The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is blended with 12% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The nose offers pure cassis finely layered with Chinese five spice, dried rose petals, graphite and pipe tobacco with a wild, game-like undercurrent. The palate is seamless, opening to an array of detailed fruits and spices, with a silt-like structure and expansive juicy uplift. It's a wonderfully balanced Cabernet that offers immediate appeal plus everything it needs for a long life in the cellar. 1,582 cases produced.

"In all my years, I've never seen a Cabernet vintage like 2015, in terms of yield," Jeffrey Patterson tells me. "We had very low yields. The vines didn't have clusters. It was the tail end of the drought, and the year before was so dry. Normally, small yields are caused by shatter at bloom. But in 2015, it was just an absence of clusters." The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot and was aged almost entirely in new barrels. It has a medium to deep ruby color and is more powerful and intense on the nose than the 2015 version, with aromas of blackcurrant bud, cassis, bay leaf, pencil shavings, dark chocolate and cedar with savory/meaty hints, plus tons of red fruit sparks and licorice hints. It's medium to full-bodied with intense, ripe fruits laced with savory and herbal accents. It has a frame of juicy acidity and grainy, ripe tannins, finishing very long and energetic. 728 cases produced.

"This has unusual, kind of soft tannins that are not typical of this wine," Jeffrey Patterson says. "It was an unusual vintage, and tannin structure is not at all hard." The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is made up of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Medium to deep ruby, it has a seductive, layered nose of licorice, loamy soil, warm redcurrant, black cherries, woodsmoke, pencil shavings, dried herbs, cedar and dried flowers with cocoa powder hints. It's medium-bodied and intense in the mouth with layers of ripe fruits, spices and savory notions, framed by soft, grainy tannins and juicy freshness and finishing very long and savory. 1,092 cases produced.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is developing beautifully, unfurling in the glass with aromas of cassis, tobacco, bay laurel, dark chocolate and rich soil. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, multidimensional and concentrated, with wonderful savory depth, fine grained but firm tannins and a long, taut and tangy finish. While this is firmly shut down today, its potential for the future is fully evident: expect it to begin to come into its own around its tenth birthday.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate (78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot) is beautiful. Giving up lots of black and blue fruits, tobacco leaf, sweet oak and graphite, this fabulous Santa Cruz Mountain Cabernet is medium to full-bodied, nicely concentrated and focused, with fine tannin and impeccable balance. It shows its class on the lengthy finish as well. It's a baby and needs to be forgotten for 4-5 years and will have more than two decades of overall longevity.