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| 2020 Matt Parish, Cabernet Sauvignon - Reserve |
What's up everyone, today I want to open up this wine review by talking about an incredible winemaker named Matt Parish. Just how do I know Matt is an incredible winemaker? Well guys, that's easy, I have tasted many of his wines and thought they were all not simply good, but amazing, that's how. Matt not only is an incredible winemaker, he has an amazing history in the wine industry as well. Taking a look at Matt's career he has been vice president and chief winemaker for the Americas at Treasury Wine Estates (
https://www.tweglobal.com/) whose portfolio includes such prestigious wineries as Beringer, Stags’ Leap, Chateau St. Jean, and Etude just to name a few. Matt has also worked for Constellation Wines US (
https://www.cbrands.com/) and was also chief winemaker for Naked Wines (
https://us.nakedwines.com/) which he left in 2016 however he still works together with Naked Wines in pushing independent winemakers and wineries around the world. Since 2017 Matt has been the winemaker for Lula Cellars (
https://www.lulacellars.com/) and also works with Parras Wines (
https://parras.wine/en/) which is located in Portugal. As if all of this didn't keep Matt busy enough, he also has a consulting business named Vinture LLC (
https://venture-consult.com/consulting).
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Napa Valley Winery Map
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Now as if this still wasn't enough, in February of 2020 it was also announced that he joined Azur Associates (
https://www.azur-associates.com/) as the Managing Director as well as the winemaker and, is in charge of production as well. As I am sure Matt himself will tell you, most importantly and above all, Matt is a Husband as well as the father of two children and in an article written by Elizabeth Smith (
https://easmith.net/) writing for the Napa Valley register, Matt puts it all together in one sentence which is "Family, the kids’ schoolwork, clients, Zoom tastings, bottling, vineyard checks, harvest preparation, and everything and anything else, depending on the day.” While Matt's wines are I believe the highest priced wines on Naked Wines I can promise you, they are well worth it. As a last note here, you should know that I am not someone who normally jumps on a bandwagon and the ones I do jump on, I have done a lot of research on so in Matt's case, that jumping was justified. Now let's get into todays wine.
Today I am going to be reviewing the 2020 Matt Parish, Cabernet Sauvignon - Reserve. I paid $40.99 for this wine and while that certainly does exceed the normal price of wines I review, it is after all from Matt so I just had to make an exception to that norm. The bottle is sealed with a real cork as expected and the wine comes in at 15% alcohol. The grapes for this wine come from the Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena AVA's as well as Napa's newest AVA which is the Coombsville AVA. The wine sat in 50% new French Oak for 18 months and was fermented in stainless steel with the skins for post fermentation.
Now it is time to check out the label on the wine bottle. Let me begin by saying that if the wine inside the bottle is anything as beautiful as the label outside the bottle is, this is going to be a stunner of a wine. The Charcoal Blue color of this label is without a doubt, just crazy amazing.
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Pure Delight
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The simplicity of the wording along with the placement of those words and the fonts chosen are really nothing short of striking. Whomever is in charge of creating this label is truly talented. Guys, the gold color of the words layed on top of that Charcoal Blue really stands out so nicely. This label strikes me as having to be created for the best steakhouse in existence. This is a bottle of wine that you would expect to see at a dinner for heads of state or at a prestigious dinner of executives for some world wide conglomerate.
As for the nose of the wine now, I am getting a wonderful cedar note here which is presented in such a way that it alone has me craving to taste the wine. If that wasn't enough though, I am also picking up some fresh dark blackberry and some nice, expensive smelling cocoa as well. Simply sitting here and just smelling this Cab has me really jonesing for that first sip.
Now, the moment I have been waiting for, let's talk palate. Okay, from the very onset of the tasting portion of this review I must tell you that this wine is very serious indeed and thankfully, those notes from the nose translate on over to here as well. That cedar note is just lovely and offered up by the wine in a delicate yet certainly present and enjoyable manner. While this note appears as more of a background type note here, don't let that have you thinking that it is an after thought type note because it is one of many notes which is certainly very instrumental in the steering of this wine. That dark blackberry I got on the nose is also translating on over to the palate and while it is a bit more striking (okay, it is really nice and deep) then the cedar, it too is not overdone but it is representing quality dark fruit very nicely. Adding to this is a note of blackcurrant and it also is pretty nice here guys so you had better love this note in your Cabs because the wine really embraces it and hopefully your palate will as well.
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Cabernet Sauvignon Grapes Hanging On The Vine
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As I said earlier, this is a serious Cabernet Sauvignon and not one you will find at your local grocery store, even on the top shelf. Getting back to the notes transferring over from the nose of the wine for a minute, there is a cocoa note here as well and it comes into play about three seconds after the wine hits your tongue, guys......it is really super good. On one hand the wine is amazing at keeping this cocoa note on the moderate side yet at the same time, offering that note up very flavor fully to be enjoyed. Another very nicely done note here is that of a slightly sweet and smoky spice note that the wine is in love with and honestly, so am I. This slightly sweet and smoky spice seems to carry everything else on it's back and therefore, through the entire wines palate presentation as well, it is very simply....yummy. As for tannin's, there are some but I totally and completely enjoyed them. I personally have no complaints here as these tannin's to me are almost dusty in presentation yet can be considered to be what a lot of people would say are not quite "there" yet and that this is one reason that the wine should age a bit still. If you are like me though and enjoy tannin's in your wine, they are awesome right now. Guys, the wine has a lot of black fruit but it also is so very super well balanced which is a testament to the talent of the winemaker and the ingredients he was able to gather. Black cherry is here as well but it is not a sweet, artificially doctored up black cherry, here in this wine the fruit is obviously fresh and beautifully extracted. I have to return to that blackberry note here for a minute because the more I taste the wine, the more important it becomes as it seems to pair up with that smoky spice. Together both notes are just lush without going crazy or trying to overtake everything else the wine is offering up. Yet another note here in the wine is of a really nice bit of sweet oak and this is just another area where the wine insists on showing itself off. This sweet oak is perfectly balanced and is well within line with the rest of the wine.
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Lula Vineyards Tasting Room
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When I say the word "sweet" here guys please understand something. I am not talking about some uncontrolled, let's cover wine-making flaws sweet. I am instead speaking of just a hair bit of sweetness that is dominated by oak which itself is not overpowering. Speaking of the oak, you can taste the presence of that 50% new French Oak and in the end, it is a very important and very enjoyable aspect of the wine as it is tasty and yet another one which works hand in hand with every component of the wine. Particular mention should be made in reference to a combo note of blackberry and oak. This combo note is slightly on the forward side but neither aspect of it is crazy in what they are doing and I think the word "delicious" is well suited here. Adding to all of this is an earthy note as well that is yet another area where the wine shows itself off. I do not believe that I have ever tasted too many Cabs with this type of an earthy note but when I have, it really pushed that particular wine upwards in my overall review just as it does here. In reference to this particular wine the note is right where it needs to be. So.......there you have it, my review of the much anticipated, 2020 Matt Parish, Cabernet Sauvignon - Reserve. As you can tell, I am in love with the wine but what is my rating on the wine, should you buy it? To find out the answers to these questions you will have to check out the next paragraph, I will see you there.
Welcome folks to the conclusion paragraph. This is where I warp the review up and give you The Desert Wine Guy rating on the wine you just read about.
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Matt In The Vineyard
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As far as that tightly bound comment goes, I guess I should address that first. Having tasted this wine now I can definitely tell you that the wine needs some time to cellar. This is confirmed by the fact that Matt himself recommends that you don't even try this wine until at least 2023 (it's 2022 right now). There are aspects of the wine which lead me to say that the wine is tightly bound. The wine needs some time to loosen up a bit as it is just tightly packed with energy and it really shows here on the palate. I think another year to uncoil itself will only benefit it as there is so much going on in this wine that it does need to calm down a bit in order for you to experience everything it has to offer which I can tell you, is a tremendous amount. When you do open the wine he suggests that you decant it for at least 2 hours. Matt also says that the drinking window for this wine is until 2028 but I myself think he might indeed wish to add 10 years years on top of that. Guys,as you sip on this wine, you need to just sit back and allow your mouth to explore it as you will find that the wine is really a complex one. The wine has a lot that it wants to say but at this time just can't find the words to say it and that's also where the cellaring will allow it to find those words. This wine is just now beginning to slowly move towards what it is going to eventually become but if what I just tasted is any indication of what it is going to become, it will absolutely be a 98 point in the future.
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| Lula Cellars |
As it is, on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale, I am giving this wine 97 amazing points.
Folks, before I close this review out I feel the need to again remind you that this is a very serious Cabernet Sauvignon, a classic Bordeaux style Cab. If that is not what you are after, I certainly get it but save yourself some money, don't buy the wine. If however, you are looking for a deep, classic Cabernet Sauvignon, the kind you never thought you could afford, this is that wine. I highly recommend that if you can, you buy three bottles of the wine as you will be drinking one as soon as you get it. The other two are going to scream for the cellar and you are going to want to oblige.
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