Philip Togni is one of California’s most foresighted winemakers, holding back a small amount of wine and releasing it at age ten. This year, small quantities of the 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate were released, and, as I almost invariably do, I rated it higher than I did initially. It is a classic Cabernet Sauvignon that apparently turns to Bordeaux for elegance, structure, and complexity, yet retains Napa’s extraordinarily sweet, rich, concentrated fruit. This profound 1995 still tastes like an adolescent. For my palate, it will benefit from another 4-5 years of bottle age, and should last easily for another 20-25 years. It is unquestionably one of California’s as well as the world’s greatest Cabernet Sauvignons.As a postscript, I want to acknowledge a wine Philip Togni produced early in his career at Chappellet, the 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon. Recently, one of my dearest friends, Dr. Jay Miller, was feting his 60th birthday, and brought a bottle of this wine along with a collection of profound museum pieces. Togni’s ‘69 may be one of the greatest California Cabernet Sauvignons I have ever tasted. Every bottle I have had seems to get better and better. This 36-year-old wine tastes like a 14- or 15-year-old adolescent except for the extraordinary soaring aromatics of creme de cassis, spice box, incense, and cedar. In the mouth, it’s gorgeously fresh, full-bodied, super-concentrated, and revealing no signs of age. It is both a monument to California Cabernet Sauvignon and an homage to a feisty British-born winemaker who continues to turn out some of the world’s most interesting wines.Tel. (707) 963-3731; Fax (707) 963-9186