Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
(Napa Valley, California) - [DM 95] [JD 94] [VM 93+] [WA 93] [WS 91]

Ratings & Reviews

95 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"It's a fleshier and flashier vintage for Dunn. The Eagle Summit Vineyard was purchased in 2018, but the fruit wasn’t included until the 2019 vintage. This was the largest production for the winery to date. The wine is beautiful and elegant, with notes of tobacco, white pepper, leather spices, and violet. There’s something distinctly Super Tuscan about the garrigue on the nose—reminiscent of a Tuscan Maremma, with its saline mineral character, salted dark chocolate, and grapefruit zest, all underpinned by incredible grip. The tannins are firm and mineral-laced, delivering remarkable precision. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced 78% from Howell Mountain and 22% from Coombsville, the wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks with 3-4 daily pump-overs, with partial fermentation in the barrel. It was then aged 32 months in 100% new French oak—a superb wine. The first vintage of Dunn Vineyards produced was the 1979 Howell Mountain Cabernet. Founder Randy Dunn's son, Mike, joined in 1999. As of 2023, Ted Kizor was named winemaker, working in tandem with the Dunns." - Jonathan Cristaldi (Aug 2024)

94 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"I loved the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, which I think is a step up over the 2018, although both 2019s show a much more elegant profile. Ripe currants, plums, roasted herbs, violets, and incense notes all shine in this medium to full-bodied, ripe, supple, layered beauty, which has fine tannins and a gorgeous finish. Enjoy bottles any time over the coming 15 years. (Drink between 2023-2038)" (Dec 2023)

93+ Points - Vinous Media:
"The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) is a powerful, tannic wine. In some vintages, the Napa Valley bottling is quite accessible, but not here. Swaths of tannin wrap around a core of dark fruit, gravel, spice, dried flowers, lavender and charred earth are pushed forward, with firm, chocolatey tannins that wrap it all together. This brooding, potent Cabernet needs at least a few years to settle. The 2019 is a bruiser, that is for sure. (Drink between 2024-2039)" - Antonio Galloni (Feb 2023)

93 Points - Wine Advocate: 
"Largely Howell Mountain-derived this vintage, Dunn's 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 22% of the volume coming from Coombsville. It has only 13.7% alcohol, yet it comes across as rather forward (for Dunn), with slightly liquorous notions of crème de cassis on the nose and a deceptively supple, silky finish. I wouldn't dare call a Dunn wine plush, but this comes close." - Joe Czerwinski (Oct 2024)

91 Points - Wine Spectator:
"Ripe and polished, with a friendly beam of warmed cassis and plum sauce flavors flanked by singed vanilla and apple wood. Reveals a tug of tobacco on the finish. Leans to toasty in the end, but is solidly built nevertheless. Drink now through 2034. 1,788 cases made." - JM (Nov 2023)