Rich, round and balanced on the nose, the 2018 Tapteil Vineyard is a blend of 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Cabernet Franc and 28% Merlot. Medium to full-bodied, the palate offers a delightfully layered expression that gives way to fresh, dark fruit flavors that sway with lifting tannins. It ends with a succulent finish, leaving behind persistent flavors of juicy plum, dusty blackberry and soft vanilla-inflicted essence. Only 4,000 bottles were filled.

The 2016 Tapteil Vineyard is composed of 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc and 29% Merlot and is scented of spiced red fruit with juicy wild strawberries and soft baking spices. The wine is full-bodied and shows more complexity on the palate, with flavors of graphite and pencil shavings under the juicy core of fruit, moving to a tannic edge across the mid-palate, followed by dusty minerality and oak spices that linger on the long finish. Only 350 cases.

The 2015 Tapteil Vineyard reveals a youthfully reserved bouquet of cassis, cherries, subtle cigar tobacco and walnuts. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, pure and layered, with good concentration, ripe tannins and excellent depth and length, with a seamless profile. It's a blend of 33% Cabernet Franc, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 17% Petit Verdot.

The 2014 Tapteil Vineyard is showing well, wafting from the glass with classy and complex aromas of cassis, loamy soil, pencil shavings and cigar box. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, supple and elegant, with a lovely core of earth-inflected fruit and fine-grained structuring tannins. It's a beautifully balanced blend with a decidedly Bordelais aesthetic.

I’ve always loved the Tapteil release from Cadence and the 2013 Tapteil is no exception. A Cabernet Sauvignon dominated blend that incorporates 18% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc, it offers full-bodied, beautifully pure aromas and flavors of black and blue fruits, graphite, leafy herbs and distinct minerality. More voluptuous and sexy than the reserved Ciel du Cheval bottling, it certainly offers pleasure today, but will be even better in 2-3 years of bottle age and will keep for two decades after that.