“Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2021” “Each year, Wine Spectatoreditors survey the wines reviewed over the previous 12 months and select our Top 100, based on quality, value, availability and excitement. This annual list honors successful wineries, regions and vintages around the world. #81. 2018 Brandlin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 

Vivid and expressive, with a lovely beam of plum, anise and boysenberry notes sailing through, flanked with sweet bay leaf and violet notes and carrying through the lengthy finish. This has the grip to cellar too, but approachable now for its vivacious fruit. Drink now through 2034.” 93 Points: Outstanding; a wine of superior character and style

“The outstanding 2019 BrandlinEstate‘Mount Veeder’ Cabernet Sauvignon has small parts Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec blended in. Stored for 22 months in 50% new French oak, this offers pencil lead, dark currant and coffee grounds on the nose. The palate is very rich and concentrated, with good finesse. Enjoy this beautiful wine over the next fifteen years. Drink 2022-2037.”

“Blueberries, stewed blackberries, chocolate, espresso, dried herbs and sweet tobacco on the nose. Full-bodied with firm, muscular tannins. Compact and fragrant with a firm finish. Try after 2023.” 93 Points: Outstanding

“Tasting a barrel sample of Brandlin’s 2019 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon shows a textbook profile, with lots of energy coursing through the vivid, dark fruit while sparkles of anise, sweet bay and violets are scattered throughout. It’s grippy, but also has a generous feel, a function of the vintage.”

“A perfumed, fresh nose filled with violets, lavender, black currants. The palate is plush, dense and precise, finishing with a purity and deftness that is increasingly hard to find in Napa. Impressively ready to drink even at this young stage.” 94 Points: Highly recommended

“Lots of ripe black fruit with blackcurrant jam, nutmeg and cedar on the nose. It’s medium-bodied with layers of juicy blackberries and toasty-spice notes, framed by firm, sleek tannins. Dense palate.” 94 Points: Outstanding

“Coming all from Mt. Veeder, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate reveals a dense purple color as well as a spicy, meaty nose of darker plum and currant-like fruit intermixed with plenty of tobacco, bouquet garni, and earthy minerality. Medium to full-bodied, with plenty of fruit, solid mid-palate depth, and a good finish, enjoy this beautifully balanced mountain Cabernet over the coming 10-15 years.” 92 Points: Outstanding wines. These wines are outstanding for their type and are worth the extra effort to seek out.

“Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Brandlin Estate opens with savory scents of grilled meats, bouquet garni and tapenade over a core of ripe black and red currants, boysenberries and black raspberries plus a touch of crushed rocks. The medium to full-bodied palate is charged with compelling tension, delivering freshness to the intense black and red fruits, framed by fine-grained tannins and finishing with a lingering herbal lift.” 90+ Points: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines

“This has the expressive fruit and racy spine of the vintage, mixing plum and blackberry paste flavors with a graphite edge, while extra sassafras and bramble notes add energy to the finish. Solid. Best from 2022 through 2032. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.” 93 Points: Outstanding; a wine of superior character and style

“A brambly array of fresh red berries and some leafy notes, too. This has a fresh and upbeat feel to the nose. The palate has a silky, fine weave of tannin, carrying ripe-berry pastry and red plums. Drink or hold.” 90 Points: Outstanding

“The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Brandlin Estate comes from a vineyard on Mount Veeder and was aged 22 months in 50% new French oak. It has a beautiful bouquet of plums, blueberries, exotics spice and dried flowers. This gives way to a medium to full-bodied, balanced red that has the tannic grip of the appellation, yet also plenty of fruit and texture. It’s a charming, well-made red to drink over the coming 10-15 years.” 90 Points: Outstanding wines. These wines are outstanding for their type and are worth the extra effort to seeking out.

“I have always been a fan of Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignons. The wines are often rich and deep, with excellent structure and firmness. The 2014 Brandlin is a clear example of the best wines from this AVA. Tasting notes: This wine comes up with bold berries, some cassis, and jamminess in its aromas and flavors. On the palate it delivers excellent persistence making it a delicious pairing wine with a grilled ribeye. (Best Served: 2018-2024.)” 92 Points

“Lively, green notes on the nose, complemented by a welcome rigidity and lack of flab on the palate. It is robust with firm tannins coasted in a core of ripe fruit. Subtle for a mountain wine, with some elegance and persistence.” 90 Points: Highly Recommended

“A complex nose of dark fruit, herbs, spice box and wood. It is full-bodied, yet fresh and balanced. Structured. Firm tannins lead to a savory finish with length.” 94 Points: Outstanding

“The 2018 Brandlin Proprietary Red Henry’s Keep is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Malbec, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. Vibrant and overt, the 2018 is a gorgeous wine with much to offer. Bright red/purplish fruit, crushed rocks, spice and floral overtones all take shape over time. More than anything else, I am impressed with the wine’s drive and balance.” 93 Points: Outstanding. A wine of remarkable personality and breed that is well worth seeking out

“A deeper, darker, more soil-forward nose than the Estate Cabernet, with aromas of wet clay, graphite and oiled leather. A seamless, rich, black-fruited palate leads to a finish that is a bit short and inward at the moment.” 92 Points: Highly recommended

“The Brandlin family were homesteaders on Mount Veeder in the 1870s, eventually planting vines on a high ridge. In 1998, Chester Brandlin worked out an arrangement giving Cuvaison the right to purchase the vineyard and Cuvaison’s winemaker, Steve Rogstad, makes the wines today, including this blend based on cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. The wine’s mountain-grown intensity is built on bright strawberry flavors and blueberry-skin tannins. It has a clean richness that should develop well over the coming years.” 92 Points: Delicious, compelling; a compelling wine of its region; a delicious, finessed expression of place – “Year’s Best US Cabernet & Blends”

“Aromas of forest wood, in cedary mode, with violets, earthy and spicy notes and blueberries. The palate has a very sleek feel with such succulent and fresh, redcurrant and plum flavors. Builds nicely at the finish and holds well. A blend of 66% cabernet sauvignon, 25% petit verdot, 7% malbec and 2% cabernet franc. Drink or hold.” 93 Points: Outstanding

“The 2015 Brandlin Henry’s Keep also looks terrific. Possessing an inky purple color as well as load of blue fruits, it has more minerality, full-bodied richness, present, yet ripe tannin, excellent purity of fruit and a great finish. It’s another seriously good-looking barrel sample.” 92-94 Points: Outstanding wines. These wines are outstanding for their type and are worth the extra effort to seeking out.

“The deep garnet-purple 2015 Red Blend Brandlin Henry’s Keep (a barrel sample) has lots of cedary oak on the nose with cassis, blackberries and blueberries aromas plus dusty earth and baking spices suggestions. Medium-bodied and elegant in the mouth, it offers nice expression with firm, ripe tannins and a lovely lift to the finish.” (91 – 93)+ Points: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines

“The deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Red Blend Brandlin ThS (a barrel sample) has a fragrant nose of red and black currants, black cherries and mulberries with notions of violets, dusty earth, spice box and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, it’s taut, tight-knit and firm in the mouth, with a grainy backbone and lovely freshness plus loads of energy and great depth coming through on the finish.” (93 – 95)+ Points: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines

“Tasted as a barrel sample, the 2015 Brandlin ThS is the best I tasted in this lineup. Blueberries, crushed rocks, charcoal, and notable minerality all emerge from this rock solid 2015 and it’s concentrated, deep and textured, with building tannin. It should last for 15+ years.” 92-94 Points: Outstanding wines. These wines are outstanding for their type and are worth the extra effort to seeking out.

“From vines planted by the Brandlin family in 1926, this shows a smoke-kissed nose of fresh-tilled earth and sun-warmed slate alongside black cherry compote and red licorice, and then a silk-textured palate pulsing with energy and full of kirsch, red and black currants, Rainier cherries, pomegranate juice, and spice. The finish rings through with subtly floral peppercorns, and dusty tannins structure this beautiful, balanced wine.”