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Though the blends are markedly different, the 2022 Bella’s Cabernet and the regular Ehret Cabernet share a similar flavor profile while differing in texture and energy. Both show juicy, brandied cherry, plum, and Asian-spiced red fruit, but Bella’s carries a bit more verve and nervy tension. It’s the livelier of the two—start with a glass of the straight Cabernet and enjoy Bella’s over dinner. Composed of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot, this wine was sourced from the Bavarian Lion Vineyard in Knights Valley, Sonoma County, and aged 18 months in 68% new French oak. 225 cases produced. The Ehret family has been farming their Knights Valley estate for three generations, reserving their best fruit since 2005 for their own small production (handled in the cellar by winemaker Erin Green).

The Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon comes from estate fruit across Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Mountain, and Knights Valley. At its suggested retail price of $30, this is a fantastic value. It delivers a generous punch of savory Sonoma character—sagebrush, wild thyme, and bay laurel—wrapped around beautifully pure cassis and blackberry fruit. Elegant cedarwood spice adds lift, while fine tannins and earthy tension shape the palate. Super-pristine fruit and balanced structure make this a killer wine for the price.

Roth’s winemaker is Henry de Lambert. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel and aged for 14 months in a mix of 50% French and 50% American oak, with 10% new. As a result, there’s a noticeable dose of barrel tannin that brings grip to the palate, along with tobacco and cedarwood notes. Cherry and plum fruit follow, joined by leather spice, cassis, and a touch of cocoa powder on the finish. This wine needs some time in bottle for the tannins to integrate more fully; once they do, the fruit should shine through more clearly.

This might be one of my all-time favorite wines from Uplift. It has everything you want in American-grown Grenache—from tart red cherry fruit and elegant cherry woodsmoke and clove nuances to the blood orange acidity that drives the medium-bodied palate. Velvety tannins frame a cedarwood-spiced, wild-herb-kissed red with a wonderfully satiny texture, kept lively by that acid tension and perfectly in sync with the fruit and bold spice character. It’s complex, balanced, and deeply impressive. If I were an Uplift fan, I’d buy it by the case and stockpile it as fast as I could. Fermented in stainless steel and aged for 22 months in 40% new French and Eastern European oak. Uplift farms 55 acres within the Hoover’s Valley, which runs through the Llano Uplift, one of the more impressive repositories of rare earth minerals found in the USA. Claire Richardson is the winemaker.

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Though the blends are markedly different, the 2022 Bella’s Cabernet and the regular Ehret Cabernet share a similar flavor profile while differing in texture and energy. Both show juicy, brandied cherry, plum, and Asian-spiced red fruit, but Bella’s carries a bit more verve and nervy tension. It’s the livelier of the two—start with a glass of the straight Cabernet and enjoy Bella’s over dinner. Composed of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot, this wine was sourced from the Bavarian Lion Vineyard in Knights Valley, Sonoma County, and aged 18 months in 68% new French oak. 225 cases produced. The Ehret family has been farming their Knights Valley estate for three generations, reserving their best fruit since 2005 for their own small production (handled in the cellar by winemaker Erin Green).

The Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon comes from estate fruit across Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Mountain, and Knights Valley. At its suggested retail price of $30, this is a fantastic value. It delivers a generous punch of savory Sonoma character—sagebrush, wild thyme, and bay laurel—wrapped around beautifully pure cassis and blackberry fruit. Elegant cedarwood spice adds lift, while fine tannins and earthy tension shape the palate. Super-pristine fruit and balanced structure make this a killer wine for the price.

Roth’s winemaker is Henry de Lambert. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel and aged for 14 months in a mix of 50% French and 50% American oak, with 10% new. As a result, there’s a noticeable dose of barrel tannin that brings grip to the palate, along with tobacco and cedarwood notes. Cherry and plum fruit follow, joined by leather spice, cassis, and a touch of cocoa powder on the finish. This wine needs some time in bottle for the tannins to integrate more fully; once they do, the fruit should shine through more clearly.

This might be one of my all-time favorite wines from Uplift. It has everything you want in American-grown Grenache—from tart red cherry fruit and elegant cherry woodsmoke and clove nuances to the blood orange acidity that drives the medium-bodied palate. Velvety tannins frame a cedarwood-spiced, wild-herb-kissed red with a wonderfully satiny texture, kept lively by that acid tension and perfectly in sync with the fruit and bold spice character. It’s complex, balanced, and deeply impressive. If I were an Uplift fan, I’d buy it by the case and stockpile it as fast as I could. Fermented in stainless steel and aged for 22 months in 40% new French and Eastern European oak. Uplift farms 55 acres within the Hoover’s Valley, which runs through the Llano Uplift, one of the more impressive repositories of rare earth minerals found in the USA. Claire Richardson is the winemaker.

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