2019 Tor Wines Tierra Roja Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville, USA

Winemakers Notes 
The 2019 Tierra Roja immediately shows the more classic red fruit profile that you expect from there intense/iron rich soils. This shows a very floral side to the aromatics with roses/rosemary/lavendar and sage. The palate it firm but with sweet tannins and a bit of wet earth, cloves and cinnamon stick. Tierra Roja tends to be fairly forward in its youth but always surprises with just how long and well it can go in the cellar and I think this year is no exception. The 2019 Tierra Roja is the first time ever that the finished wine is a complete blend of the upper terraces and the lower 'flats' section. After numerous blending sessions the best wine was a complete blend of both blocks. This was aged in its normal Taransaud dominant selection with about 80% of the barrels being new and the rest 1 use barrels from the 2017 vintage. Once again this was bottled unfined and unfiltered so as to express the vineyard as clearly as possible.

Press

Rated 95 Points James Suckling
A red with richness and density, offering plum and berry with tile and mahogany undertones. It’s full-bodied with layers of ripe tannins and a flavorful finish. More opulent and plusher style to it, as always. Try after 2024.

Rated 95 Points Jeb Dunnuck
Another Oakville Cabernet, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Tierra Roja Vineyard offers a spicy, complex nose of baked black cherries, plums, currants, bay leaf, sandalwood, and chocolate. This spicy, complex, savory Cabernet is full-bodied and has a wonderfully textured, seamless mouthfeel, present tannins, and a good finish. It's already a joy to drink yet is going to evolve for 20 years or more given its overall balance.

Rated 95 Points Connoisseurs' Guide
A lovely example of the fruity depth and beauty to be found in the very best Oakville Cabernets, the 2018 Tierra Roja is a deep and marvelously rich wine that, even though very expressive right now, has the structure and hard-to-miss energy of one that will age and age. It never trades on extraneous ripeness and is both moderately tannic and yet slightly supple at one and the same time, and, as admittedly as attractive as it may be at the moment, it, like any upper-echelon Cabernet Sauvignon, wants for bottle age to come fully into its own. We are wholly confident of its ability to show ever more refinement and interest a decade from now. It is that good.

Rated 93 Points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The four-acre hillside Tierra Roja vineyard is located on the opposite side of the Silverado Trail from the Oakville Cross Road. The vineyard is dotted with big rocks, and the soil is roja (very red). The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Tierra Roja Vineyard is deep garnet-purple in color, bursting from the glass with notes of red currant jelly, kirsch, blackberry pie and wild blueberries with suggestions of wild sage, potpourri, tobacco leaf and dusty soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is softly textured and refreshing, delivering bags of red and black berry flavors and finishing with a lively herbal lift.