Napa Cabernet 2020 vintage rating: 3.5 stars
The wines often show the warmth of the vintage, with rich, riper red fruits, dusty mineral notes, and burly, almost rustic tannins due to heat spikes. Many are medium- to full-bodied, compact and rather tight at the pull of the cork. They gain in volume and soften with decanting.
Napa’s 2020 vintage is very much about farming choices and location. The growing season began with a dry winter; early rains reduced crop yields. Two fires impacted the region in the middle of the growing season.
Still, the vast majority of producers who bottled any Cabernet Sauvignon harvested their grapes before the second fire, which erupted on 27 September.
Despite all the challenges, wine lovers will find plenty to admire among the wines I have recommended here. Now three years on, having had good time to settle in the bottle, these are wines to drink now and often.
