2019 Jonata ‘El Desafio de Jonata’ Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Ynez Valley

VIN97+ The 2019 El Desafio de Jonata is one of the most complete wines I have tasted from Jonata. It is exceptionally harmonious for such a young wine, a big departure from the days when these wines were pretty monolithic at a similar stage. Inky dark red/purplish berry fruit, lavender and spice meld together in a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine that marries unctuous fruit and freshness, with polished tannins to wrap it all up. The ability to make wine in a new, state of the art facility seems to have really paid off.

DEC96 This dark and concentrated Cabernet shows impressive balance and poise, for all its deceptive tannins. Let this one open up in the glass. The nose plays to sweetness with lovely florals, cassis, blue fruit, and warm spice, then to savoriness with crushed herbs, forest botanicals, anise, and graphite. Layers evolve in the glass, from focused berry and dark cherry fruit to resiny herbs to a vein of earth and minerality against a backbone of supple structure.