The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot and 10% Malbec. Deep garnet colored, it takes a little swirling and coaxing to reveal a core of blackcurrant pastilles, new leather, baker's chocolate and preserved Morello cherries with hints of cigar box, incense, cinnamon stick and truffles plus a waft of olive bread. The full-bodied palate is taut, muscular and profound, with layers of tight-knit earth, savory and black fruit preserves flavors and a firm, grainy texture, finishing long and mineral laced. This still needs a bit of time. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

If years away from showing anything remotely like elegance and most definitely not a wine that will win the hearts of those whose prize restraint above all else this deep fully realized youngster combines richness with lavish blackcurrant fruit that marks Napa Valley Cabernet at its best. Big and bold and very full on the palate with plenty of gritty young tannins it is a generous and wonderfully well-focused wine of enormous potential. It demands a half-decade of age at the least and it will be in fine form some twenty years from now.