2019 Adversity Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Sage Ridge Napa Valley 750 ml

“I’ve got something new I want to put in front of you.” 

We’d rearrange our schedule any day to taste just one of our friend and 100-point winemaker Russell Bevan’s Cabernets—so when we got that text from Russell himself, we dropped everything and headed to his spacious cellar. 

Today, our decade-long relationship with Russell results in a true never-again opportunity: the chance to get in on the inaugural allocation from his Adversity Cellars. This Cabernet boasts the tension, complexity, and concentration that can only come from grapes grown in inhospitable, unforgiving, and adverse conditions, and it's as deeply impressive as anything we’ve ever tasted from Russell.

Situated in the hills above Lake Hennessey, the high-altitude, sun-drenched Sage Ridge Vineyard is familiar to Russell Bevan: He knows that the wind- and rain-battered mountaintop soils possess little nutrition, so the vines struggle mightily. This results in extraordinarily complex fruit, and it shows in a Cabernet of youthful exuberance, with all the markings of a Napa wine destined for a long life. There is a lovely red-fruited element, featuring wild strawberries and raspberries, with dried herbs and floral notes giving lift to the nose, and evolving to show more like black tea on the palate.