2020 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA

(99 Points) Balanced, polished, seamless, and elegant—and just what you’d expect from this Oakville estate, humbly delivered in 2020. I had the chance to taste this release at Screaming Eagle on a cool, rainy day at the end of March 2023. It possessed the freshness of the air outside, coupled with the warmth of the vintage, offering expressive blue and violet wildflowers, boysenberry fruit, graphite, cedarwood and spearmint and beautiful loamy earth notes. Medium-bodied and flush with the purity of red crunchy cherry and plum fruit augmented by undercurrents of blue and black-toned notes as well this vintage. All this is framed by a rich tapestry of long, silky, layered tannins and the finish is punctuated by rose petal notes. This wine is unquestionably in the running for an upgrade to a 100-point score. It's a dynamic, expressive, and gorgeous showing from the challenging vintage. The team’s unyielding effort to bring harmony and balance to the vineyard comes together in the glass. It's an example of how precision farming and precision. Winemaking can capture the essence of a winery's signature style. (JC)  Decanter