Collector Wines

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The 2010 Proprietary Red is very deep garnet colored with a hint of purple. It offers up wonderfully bold, expressive notes of crème de cassis, black cherry compote and mincemeat pie with wafts of bay leaves, incense, Chinese five spice and hoisin plus wafts of chargrill and yeast extract. Full-bodied, rich and opulent, the palate is laden with layer upon layer of exotic spice-laced black fruits with a firm yet plush frame and very long finish with some licorice notes coming through.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPFull medium ruby. Very ripe but reticent scents of black fruits, minerals, mocha, espresso and spices. Voluptuous and plush on entry, saturating the palate with a slightly unrefined wave of black fruits, minerals and mocha. This outsized, full-bodied, plummy wine shows lovely mineral verve, surprisingly restrained sweetness and a complicating saline element. Finishes with sumptuous, building tannins and terrific plum and graphite persistence. This wine is ripe enough to give great pleasure now but I’d still hold my bottles for the tannins to be further absorbed. It certainly has the stuffing to go on for many more years.Vinous Media | 94 VMA big and rich red with black currant and blueberry and chocolate. Full and vast. A more typical Napa cab of the period. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 94 JS

Mind-blowing aromas of dark fruits, forest flower, pine needles and Asian mushroom. Black olives too. Full body and very fine tannins, elegant and refined. It goes on for minutes. Breathtaking. Burgundian in uniqueness and texture. Perfect now. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 99 JSAs is the case with most top 2012s, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Bryant Family is drinking brilliantly today. This incredible wine will stop anyone who loves Cabernet in their tracks. A dense purple color is followed by gorgeous red, blue, and black fruits, and it has wonderful complexity in its spring flowers, violets, forest floor, and spice-driven aromas and flavors. Showing subtle background oak, full-bodied richness, and sweet tannins, this flawlessly balanced, heavenly Napa Cabernet can be drunk any time over the coming 20-30 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDBryant’s flagship wine, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate vineyard on Pritchard Hill offers a rare but magnificent forest floor/floral aromatic profile with lavishly rich, ripe notes of crème de cassis, blueberry and black raspberry liqueur. Fleshy, opulent, full-bodied and multidimensional, it conceals some significant tannins behind its wealth of extract and fruit. From a first-growth quality, hillside vineyard (13 acres), this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is gorgeously pure as well as impeccably well-balanced with a seamless integration of tannin, acidity, alcohol and wood. In fact, the new oak component, which is significant, is largely obliterated by the wine’s stunning fruit. This majestic Cabernet Sauvignon should age effortlessly for 25-30 years.Robert Parker | 98 RPGood dark red with ruby tones. Very ripe aromas of currant, cherry, spices, sage and graphite. Wonderfully sweet, silky wine with a chocolatey aspect to its liqueur-like dark fruit flavors. This plush young Cabernet struck me as remarkably accessible following the '10 and '11 vintages but it will need time in bottle to lose some of its baby fat and gain in nuance. Finishes very long and a touch warm, with a sizable tannic structure to support at least mid-term aging.Vinous Media | 94 VMRustic and pleasantly chewy, this offers a rich, extracted core of dusty currant and blackberry flavors, ending with a stream of gravel, anise, tar and cedar notes. Drink now through 2028. 1,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

Wonderful aromas of blueberries, blackberries, mushrooms, pine and blackcurrants. Some violets, too. Full-bodied, yet so refined and polished with wonderful fruit and a linear tannin structure that integrates beautifully into the wine. It’s so balanced and beautiful. Hard not to drink now, but better after 2023.James Suckling | 98 JSThe 2017 Proprietary Red brings everything up a solid notch. Dense purple/plum-hued, with gorgeous, Graves-like nose of blackcurrants, chocolate, scorched earth, tobacco leaf, and gravelly earth, this beauty hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a polished, elegant texture, building yet sweet tannins, and a great finish. Very much in the style of the 2017 vintage with its nicely concentrated, elegant, reserved yet endearing style, it’s going to drink nicely for 20-25 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDThe deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Proprietary Red sails out of the glass with open-knit, compelling scents of Black Forest cake, blackberry pie and black currant jelly with suggestions of Indian spices, garrigue, rose oil and sandalwood. The full-bodied palate is richly fruited and jam-packed with opulent black fruit preserves and exotic spice layers, framed by a wicked backbone of freshness and plush, well-managed tannins, finishing with impressive length and perfume.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96+ RPThe 2017 Sloan is very nicely done. As is typical of the year, Sloan is on the lighter side in 2017, and yet all the elements are impeccably balanced. Black cherry, spice, licorice, lavender and chocolate open with a bit of time in the glass. Soft, succulent and quite gracious, the 2017 will drink well with minimal cellaring. I suspect it will always retain some of the nervous tension that is to be expected for a wine made from fruit picked a bit earlier than would have been optimal and with fewer barrel ferments, both choices imposed by the fires that year.Antonio Galloni | 94 AG

The 2019 Proprietary Red is deep garnet-purple in color. After a swirl or two, notes of blueberry preserves, chocolate-covered cherries, and warm cassis burst from the glass, leading to suggestions of Chinese five spice, dusty soil, sandalwood, and unsmoked cigars. The decadently concentrated, full-bodied palate delivers layer upon layer of black fruits and earthy nuances, framed by super-firm, ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long with loads of mineral sparks. This is a beauty!The Wine Independent | 99 TWIA blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, the 2019 Proprietary Red is a monster of a wine that’s unquestionably up with the crème de la crème of the vintage. Blackberries, truffle, earth, chocolate, iron, and even a hint of black olive defines the nose, and it’s full-bodied, deep, rich, and incredibly concentrated on the palate. It has lots of background oak but more than enough fruit, with a dense, layered mid-palate and velvety tannins. It’s one of those wines that brings an incredible amount of richness and depth yet somehow stays light on its feet and balanced. It needs to be forgotten for at least 2-4 years and should keep for over two decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe 2019 Sloan is a silky, sensual beauty. Creamy and ample in the glass, with superb balance, the 2019 offers up an exotic mélange of dark fruit, spice, mocha, espresso and licorice. Cabernet inflections are quite present today. Then again, this plateau above Rutherford is one of the most special places in all of Napa Valley. The 2019 shuts down pretty quickly in the glass, which is probably a good sign for its prospects in the cellar. It’s another gorgeous wine from the team at Sloan headed by Winemaker Martha McClellan.Vinous Media | 97 VMSloan’s 2019 Proprietary Red is deep and rich, with scents of dark loam, woodsy notes, hints of cedar and vanilla, plus dark, plummy fruit. It’s full-bodied, concentrated, dense and decadently velvety but with a slight dried-fruit character. It’s awesome in that idiom but lacks the vibrancy and freshness of the valley’s absolute best wines. To this taster, it comes across as impressively complex, concentrated and long but also a bit heavy and warm on the finish. What foods would one pair this with?Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RP