The 2013 Mount Veeder is a powerful wine, rich in your mouth, fleshy with soft tannins and ripe, dark fruit. Its aromas suggest floral notes and spicy, dark chocolate, with a richness of blueberry fruit. The wine’s flavors are concentrated; blueberry and dark plum mingle with earthy mineral notes for interwoven complexity, and the flavors carry to a really impressive finish that echoes the ripeness of the fruit. Despite its power, this wine is accessible. Its acidity is a light within the darkness of the fruit and it gives the wine a touch of elegance.

The 2013 Spring Mountain to me is all about the interplay of depth and power. Its perfume is captivating, suggesting cedar -- instant gratification for classicists -- with ripe, red fruit and high notes of pine and licorice, as well as unmistakeable floral tones. The wine’s structure is sleek and linear, smooth tannin forming the periphery while silky dark fruit fills in the middle and mineral notes enliven the whole. This is not an explosive wine but one whose power is framed and contained. Mount Veeder is the richer of the two and Spring Mountain is the sleeker.

Concentrated and primary, with intense, structured black cherry, blackcurrant and raspberry fruit. There’s some freshness to the fruit, although it is still very sweet. This is primary and at the moment the structured, slightly drying tannins, the oak, and the ripe (but balanced) fruit are finding it hard to achieve any harmony, but there’s promise for the future.

Lokoya's 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder presents a more linear and less voluptuous expression of mountain Cabernet Sauvignon than the Howell Mountain bottling tasted alongside it. Energy, tension and pulsating vibrancy are the signatures. Dark blue and purplish fruit, menthol, cedar and licorice meld together in an ample, broad Cabernet Sauvignon supported by huge beams of tannin. Beautifully balanced and harmonious throughout, the 2012 should drink beautifully for many years to come.

The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain comes across as quite ethereal and delicate, especially for a mountain wine. Sweet floral notes meld into spices, dark blue/black fruit, cinnamon and new leather. Here the flavors are gentle and suave, but at the same time, there is plenty of energy in the glass. With time in the decanter, the 2011 can be enjoyed today, but it also has enough stuffing to drink well for a number of years. At the same time, the higher-toned aromatics, suggest the 2011 will always remain a relatively feminine Cabernet Sauvignon.

Lokoya's 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain is all red fruits, flowers, iron and new leather. Firm tannins provide the backbone for a powerful, structured Cabernet Sauvignon that is notable for its intensity and expression of Spring Mountain. Sweet floral notes reappear on the finish, adding lift and polish. This isn't huge, but it, nevertheless, stands out for its finesse and intensity.

Latour-like in structure and range of flavors, this is pure, rich and juicy, offering ripe plum, wild berry, spice, tea and cedar notes. Ends with tannins that reveal a loamy earth flavor and texture.

Latour-like in structure and range of flavors, this is pure, rich and juicy, offering ripe plum, wild berry, spice, tea and cedar notes, ending with tannins that reveal a loamy earth flavor and texture.

Good deep ruby. Rich aromas of currant and graphite minerality. Lush, round and large-scaled, with strong rocky and mineral qualities adding interest to its very sexy flavors of black raspberry and spices. Dry, classic, powerful cabernet whose broad tannins are amazingly supple for Mount Veeder. Finishes subtle and extremely long. An excellent vintage for this bottling, which is from vines planted at 1,700 feet.

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain (from Spring Mountain Vineyard) is a big, super-ripe wine laced with racy red cherries, rose petals, dried flowers and licorice. It possesses striking inner perfume and fabulous length. The tannins in particular are especially refined for this appellation.

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain (from the Von Strasser Vineyard) is a gorgeous wine. It bursts onto the palate with an exciting melange of dark red fruit, mint and licorice. It is an intensely spicy, focused wine with plenty of Diamond Mountain tannins that come through. Tar, smoke and licorice are some of the notes that inform the energetic, vibrant finish.

Beautifully crafted, rich and explosive, with a push of plush plum, blackberry, cherry, herb and mocha flavors that are tight and focused, ending chewy.

Beautifully crafted, rich and explosive, with a push of plush plum, blackberry, cherry, herb and mocha flavors that are tight and focused, ending chewy.

Bitter tannins lock this wine down in mouth-numbing astringency. Below the tannins is incredibly pure fruit, by way of blackberry and plum flavors. It has firm minerality, like a lick of stone, while oak aging brings its own flavor profile as well as additional wood tannins. This is nowhere near ready, so give it at least eight years in the cellar.

This shows the tightly knit tannins of Spring Mountain, and is unapologetic about them, demanding that you cellar this wine. It’s very finely constructed, with brisk acidity and a firm, grounding minerality below the intensely concentrated core of blackberry and cassis flavors. It should hit its stride in 8-10 years and go for well beyond that.

Made in the Lokoya style, which is darkly colored, full bodied, tannic and dense in mountain fruit. A spicy oak tone joins with massive blackberry, cassis and violet flavors to make this wine delicious from the start. It’s very tannic and needs a great deal of time. Begin to enjoy this wine in 2016, and it should go far longer than that.

The style of this wine may not be for everyone, but there’s no doubt that it’s a great success for its type. Dry and full bodied, it shows intensely concentrated blackberry, cassis and mineral flavors, wrapped into huge, thick tannins. This absolutely requires aging; begin drinking it in 2016, but even then, it will be just starting to mellow.

Bright, deep ruby. Pungent, high-pitched aromas of cassis, violet and crushed rock; hints at a distinct mineral austerity. Then almost surprisingly lush and sweet on the palate, with rich, clean dark berry flavors expanding to fill the mouth and building on the finish. This highly concentrated, multi layered wine finishes with noble tannins and terrific lingering violet perfume.

Shares the muscular, tannic profile of the other Lokoya's, yet has a seam of supple cream woven within, offering mocha, dried currant and dark berry, ending with dry, extracted tannins.

The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain, which comes from a high-elevation site on Spring Mountain, shows telltale floral notes mixed with blueberry and raspberry fruit. All from sedimentary, volcanic soils, it is fresh, lively and probably the most finesse-styled of this quartet of brilliant Cabernet Sauvignons fashioned by winemaker Chris Carpenter. Unfortunately, production was virtually nothing - 113 cases.

Extraordinary wines produced by Jackson Family from three mountain vineyards. Big, intense but beautifully balanced.

Extraordinary wines produced by Jackson Family from three mountain vineyards. Big, intense but beautifully balanced.

There's something almost Zinny about this wine, with its brambly, briary, notes of wild blueberries and blackberries and sun-warmed summer bark and dust. It possesses fabulous intensity, but those mountain tannins are palate-numbing, and they shut down the finish. Demands time beyond 2010.

Exhibits a Château Marqaux-like nose of flowers, raspberries, black currants, cherries, licorice, and smoky oak. Rich and full-bodied, with beautiful fruit, considerable elegance, and fine balance, this full-throttle wine is a pure expression of Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink it over the next 12-15 years.

From the Reverie Vineyard, the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain (475 cases produced) displays a dense purple color (that has not changed since I tasted it eight years ago) along with wonderful notes of graphite, burning embers, charcoal and sweet cassis as well as licorice. Full-bodied with excellent fruit purity, it is the most evolved and fragrant of these three wines. Drink it now or cellar it for another 15-20 years. Winemaker Chris Carpenter, who has worked for the late Jess Jackson for many years, hit pay dirt at Lokoya in nearly every vintage. Certainly these 2001s have aged magnificently over the last decade. These 100% Cabernet Sauvignons are aged for 18-22 months in 100% new French oak and are bottled with no fining or filtration.