98pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

It has ringing scents of maraschino cherries and blueberries with accents of bitter chocolate, spearmint, vanilla, lilac and aniseed, offering up new nuances with each return to the glass. The full-bodied palate is lovely! It balances tremendously concentrated flavors with bright acidity and velvety tannins, and it has a very long finish with a fan of spicy accents.

96pts James Suckling

What a beautiful malbec this is with black ink, black berry and crushed stone character. It’s medium to full body with very fine tannins that are caressing and impressive. Top stuff. Drinkable but better in two or three years. Drink or hold.

Winemaker Notes

Cima Ladera joins the two other wines in a Devil Proof lineup that have garnered critical acclaim over the years. Devil Proof wines have consistently been the most awarded expression of the varietal coming out of the state—the 2018 Farrow Ranch Malbec received 100 points from both The Wine Advocate and Jeb Dunnuck, the latter of whom noted “I’d put this in the running for one of the greatest Malbec ever produced.” It is the highest rated Malbec in the history of California five years running for both Wine Advocate and Jeb Dunnuck

Blend: 65% Malbec, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon

Winery Notes

There’s an old saying that goes: “Live well, drink well, the devil can’t get ya. And if the devil can’t get you, you’re devil proof.” In the context of grape growing, a Devil Proof wine is an elixir of life, born of the fruit from vines that live and drink well and keep you safe from the devil—however you interpret that. During the harvests Jesse Katz spent in Argentina at Bodega Noemia and Viña Cobos, he sat at the table with the best makers of Malbec and Malbec blends in the world—tasting the finest examples the variety has been known to produce. Over the years, his passion for this varietal only intensified, and he dreamed of pushing the limits of what the grape could achieve in California soils under the California sun. Only when Jesse discovered a plot of unique Malbec vines rooted in the rocky volcanic soils of Farrow Ranch in the Alexander Valley did he become convinced that crafting a world-class Malbec in America was possible. The vineyard-designated wines produced for the Devil Proof labels offer interpretations as singular expressions of each site—of grapes grown within the ecosystems of those vineyards. That saying—the name of one of Andy Katz’s most acclaimed photos from their Cuba jaunt—now graces the front label of all Devil Proof wines.