2018 Angeline Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 750 ml

A 100-point winemaker’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon—one described as “a serious red” by critic James Suckling—usually comes with a serious price to match. Especially when the main hillside vineyard source is in the Sonoma shadow of Napa’s Mount Veeder, imbuing the wine with all the same spicy mountain-berry complexity without the sticker shock.

In exchange for keeping the vineyard sources to ourselves, we’re able to offer Wine Access members this striking 92-point 2018 Angeline Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon at a truly incredible price.

This overperformer is the brainchild of winemaker Keith Emerson, who is best known for his “absolutely sublime” 100-point Cabernet Sauvignon from Vineyard 29, just across the Mayacamas range in St. Helena. At roughly 1/16 the price, Emerson’s mastery is just as palpable in his Angeline Reserve Cabernet, with a knockout richness on the palate that never feels overly ripe or extracted. Instead, it has a structural authenticity that perfectly captures its truly stellar terroir.

Wild blackberry, cassis, warm red plum, and dark black cherry are heightened with a complex undercurrent of allspice, bay leaf, tobacco, and alluring whispers of sandalwood and vanilla. An impressively long finish is defined by just the right proportion of spicy oak tones, ensuring this true Reserve can cellar proudly alongside its 100-point Napa cousin for a decade or more.

Though we can’t reveal the incredible vineyard sources that go into this wine, we’ll just share that one is from the same rocky Dry Creek Valley AVA that goes into Ridge’s powerful Lytton Springs series—regular Wine Spectator Top 100 list toppers—while the other is a stone’s throw from Silver Oak's Alexander Valley home base, where a good portion of the vineyard’s Cabernet goes into its $80 flagship.

That’s the site that Emerson credits for the 2018 Angeline Reserve’s distinct mountain character. Up a road hewn from boulders, basalt, and the signature red loams of this part of the Moon Mountain District AVA, this small and stunning site is a hidden treasure beloved by Bedrock Wine, another Wine Spectator Top 100 mainstay (achieving the #10 spot in 2018). 

Registered in the Historical Vineyard Society, this site is one of Sonoma’s oldest properties, with plantings from the 1940s (though its ranch home and slew of outbuildings date back to the 1800s). Before it became a legendary site for award-winning mountain Cabernet, the vineyard was notorious for having a very aggressive Billy goat that had broken the arm of one of its owners.

It’s not hard to imagine, given the ridiculously steep, rugged terrain that seems inhospitable to just about anything but goats and wild vines. We’ve never encountered a Billy, but there are usually a few more docile nanny goats bleating away whenever we have an excuse to hike to the top of this plot, which boasts one of the most gorgeous views of San Pablo Bay, Mount Tamalpais, and San Francisco.

From there, the smell of yerba buena and chamomile that’s been crushed underfoot mixes with laurel bay and never fails to remind us what makes mountain Cabernet so very special. Emerson agrees that the secret to the wine’s freshness and spicy complexity lies in this unmistakable mountain terroir, which is why he gets just as jazzed talking about this 2018 Angeline Reserve as he does about his 100-point Napa Cabernet.

One sip of this “velvety” 92-point beauty and you’ll know why.