Orin Swift Mercury Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (750ML)

94-96 WA / 95 WI / 94 DE

Winemaker Dave Phinney expects to bottle a bit more than 6,000 cases of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Mercury Head, what he calls a "typical volume" for it. Sourced from a couple of well-known valley floor sites and the Stagecoach Vineyard (sometimes a bit of Monte Rosso Vineyard fruit makes it in the blend as well) and aged 13 months in 58% new oak, the nose offers up hints of menthol and cedar over a base of ripe cassis and cherries. It's full-bodied and velvety in the mouth, while a hint of dark chocolate creeps in on the lengthy finish.—Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate

The 2021 Mercury Head, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, is deep garnet-purple in color. A little subdued to begin, it soon unfurls to offer notes of creme de cassis, blueberry pie, and chocolate-covered cherries plus hints of Indian spices and mint tea. The full-bodied palate is rich and impactful, with a lively line and firm, grainy tannins supplying a rock-solid backbone, finishing with epic length and depth.-Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent

100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 13 months, 58% New French Oak. Expressive sweet and savoury coconut, dill, and Kirsch aromas with toasty oak, vanillin and mocha. A towering red that enmeshes itself on the palate with a blanket of fine-grained tannins that resolve with a burly texture before clearing the way for more of the same flavours on the palate, joined by spiced rum cake and rum-soaked raisins. The ripe, sweet fruit is granted an aromatic lift from a good amount of glycerol, which remains cool and balanced through the finish of earth, wet river stones and dried herbs.-Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter