a contemporary core. Drinking Window 2024-2035.”
94 points, Decanter, Oct 2020
