98 Points
Legendary

Plinth Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2018

This brand new 2018 is 100% jammy, juicy, and gorgeous! The word “plinth” is defined as a “strong base of support” and certainly applies here since the winery’s precious Estate Cabernet grapes ‘support’ the velvety smooth, deeply satisfying dark fruit from a world-famous vineyard in Napa’s prized Oakville district. Deliciously ripe (but not overripe) with gorgeous blueberry and blackberry fruit, graphite/lead pencil shavings intermixed with deliciously toasted oak, spice box and flowers. It is full-bodied, with seamlessly integrated dusty tannins on the finish. Enjoy this blockbuster now after decanting and anytime through 2029.

Plinth Winery Winery

Plinth Wine began as a love letter from Flora and Jason Chang to their cherished Houyi Vineyard sitting atop Pritchard Hill. Like any good story, we must venture to the beginning.

After arriving in California in 2010, a majestic plot of land enchanted the Changs. It was there that they planted their entrepreneurial wine roots, founding Nine Suns Winery and Houyi Vineyard. The wine brand grew under their passionate direction, as did Houyi’s reputation among wine-lovers and winegrowers within—and far beyond—the rolling hills of Napa Valley.

In 2022, the Changs passed stewardship of the winery and vineyard to their longtime partners and friends, Realm Cellars. Their wine journey, though, was far from over. During those 12 years with Nine Suns, a budding interest in wine blossomed into a great reverence for wine's distinct ‘somewhere-ness’ and the occasions and people that give wine its meaningful relevance. This perspective on the meaning of a wine’s plinth inspired a brand devoted to both the land it grows from and the experiences over which it is shared.

Under the winemaking direction of Philippe Melka and continued relationship with Realm Cellars, Plinth produces its own expression of Pritchard Hill with a very limited batch of Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard wines and choreographs Bordeaux blends and white varietals that celebrate wine as a foundational element of a life well-lived.

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