Rich and luscious with ripe cherry and juicy raspberry; crisp yet powerful and dense, complex and showing minerals and lovely floral notes; long and bright.

Saturated ruby-blue. Super-ripe yet very bright aromas of black cherry, blackberry, flowers and spices. Very dense and powerful, with beautiful floral and dark berry flavors. Already offers compelling inner-mouth perfume. Finishes with powerful but ripe tannins and superb persistence. A big wine with a lot of everything.

Lokoya specializes in specific-appellation Cabernets, mostly from mountain peaks. The current Cabernet lineup from the '97 vintage includes:

dark, firm and concentrated, with chewy tannins wrapped around a core of earthy currant, mint and cedar notes, focused and long on the finish…tasted twice with consistant notes.'

Jess Jackson purchased two estate vineyards for the Lokoya Napa Valley wines, one on Mt. Veeder and one on Howell Mountain. Winemaker Marco DiGuilio purchases fruit for this Diamond Mountain wine as well as the Rutherford bottling. The Lokoya Cabernets are designed to show off the varied characteristics of Napa's growing regions. Diamond Mountain produces this dense and chocolatey wine, its pungent fruit intensity balanced by equally intense tannins. The tannins have an austerity and dramatic power, struggling for supremacy with the generous nature of the fruit. The battle lasts through a long finish, and won't be resolved for years.

boasts an opaque blue/black color, followed by outstanding aromatics of jammy blackberry and currant fruit intertwined with roasted herbs, cold steel, minerals, and spicy new oak. There is fabulous intensity, terrific levels of glycerin and extract, full body, and sweet tannin in the ling, low acid finish. This superb, dazzling Cabernet Sauvignon reveals tremendous up-side potential.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder is a dense, tightly wound wine. Bright red cherry, iron, pomegranate, chalk, mint and white pepper abound. Deep and layered, in the medium-bodied style of the year, the 2014 exudes Veeder personality and tension. The mid-palate needs time to develop, but this is another highly expressive wine from Lokoya. There is plenty of punch and mountain intensity here. Veeder Peak is the fruit source.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is laced with the essence of graphite, cured meats, crème de cassis, smoke and licorice. Unctuous and deep, but with grippy Howell Mountain tannins underpinning the fruit, the 2014 has a lot going for it. Readers should plan on cellaring the 2014 for at least a few years. The Howell is a step up from some of the other wines in this range. All of the fruit for this wine came from Keyes.

Comes from the Spring Mountain Vineyard. Vibrant and juicy with sweet berry and blackcurrant fruit, with a touch of cedar and fine spices. It’s really fresh, but also quite ripe, with some woody notes under the concentrated, primary fruit. There’s a slight hint of pine freshness on the finish. There’s a touch of warmth on the finish. Still primary and unformed but with lots of promise.

Sweetly aromatic with sweet blackcurrant and red berry fruit notes, as well as a hint of cedar. The palate shows lush, sweet fruit with some cedar spiciness, and a touch of minty freshness on the finish. It needs time to integrate the sweet oak. Quite grippy on the finish with a sweet fruit profile. Some potential here.

Iron, tobacco, incense, graphite and smoke all open up in the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain. Rich, ample and layered on the palate, the 2012 boasts tons of depth and plenty of personality. This is the most intensely mineral and savory of the four Lokoya Cabernets. It is also one of the more open wines in this range today. With time in the glass, the fruit takes on distinctly more red-hued tones of expression, along with distinctive floral and spice nuances that add complexity.

Bright medium ruby. Captivating nose combines crushed cassis and blueberry, licorice, bitter chocolate, peppery herbs and a musky whiff of truffley underbrush. Plush, voluminous and deep; the largest and broadest of this superb set of 2011 cabernets, with seamless dark berry and pepper flavors complemented by sexy, perfectly integrated oak. Finishes thick and very long, with remarkably ripe tannins for the year. Although it's approachable now, I'd wait 5 years and then enjoy this big boy over the following 10 or 12.

Full ruby-red. Aromas of cassis, licorice and fresh herbs, complemented by notes of espresso and roasted earth. Sweet, plush and deep, with a distinct mineral character adding class and grip to the creme de cassis, black cherry and licorice flavors. For all its medicinal reserve and structure, this very long wine boasts a captivating creaminess of texture.

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder (from Veeder Peak) flows onto the palate with layers of dark, mineral-infused fruit. Graphite, cassis, blackberries, spices and new leather are some of the nuances that take shape in the glass. This is at once open and approachable, but also quite intense and mineral.

Blue fruit, spring flower, charcoal, and crushed rock aromas emerge from the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain. This wine possesses terrific ripeness, beautiful, surprisingly sweet, well-integrated tannins, plenty of black and blue fruit flavors, full body, and good harmony and overall equilibrium. It can be drunk now or cellared for two decades or more.

From the Reverie Vineyard, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain spent 22 months in 100% new French oak. Cedar, crushed rock, creme de cassis, smoke, and earthy characteristics are both compelling and complex. This mountain-styled Cabernet reveals soft tannins, a supple, full-bodied mouthfeel, and an elegant yet substantial personality. It should drink nicely for 15+ years.

Deep medium ruby. Inky, brooding aromas of black fruits, tar, licorice, minerals and crushed stone. Dense but sweet, with lovely mineral depths to the slightly high-toned flavors of black raspberry and currant. This boasts terrific flavor intensity and life. Finishes very long, with the suave tannins reaching the front teeth.

Ruby-red. Superripe aromas of currant, blueberry, mocha, brown spices and violet. Lush, dense and sweet, with lovely floral lift to the flavors of dark raspberry, dark chocolate and mint. An edge of acidity and very fine tannins gives shape to the wine's sweetness. A very elegant cabernet that's balanced for early drinking but should age well for at least a decade.

A blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Malbec, the 2015 Red Wine has an almost Monte Bello style in its blue fruits, cedary spice, crushed rocks, and violets aromas and flavors. Old school, concentrated, and structured, yet with balancing fruit and texture, it's a classic, age-worthy Bordeaux blend that's going to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and cruise for a decade or more

Medium purple color. Deep, gorgeous nose of cassis and black currants, laced with a complex mix of earthy, smoky savory notes (charcoal, mesquite, grilled meat, black olive, pepper) with notes, also some vanilla, cedar. Structured but velvety on the palate, full but fresh, with moderating acidity. Rich blackberry and tart black currant fruit, topped with generous notes of charcoal, graphite, bay leaf, pepper, earth — the savory and spicy elements in here are lovely. I think age has really done wonders for this wine already, but it has many years of evolution ahead. 87% Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, aged 26 months in 62% new French oak.

I usually like wines that are a bit more restrained, but I have to say, I’m smitten by this wine’s unleashed wild exuberance. Of course, mountain merlot is vastly different than “regular” merlot; it’s got more power, more potency, and more all-around gravitas. But big wines usually forfeit layers of flavor to achieve their magnitude. Not this one. The fleshy dark berry and sage-like flavors are laced with cassis, spices, and vanilla. An old stone winery atop Howell Mountain, La Jota was built in the 1800s by Italian stone masons and Chinese laborers who had worked on the Transcontinental Railroad.

Pure and refined, this offers savory richness to the dried red fruit and spice flavors. Tannins are firm but well-honed, and the finish is filled with mineral and cedar box notes, with a juicy rush of chocolate.

A mountain-grown wine blended with 10% Petit Verdot, this impresses in its ability to offer power and elegance in equal measure. Cinnamon, baked plum and dark cherry ride along a soft, structured and age-worthy wine, which shows a touch of reduction, espresso bean and dusty rock minerality.

La Jota's flagship, the 2015 Merlot W.S. Keyes, captures all of the richness and ripeness of the vintage and yet retains a nice amount of freshness. Blackberry jam, crème de cassis, licorice, plum and cloves infuse this decidedly rich, concentrated Merlot. Opulent, flamboyant and super-ripe, the 2015 has quite a bit to offer.

The 2014 Merlot is 90% Merlot and 10% Petit Verdot aged in 76% new French oak. Carpenter told me that this wine emerges from a micro-terroir within the vineyard that has traditionally underperformed, but due to draconian crop-pruning and tiny yields, it has turned out to be a “rock star” in 2014. Dense purple, with a big, sweet kiss of mulberry, chocolate, mocha and coffee, the wine is luscious, fleshy, dramatic and even flamboyant, with fabulous fruit on the attack and mid-palate, silky tannin and a plush, layered mouthfeel. It is already drinking beautifully (as most 2014s are) and will continue to evolve nicely for another 12-15+ years.