100pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Lail's 2021 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon blends lots from several high-end vineyards, including Heimark (Calistoga), Vine Hill Ranch (Oakville) and Steltzner (Stags Leap), plus Lail's own Mole Hill on Howell Mountain. It's an exciting wine, starting from the pulse-quickening aromas of raspberries and black cherries tinged with dark chocolate. In the mouth, this full-bodied beauty is richly concentrated, with a sensuous texture somewhere between silky and velvety, while the softly dusty finish shows terrific length and a spine-tingling hint of licorice. To reduce this wine to deceptively simple yet hard-to-pin-down words, it's complex, harmonious and elegant, yet it's enough of its place that it could only come from Napa Valley.

98pts Wine Enthusiast - Cellar Selection

Matching power with complexity, Robin Lail's densely concentrated, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon once again goes deep in black currants, blackberries, cocoa and toasted oak flavors. Velvety, mouthcoating tannins give the structure for a long aging period. Best from 2027–2040.

98pts Jeb Dunnuck

One of the finest wines in the vintage, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Dutch Henry Canyon area in Calistoga, Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville, and Stelzner in Stags Leap (which was added in 2018). It spent 20 months in 75% new French oak. Still tight and inward, it has sensational purity in its currant, mulberry, truffly earth, graphite, and leather aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied, rich, incredibly concentrated 2021 that has the vintage’s fresher, focused style, ripe tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and evolve for a quarter of a century.

98pts Decanter

From partners Robin Daniel Lail, Erin Lail, and Shannon Lail, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from Calistoga, Howell Mountain, Oakville, and Stags Leap District vineyards and aged 20 months in 75% new French oak and crafted by Philippe Melka and Maayan Koschitzky. The appellations shine through in this full-bodied wine. Heimark vineyard grapes from Calistoga deliver plump, juicy, black cherry, blueberry, and blackberry fruits. Stelzner vineyard from Stags Leap District layers in ironstone minerality, which resonates on the nose and palate, laced with Oakville herbs and toasty spices from Vine Hill Ranch, supported by mighty Mole Hill vineyard Howell Mountain tannins that are ripe, assertive, and beautifully pixelated. Notes of rich cedarwood, bitter dark chocolate, and espresso bean round out a balanced expression of Napa Cabernet.

97pts Vinous

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvée is exceptional. Inky, vibrant and beautifully savory, the 2021 is one of the best editions I can remember tasting. The 2021 is a blend from Vine Hill Ranch, Heimark, Mole Hill and Steltzner, a combination that works so well. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, graphite and spice build into the super-expressive finish. The move toward greater freshness over these last few years has really paid off. I especially admire the precision here. This is an archetype for contemporary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

95pts Wine Spectator

Aromas of lush dark fruits of cassis and brambles followed by violets, sweet tobacco and cocoa powder with a subtle pencil shaving and gunpowder note. Full-bodied with solid yet ripe tannins and good acidity backbone. Very precisely framed and focused wine with astonishing structure and depth. It’s drinkable now but will also develop beautifully with age.

95pts James Suckling

Aromas of lush dark fruits of cassis and brambles followed by violets, sweet tobacco and cocoa powder with a subtle pencil shaving and gunpowder note. Full-bodied with solid yet ripe tannins and good acidity backbone. Very precisely framed and focused wine with astonishing structure and depth.

Winemaker Notes

The 2021 growing season was flawless, yielding a smallish crop of intensely flavored berries possessing great intensity and impeccable balance. Vibrant aromas of black cherry, raspberry, violets and dark chocolate burst forth. The signature flavors of blackberry preserves, boysenberry and spice are here in spades. It is elegant and silky, and at the same time powerful, complex and insistent. The tannins are focused, ripe and round, with supporting acidity that is bright and lively. There is a concentration, clarity and drive that add up to a gorgeous expressive of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at its very highest level.

About the Wine

“I was raised by my dad, John Daniel, Jr., in the grand family tradition of Inglenook. He was, like Gustave Niebaum before him, a leader, an innovator, and the producer of legendary wines. Our flagship wine at Lail Vineyards, the J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon, is named in his honor. My greatest challenge at Lail Vineyards is to create wines that meet and exceed the level of excellence set by my family in earlier generations.” - Robin Daniel Lail

Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon