2019 Vöcal Vineyards, Carmel Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Ted Glennon, a  sixth-generation Californian, has seen every facet of the wine business—as a sommelier, a wholesaler, an educator, and now, a winemaker. Based in Salinas, Glennon has developed close relationships with top growers throughout California, although his emphasis is on cool-climate vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey. This Carmel Valley bottling is not a stereotypical California Cabernet—no heavy oak, extraction, or elevated alcohol here, just some beautifully pure fruit, a nice dash of florals and earth, and a quite-elegant presence on the palate. More like this, please!  Today’s elegant 2019 comes from a hilltop plot within the Joullian Vineyard, a coastal site in the Carmel Valley first planted in 1983. The vines here are “own rooted” (i.e. not grafted) and were planted from cuttings (the “Georges de la Tour” clone) from Beaulieu Vineyard in the Napa Valley. Soils in this site, which is very close to the Pacific Coast, are composed of a very thin loamy tops