VERY LIMITED
97 Points Decanter
Beringer's Private Reserve in the 2021 vintage combines 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, and 2% Malbec. It was aged 18 months in 65% new French oak. It's a very stylish wine with an excellent balance between its powerful, fine-grained tannins and plump, juicy, black-toned fruits. The bouquet is lovely, too, revealing a wealth of vintage-specific savoury potpourri character in its sagebrush, dried rose petal, and coriander atop candied red berry fruits and fragrant ironstone minerality. Full-bodied, with a deep core of succulent blackberry fruit that is downright silky. Between the dazzling fruit character and perfectly integrated tannin, the Private Reserve has a seamless quality, making it so approachable now but well-endowed with the structure to age gracefully.
97 Points Vinous
The 2021 Private Reserve is the most refined of the 2021s from Beringer. The aromatics alone are so alluring. There's 12% Cabernet Franc in the blend this year, and that comes through loud and clear. Crushed flowers, espresso, mint, licorice and red/purplish fruit all grace this silky, super-polished offering.
97 Points James Suckling
So much dark berry, dried berry, matchstick and iodine here. Plus intense aromas of black currants and black berries. So floral. Full-bodied with firm and compacted tannins that are super polished and balanced. Very long and linear. The tightness, focus and complexity harks back to the 1990s but the purity and transparency is today. September 2024 release. 80% cabernet sauvignon, 12% cabernet franc, 6% merlot, and 2% malbec.
96+ Points Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship from Beringer, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve is from a mix of sites and is based on 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 2% Malbec brought up all in barrel. Its deep ruby/plum hue is followed by rock-solid aromatics of darker currants, chocolate, leafy herbs, and lead pencil shavings. It's a classic 2021 on the palate and has a more inward, concentrated mouthfeel, ripe yet building tannins, ample mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It's holding things relatively close to its vest at the moment, yet it clearly has potential. Hide bottles for 4-5 years if you can, and it's going to have well over two decades of prime drinking.
95 Points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A reliably high-quality wine year after year, Beringer's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve incorporates lots from across the single-vineyard range—Bancroft Ranch, Borrow Pit, Chabot, Home Ranch, Lampyridae and Steinhauer Ranch. Rich blueberry fruit is joined by cassis and black cherries, punched up by hints of sage and pine. It's full-bodied, concentrated and tannic, with a long, silky textured finish. This vintage, the blend is composed of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot and 2% Malbec. Give it a few years in the cellar, and drink it over the next two decades.
Winemaker Notes
Rich, full-bodied and deeply rewarding, this vintage expression is one for the ages (and aging). Notes of crème de cassis, black and blue fruits and baking spices frame flavors of ripe plum, dark cherry and chocolate in a muscular yet exceedingly well balanced and elegant wine. A memorable, lingering finish continues to reveal multiple layers of complexity to be enjoyed over the next two decades.
99 Points from James Suckling
Breathtaking. Exceptional integration of super ripe blackberries and the very finest oak. The tannins build up beautifully, forming wave upon wave as the wine flows across the palate. Then the wave breaks on your palate and shoots way out at the finish, so that you wonder where it will end and normal life begin again. Needs time to soften, but this is so, so good
97 Points from Jeb Dunnuck
As with the 2015, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve shows the vintage beautifully and is more pure, classic, and elegant. Notes of crème de cassis, graphite, lead pencil shavings, and freshly crushed rocks give way to a medium to full-bodied, seamless Cabernet that has remarkable purity of fruit and impeccable balance
95 Points from Wine Advocate
Composed of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot aged for 20 months in 83% new French oak, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve sings of crème de cassis, kirsch, blackberry preserves and blueberry pie, with loads of chocolate box, floral and baking spices hints. Full-bodied with a firm, chewy frame and loads of savory accents, it delivers a long, multilayered finish
