Jericho Canyon · Calistoga
Cabernet Sauvignon
The reference wine for the cellar’s evolving Cabernet program. Made in traditional wood barrels, the 2022 now provides a sensory benchmark for newer stainless-and-stave methods—even as its own firm tannins continue to integrate.
Wine highlights
01 / Progress
The wine,
step by step.
- MakingWood
A traditional barrel path
The Cabernet was produced with conventional wood-barrel élevage, establishing the style against which later vessel and oak experiments could be judged.
- Bottle ageYoung
Structure still ahead of integration
Judges found intense fruit and astringent tannin. One recommended another two to three years of cellaring before reassessment.
- Comparative tastingBenchmark
Tasted beside the 2024
The Modern Cooperage owner and winemaker assessed the 2022 as beautiful and recognized a family resemblance in the younger, tighter 2024.
02 / Tasting record · Competition and Modern Cooperage tastings
“A successful wine still teaching patience.”
The 2022 draws two honest readings: beautiful as a finished cellar benchmark, yet still tannic enough in competition bottles to benefit from more time.
Wine profile
- Fruit
- Intense
- Structure
- Firm · youthful · astringent
- Role
- Cellar benchmark
03 / Notes
What stays
in the record.
Why this vintage matters
A benchmark does more than show what worked. It gives the next vintage something honest to be compared against.
The 2022 was produced in traditional wood barrels. Its tasting alongside the 2024 helped distinguish a sound wine that was tight and developing from one that had lost its way.
The competition lesson
The judging sheets were mixed: sulfur or cooked-fruit impressions in one glass, intense fruit and astringency in another, and a direct recommendation to cellar the wine another two to three years. The through-line was youth and structure—not a reason to rush the wine.