2019 Hook & Ladder Cabernet Sauvignon Third Alarm Reserve Chalk Hill 750 ml

When the curtain fell on Sonoma County’s stellar 2019 vintage, longtime member-favorite Hook & Ladder rolled in truckloads of juicy, complex Cabernet from the prestigious Chalk Hill AVA. 

Sounds like it should have made a winemaker’s job easy—but that wasn’t the case for Jason De Loach, whose job was to choose 10 of the absolute best barrels for the Third Alarm Reserve Cabernet. 

De Loach, the winemaker at Hook & Ladder and the grandson of legendary vintner Cecil De Loach, expertly pinpointed the corps d'elite and channeled those barrels into the 2019 Third Alarm Reserve, an elegant, structured showcase of the finest estate Cabernet from one of Russian River’s modern-classic wineries. 

Critic Jeb Dunnuck said Sonoma County’s 2019 vintage yielded “beautiful wines from all appellations and at just about every price point,” and this wine backs that up. Showing aromas of sun-kissed black cherries, cassis, violets, and hints of dark cocoa and tobacco, plus a lush and multidimensional palate overflowing with tantalizing dark fruit, it’s a phenomenal Cab from one of Sonoma County’s top vintages—and one of its elite AVAs. 

Hook & Ladder’s founder, Cecil De Loach, is one of Sonoma’s modern pioneers. He helped put the Russian River Valley AVA on the map—quite literally. In the early 70s, he was among the first to build a winery in the area and put the Russian River name on his labels, long before the AVA was established. He then took it a step further, working tirelessly to have the boundaries of the region formally recognized by the government.

With Third Alarm, De Loach delivers lushness and texture in equal portions. It’s a multidimensional gem from a Wine Access sell-out machine.