Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate offers up a crème de cassis, violets, dark chocolate and licorice core with nuances of lavender, unsmoked cigars, beef drippings and iron pan plus a touch of baking spices. Medium to full-bodied with a solid frame of plush tannins and great freshness, it has a wonderful core of muscular fruit and plenty of power juxtaposed by bags of finesse in the multilayered finish.

What a generous wine a decade on, and a simply magical Cabernet that strikes the perfect balance of power and finesse. Showing a deep-ruby-purple colour, it is impressively fragrant, sporting dried wild herbs, crushed cocoa nibs, and rich earth notes. Medium to full-bodied, with precision and focus in the expressive and delineated black cherry and boysenberry fruit, which cascades over the mid-palate in silken waves and unfurls with salty mineral notes, black olive and bacon fat. Ultra fine-grained tannins bring everything into focus and provide a solid base supported by a firm underbelly of acidity. Everything builds on the finish as black currants emerge with delicate cedarwood notes and black truffle, and this noble wine finds light and freshness. What a remarkable achievement. No wonder former Decanter reviewer William Kelley wrote that in 2016, when he last reviewed this wine, each time he tastes the 2013, “the more profound it seems.” I agree! Philip Togni and his daughter Lisa showed this wine to me in their cellar atop Spring Mountain in the spring of 2023, and it was just singing.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is just as magnificent as it has always been. A wine of stature and pedigree, the 2013 possesses stunning vertical intensity right out of the gate. Dark fruit, lavender, graphite, coffee and dried herbs are some of the notes that infuse this vivid Cabernet with striking complexity. But it is the sum of the parts that impresses most. Togni's 2013 cements its place as one of the epic wines of this legendary harvest.