96+
Erin Brooks - Robert Parker's the Wine Advocate
The 2021 Soul Of A Lion is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot. It was matured for 22 months in 100% new French oak, bottled in August of 2023 and tasted in late September. It takes some time to unfold scents of blackcurrants, blueberries, green pepper, dried lavender and sage and continues to open as it spends time in the glass. The palate is stunning! It has ripe, detailed fruit, pixelated tannins and seamless acidity and finishes with fantastic length and perfume. It's an especially elegant example of this cuvée and should be very long lived.
96+ Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com
Deep purple-hued, with classic, old school Cabernet notes of crème de cassis, graphite, smoke tobacco, and lead pencil, the 2021 Soul Of A Lion is brilliant stuff. Based on 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Petit Verdot, aged 22 months in 100% new French oak, it's medium to full-bodied and shows integrated oak, fabulous overall balance, and enough tannins and acidity to keep this drinking nicely over the coming two decades or more. Drink 2025-2045.
95 Eric Guido - Vinous Media
Dark as night, the 2021 Soul of a Lion takes its time opening in the glass as incense and sage give way to pencil lead, dried roses and black currants. This weighs on the palate with textures of pure velvet, seeming to envelop all that it touches in ripe red fruits as a pleasantly bitter balsamic tinge settles in, adding lovely contrast. It leaves a web of finely knit tannins that clench the senses with youthful poise, and yet somehow, the mouth continues to water. Hints of licorice and dark chocolate fade slowly.
