At a dinner party earlier this week:
2019 Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon Franschhoek Franschhoek Valley
M's bottle. Hits that sweet spot that so many South African cabs do between new world fruit and traditional, Bordeaux-like aspirations. Vivid mostly-red fruit and tobacco notes, some spice, tree bark and graphite. Young, will aged well.
2016 Galerie Cabernet Sauvignon Pleinair Napa Valley
Delicious, at optimum drinking for a middle-aged Cal Cab. Good fruit, some secondary development, good finish.
2011 Col Solare Cabernet Franc Component Collection Red Mountain
The evidence of a wine I would have loved in spite of the generous oak, say, 2-3 years ago, is very much there but it's turning muddy now. Drinkable, brightened with a dose of the wine below, but did not deliver as hoped.
2022 Daydreamer Cabernet Franc Okanagan Valley
Light bodied with very little fruit and what there is is mean and green. Very disappointing from a BC winery that has never disappointed before.