Bella Oaks

In a quiet corner of the famed Rutherford Bench is a vineyard with a legacy for producing some of Napa Valley’s earliest and most noteworthy single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons (Heitz Vineyard). Quietly, over the last decade, visionary proprietor and steward Suzanne Deal Booth breathed new life into Bella Oaks, beginning with a replanting and revitalization of the vineyard in 2010 by vineyard manager David Abreu. Now, with a formidable team of specialists, including winemaker Nigel Kinsman and master blender Michel Rolland, Suzanne’s mission to preserve and elevate this historic site sees Bella Oaks poised to inscribe its name once more in Napa Valley’s rich history.

2021 Bella Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon Le Genie....$159.99
The Le Genie bottling is primarily from younger vines off the Bella Oaks estate in Rutherford, along with some purchased fruit, including Cabernet Franc from Cappella and Petit Verdot from Ecotone. Bella Oaks is owned by Suzanne Deal Booth, with Nigel Kinsman as winemaker and Michel Rolland as consulting winemaker, with whom Kinsman has worked since 2003. It is super aromatic with pure blue fruit tones, fragrant capsicum, spearmint, and cedarwood. Plush and full-bodied, with velvety smooth, fine tannins and a profoundly rich core of dark-berry fruit nuanced by savoury herbs and Indian spices and a saline-mineral finish.
Rate 96/100 Decanter Magazine
The second wine from this great estate, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Le Genie is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a beautiful wine in its own right, with a ripe, full-bodied, sexy, yet also pure and elegant style. Cassis, currants, violets, dark chocolate, and spring flower notes all define the aromatics, and it's a riper, softer, sexier wine compared to the Grand Vin that's already impossible to resist. Drink bottles over the coming decade.
Rated 94/100 Jeb Dunnuck

2017 Bella Oaks Proprietary Red....$349.99
The 2017 Proprietary Red Wine is a wine I tasted from barrel that I then missed from bottle, as the estate chose to release the 2018 rst, and this wine fell through the cracks. Several recent bottles of the 2017 have all been sublime. Readers will nd a wine that shows the mid-weight, approachable style of the year o to great eect. Silky tannins wrap around dark-toned fruit, mocha, spice, licorice and chocolate. The 2017 is an elegant, beautifully balanced Cabernet Sauvignon to drink now and over the next decade or so. If I have any quibble with the 2017, it is that the oak is a bit evident. I suspect much of that has to do with the mid-weight structure of the wine itself.
Rated 95/100 Vinous Media