Sterling, Napa Valley (California) Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Calling this Cabernet “Platinum” turns out to have been a self-fulfilling prophesy, as this was awarded a Platinum medal at the 2014 San Diego International Wine Competition.  And rightly so:  Tasting it after the panel did, I accorded it an even higher score (94 to their 93) on the strength of its outstanding complexity and proportionality.  The aromatics are especially impressive, showing lots of dark fruit notes recalling blackberries and black currents, with very interesting accents of smoke, incense, spices and saddle leather.  Sufficiently developed to show emerging bottle bouquet but still showing plenty of primary fruit, this is at a great stage in its evolution already, but is nevertheless likely to become even better for another few years.