The flagship wines include the 2014 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon, which comes from three sources – the family vineyard called Molehill at a 1700-feet elevation on Howell Mountain, the Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard and Heimark Vineyard in Calistoga. A gorgeous 2014, with notes of graphite, mulberry and blackcurrant, this full-bodied, opaque purple wine offers terrific fruit purity, sweet tannin, and a long finish of a good 45+ seconds. It was aged 19 months in 75% new French oak and is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. There are 1,064 cases, and it can be drunk now or cellared for another 25 years.

Bright medium ruby. Youthfully medicinal aromas and flavors of black fruits, licorice and bitter chocolate. Densely packed and fine-grained, conveying terrific purity of fruit framed by harmonious acidity. Quite full but less thick and extractive than the '13, and a bit less port-like than that big boy. Still, this brooding, backward, slightly unsettled wine is difficult to taste today. With its element of reserve and powerful finish, it calls for extended aging. It may well eventually merit an even higher rating. (14.9% alcohol; 75% new oak)

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon John Daniel Cuvée offers up a compelling mélange of smoke, minerals, graphite and crushed rocks that nicely balances the deep, inky fruit that is such a signature of this bottling. Robin Lail and here winemaker, Philippe Melka, push ripeness to the edge. The 2014 has a bit more freshness and energy than is the norm, both of which offer an attractive counterpoint to the wine's unctuousness.

The barrel sample of the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvée (100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the identical sources) exhibits beautiful, sweet tannin, loads of charcoal, a full-bodied flavor profile of blue and black fruits, softer tannins and a more open-knit, up-front appeal than the somewhat firm and more closed blockbuster 2013. In keeping with this vintage character, the wine is very showy, charming and should drink beautifully when released in a year or so, evolving gracefully for at least two decades.Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #221, Oct 2015)