Di Costanzo Charlie Smith Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (750ML)

The 2021 is the first release from Di Costanzo’s Charlie Smith Vineyard, an organically farmed site in Sonoma’s Moon Mountain District, planted at roughly 1,600 to 1,700 feet in rocky red volcanic soil. It is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged about 20 months in French oak, 40% of it new. A dry winter and an evenly cool summer stretched the season out, and the vineyard was picked a couple of weeks after its neighbors, giving small, concentrated fruit with real tension. Blackberry and plum lead, with licorice, gravel, menthol and bay leaf behind them. The structure is firm and closely grained, more grip than polish, and the finish carries on with sage, violet and a faint note of cocoa. Critics see it drinking from now into the late 2030s. Serve it with dry-aged rib eye, braised short ribs or a wild mushroom ragù.