97pts Jeb Dunnuck 
Pas de Cheval is a collaboration between Maayan Koschitzky (of Atelier Melka) and Master of Wine Vanessa Conlin. They focus on appellation Cabernets and have some top-notch sourcing. Starting with the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville, it offers a gorgeous nose of pure cassis, blueberries, wildflowers, incense, and spicy oak. Pure Napa Valley Cabernet magic on the palate, it’s full-bodied, has a layered, multi-dimensional texture, ripe, building and substantial tannins, and one heck of a great finish. It certainly delivers the goods today yet will integrate its oak and tannins with 2-4 years of bottle age and drink spectacularly well over the following 15-20 years or so.

CÉPAGE100% Cabernet Sauvignon

CLONE 7, 337

TERROIR: Red volcanic soil in the heart of Oakville

OAK: Aged 20 months in 70% new French oak barrels (Taransaud, Ermitage, Sylvain, and Demptos)

ABV: 15.2%

Dense ruby-black with an electric amaranthine rim. Viscous and loaded with loganberry, black currant, and spearmint aromas that evolve slowly to reveal complex notes of licorice, cardamom, violet, and wild sage nuances. On entry, the muscularity is immediately evident. Equal measures of perfectly ripe fruit and savory herbal flavors are bound by supple, tongue-coating tannins.

Highly concentrated at its core, this is a robust and highly complex wine, seamlessly integrating seemingly disparate notes of blackberry, cassis, licorice, tilled earth, mint, and herbs de Provence. The finish builds in a resonant crescendo of fruit, earth, and spice that holds one in rapt attention. Raw power cloaked in refinement now, it will only get better. Drink now – 2049.