2019 La Sophia Cabernet Sauvignon

2019 La Sophia Cabernet Sauvignon

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LA SOPHIA IN 7 WORDS

Cassis, Forest, Leathery, Vanilla, Singular, Voluminous, Power

WINEMAKER’S NOTES

We celebrate the fact that we make wine in a region where vintage variations play an important role. Atypical growing seasons are a nightmare for commercial wineries interested in making consistent but boring wines. For us, however, it defines our interest in wine. We look forward to seeing what Mother Nature gives us to work with each year. It is the effects of each vintage on the finished wine that urges us to start verticals of our favourite wines then follow their evolution and discuss their merits at tastings with friends.

La Sophia is our small lot 100% Cabernet Sauvignon bottling. Akin to the great examples of Cabernet Sauvignon from the coastal areas of Tuscany: Maremma and Bolgheri. Similarly, La Sophia draws a comparison to the great cabernets from Washington State rather than the plusher and fatter examples from Napa Valley.

2019 La Sophia presents a great nose of both black currant and cassis mingling with grilled bell peppers, cigar box, dusty pottery studio, dry sauna, and cured tobacco leaves. Aromatic herbs like rosemary and thyme weave in and out. On the palate, this is a medium+ weight Cab, firm with slightly dusty tannins coupled with balanced natural acidity. Decant for an extended time or keep your hands off and let this jewel of a Cabernet slumber in the cellar for at least a few years. A monumental Cab that will wow the fans of both new world and old world Cabernet. Whether Napa is the holy grail for you or Washington State, Bordeaux to Coastal Tuscany, 2019 La Sophia is almost an amalgamation of all the above.

Slideshow Items

  • 92 points

    This pours inky black! Although approaching five years of age it remains very much a locked, firm cabernet sauvignon. Even though not expansive I admire the textbook cab blackcurrant fruit, violet, fresh sage/tobacco, graphite and almost chocolaty oak. It is full bodied, fairly dense, warm (14.5%) and still crusty, with a slightly green finish. Excellent length. Keep in the cellar another three years.

    David Lawrason Wine ALign  |  Tasted: May 2024
  • 94 Points

    Maturing, roasted, very ripe and concentrated, this smells like ambitious wine off the top. It pours inky black to make its statement, and washes over the palate with authority and massive fruit extract. Structure is terrific – tannins are thick and abundant, the muscle fibers coated with interstitial fruit extract-fat. Length and certainly depth and concentration are superb. Roasted coffee and dried black plum, roasted herbs and very savoury flavours lead among many. I can’t call this refined or elegant, but fans of, say, ‘mountain’ cabernet from the Napa Valley will find kinship in the density and extraction and structure. A classic steak house wine. Drink now (with salty-fatty steak), or hold into the early ’30s – I wouldn’t wait eternally, especially if you want to capture some fruit. Value Rating: 4/5.

    John Szabo (MS) Wine Align  |  Tasted: May 2024
  • 95 points

    When you look at the last 10 years of Okanagan wine-growing there is no doubt that 2019 resides near the peak and is a vintage that should be filling collector’s cellars. La Sophia is one of those wines, a cabernet sauvignon with a track record that speaks to consistency and excellence. Imminently recognizable as both La Stella and their extension of Black Sage Bench terroir in Oliver. If any local cabernet will resonate with the Oliver equivalent of the Tuscan coast’s “Macchia Mediterranea” than La Sophia would be it. Not exactly balsamico or garrigue but yes something Italianate, of rich dark fruit set against fine-grained tannin and that brushy, herbal, vinous and resinous scents of the terrain. Black Sage Bench issue, nothing standard about it and it needs a name. Like Okanagan Briar or Chaparral, but regardless you can’t miss the outback in this wine. Yes the 50 percent new wood needs to integrate further and it will, given the requiem necessary, in air and also time. Drink 2026-2035.

    Michael Godel Wine Align  |  Tasted: May 2024