94pts Jeb Dunnuck

Coming from just 12 barrels, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville is a rockingly good wine offering the notes of cassis, currants, black olive, graphite, and chocolate that give it a quintessential Oakville style. It's full-bodied, round, and mouthfilling, with ripe, present tannins, terrific balance, and a great finish. Aged 21 months in 70% new French oak, it should drink well over the coming 10-15 years. Drink 2025-2040.

Tasting Notes

This Cabernet Sauvignon offers a harmonis aromatic balance of rich black cherries and blackberries, with subtle notes of fresh roses, cassis, vanilla, and black pepper. Its first taste is a delightful match to the nose notes, and it offers a full-bodied mouthfeel with integrated tannins and vibrant acidity.

About the Wine

2023 was an exceptional year for Cabernet Sauvignon in the Napa Valley. In this vintage we were offered an opportunity to work with some amazing dry farmed Old BV Clone 7 Cabernet Sauvignon. This vineyard is located on the Oakville Crossroad across the street from Opus One in the heart of the Oakville AVA.

Winery Notes

Brother and sister team, Trent and Kimberly Jackson collaborated with their vintner “green thumb” father to found their first label in 1996.  Over time the two identified their unique niche among next generation wine enthusiasts. Outliers from the dominating short list of old school napa wineries, the two saw an opportunity to buck the “en vogue” winemaking style of their day to focus on the unique terroir of their family vineyard.   After all, “change comes first at a small scale driven by the smaller more nimble producers.”

Soon after, cult Winemaker Kirk Venge was recruited to create balanced wines reflecting varietal character and a sense of place.   Passionate about our vineyard site, integral to our clone and root stalk selections, and now 20 years in, Kirk has reinforced their instinct that focus should always be on “sense of place” to understand the nuances that allow us to make great wine.

To differentiate from their small lot single vineyard Jax line, they launched “Y3” to scale and offer more “true to varietal” wines from various AVAs (spanning Napa and Sonoma).   The “Y3” symbol was the cattle symbol used on their grandparents’ cattle ranch, Yarrayne.  The “3” represents three generations of land tilling entrepreneurs.

In 2013, the siblings recruited a third partner, Dan Parrott, a no nonsense individual with a laser focus on balanced wines (historically working in Italian, French and Spanish import houses) and a true burgundian aficionado.  Dan keeps the sibling rivalry in check and runs Jax like a well oiled machine.