2016 Three Wine Company CMZ Red Wine 750 ml

When it comes to bold, concentrated reds, Matt Cline is a master. His wines have racked up hundreds of five-star member reviews from Wine Access members. And when he told us his 2016 CMZ was the most powerful wine he’s ever made, we knew it would be spectacular.

We were right. From a chart-topping vintage, this is a dense yet perfectly balanced triumph that stands tall even in Three Wine Company’s praiseworthy portfolio. It’s a seamless marriage of fruit from Matt’s ancient-vine California sites and Cabernet from renowned Napa terroir, and there are very few bottles like it.

Matt sourced his Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa’s Suscol Creek Vineyard. He combines these grapes with fruit from an all-star lineup of Contra Costa sites whose single-vineyard bottlings have enraptured Wine Access members: Zinfandel from the 130-year-old Evangelho Vineyard contributes deep fruit purity and spice, while Mourvèdre and Carignan from the 135-year-old Spinelli Vineyard add savory complexity. Petite Sirah from Mazzoni and Carignan from Bigelow round out the blend.

CMZ began years ago as Matt’s challenger to The Prisoner, but the similarly robust bottling quickly distinguished itself. The 2016 “represents my growth and my experience in fine-tuning this wine,” Matt told us, and it could be his most complex CMZ yet. He says he “pushed the envelope with ripeness” but still kept a careful eye on the ancient vines, picking only when the grapes showed a perfect balance of fruit depth and intricacy.

The low-yielding 2016 vintage was outstanding across California and especially in Napa, where it stands among the best ever. “It was a picture-perfect vintage for us,” Matt told us, and it shows in this bottle.