“I loved Buccella’s 2006 and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignons and 2008 continues their success.”

“The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, which comes from multiple fruit sources in Rutherford, Oakville, Yountville, Coombsville, Oak Knoll and Carneros, was aged in 100% new French oak. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it exhibits and opaque purple color, great intensity and a sweet nose of blue and black fruits intermixed with toasty oak, lead pencil shavings and forest floor. Rich, layered and full-bodied with silky tannins, this broad, savory 2008 should drink well for 15 or more years.”

“Fascinating nose melds dark berries, licorice pastille, violet, coriander, cumin and mint Fat and sweet for the year, with palate-saturating flavors of crushed black fruits and minerals. The broad, dusty tannins arrive late and build, but there’s more than enough mid-palate sweetness to support them. This is riper and deeper in the bottle than a barrel sample I tried a year ago. Rebekah Wineburg makes this wine with Celia Welch serving in a consulting role.”

“The blockbuster 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon is more primary, but it does display enormous fruit concentration, massive body, and wonderful purity, balance, and elegance. It is an extraordinarily promising 2007 with awesome fruit, depth and richness as well as a long finish. This offering will be even better with 5-7 years of bottle age, and should keep for 20+ years. Buccella, under the guidance of well-known winemaking consultant Celia Masyczek has fashioned brilliant Cabernet Sauvignons in both 2006 and 2007.”

“Good full, saturated ruby. An essence of Napa Cabernet on the nose, with dominant notes of cassis, dark chocolate, minerals and violet. Juicy but youthfully brooding, with a slightly medicinal quality to the intense flavors of cassis, bitter chocolate, graphite and menthol. Not a particularly fleshy style but vibrant and penetrating. This wine’s firm acids and tongue-dusting tannins call for at least five or six years of patience.”

“The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, a candidate for Cabernet of the vintage, reveals a gorgeous perfume of chocolate, black raspberries, flowers, ink, and graphite, followed by a full-bodied, textured, superbly concentrated wine with terrific purity as well as density. Drink this outstanding 2006 over the next 15-20 years. Buccella, under the guidance of well-known winemaking consultant Celia Masyczek has fashioned brilliant Cabernet Sauvignons in both 2006 and 2007. They have enough structure as well as sensational concentration and depth to support the tannins.”

“The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon struts its stuff in an elegant but powerful style, with notes of black fruits, burning embers, roasted meats, and a hint of subtle bay leaf. The wine has terrific fruit concentration, full-bodied power, substantial but ripe tannins, and a long, long finish. This wine should drink nicely for at least two decades. I first tasted these wines when they were made by Mark Herold, but he has been replaced by the well-known winemaker Celia Masyczek.”

“Saturated deep ruby. Deep, enticing aromas of black fruits, bitter chocolate and black cardamom. Lush and creamy-sweet, but with ripe, integrated acidity giving shape to the highly concentrated flavors of blueberry, blackberry and dark chocolate. This outsized, dramatic cabernet is fat with fruit, but its seamless, velvety texture and sappy quality make it extremely easy to drink. Finishes lush and strong, with sweet tannins and palate-coating fruit.”

“Increasingly fashionable winemaking consultant Mark Herold oversees the production of approximately 500-700 cases of Buccella Cabernet. The dense purple-colored 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon’s hefty 15.1% alcohol is well-disguised by classic aromas of white chocolate, black currants, blackberries, licorice, and coffee beans. This dense, medium to full-bodied, opulent, fleshy, powerful effort boasts sweet tannin and low acidity.”

“This is one of the most exciting projects of winemaking consultant Mark Herold. Unfortunately, only 325 cases of the 2003 were produced…The 2003 Cabernet Savignon, which was superb from cask, is even more spectacular from bottle. Its dense, opaque black/purple color is accompanied by scents of graphite interwoven with creme de cassis, charcoal, espresso roast, and spice box. This layered, full-bodied, elegant effort possesses wonderful purity as well as definition. Bottled unfined and unfiltered after 20 months in 100% French oak, it should drink beautifully for 15 plus years.”

“Saturated ruby. Very primary aromas of blackberry, cassis, licorice and minerals. Sweet, fat and layered; conveys a very soft, rich palate impression reminiscent of high-grade merlot. Very round wine with exotic brown spice and chocolate flavors. Finishes broad and quite lush, with very fine tannins.”

“The 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon is a 403-case blend of 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Merlot that was bottled unfined and unfiltered after spending time in French oak. It is a sexy, Pomerol-styled red… A deep ruby/purple color is followed by gorgeous aromas of flowers, black fruits, and kirsch. A silky-textured, medium to full-bodied, hedonistically as well as intellectually satisfying wine, it can be enjoyed now and over the next 10-12 years. Kudos to proprietors Bill and Alicia Deem for such an impressive beginning.”

“Deep, saturated ruby. Very ripe, youthfully medicinal aromas of black fruits, bitter chocolate and licorice. Large-scaled, fat and full in the mouth, with terrific depth of black raspberry, licorice and chocolate flavor. This has a wonderfully seamless texture with enough supporting acidity to give it lift and shape. Finishes very long, with suave, building tannins and a flavor of Valrhona chocolate.”