2018 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Tench Vineyard Oakville 750 ml

“Have you ever read The Winemaker’s Dance?” Russell Bevan asked as he poured us his deep, dark 2018 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Tench Vineyard, the aromas spilling over the glass. “It’s about terroir in Napa Valley…” he started, and proceeded to get deep into the details about Tench.

We swirled the Cabernet as Russell explained the unique terroir of the eastern Oakville site that has produced some of his greatest wines—but to tell the truth, we zoned out a bit as soon as we raised the glass and took a sip. 

One sip is all it takes before you’re completely engrossed in this opulent and seamless powerhouse: the blue and black fruit, the myriad accents of spice and earth, and the towering structure that is pure Bevan, and marks the very best of California Cabernet. 

The 2018 Tench is “just about pure perfection,” wrote Jeb Dunnuck in his 99-point review, an opinion that echoes ours. Bevan is a true master at expressing terroir, and this Cab flawlessly transmits the magic of two unique blocks at the bottom of one of his most prized vineyards.

Once we gathered ourselves and refocused our attention, we got into the particulars with Russell. Tench Vineyard is rich in the volcanic red soil that characterizes some of the best sites in eastern Oakville (including Screaming Eagle), but the front blocks (1A and 1B) near Silverado Trail feature massive stones that tumbled down from Pritchard Hill millennia ago. It looks, in Russell’s words, like Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Russell has channeled that stoniness into a gorgeous minerality that perfectly accompanies the massive blue and black fruits of this Cab. It’s what makes the Tench Cabernet stand apart—even from Bevan’s two other wines from the site—as a unique expression of a revered vineyard’s special terroir.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate recently dedicated an evening to tasting through verticals of Bevan wines, and was stopped “in her tracks” by Russell’s preternatural ability to express terroir: “When I can see right through the winemaking and peer into a unique expression of a fruit source of singularity,” she wrote, “it reminds me why I’m here.” 

His deft hand at expressing terroir can be explained, partially at least, by his winemaking practices. He’s obsessed with cleanliness, and unlike winemakers who age their wines in new oak for texture and flavor, Russell uses 100% new French oak because he likes everything pristine. Thanks to this devotion to cellar hygiene, Russell is able to add minimal sulfur and bottle his wines unfiltered. These choices contribute to the wonderful mouthfeel that has earned his wines such acclaim, and they offer the clearest possible window into the vineyards where his wines are grown.