Now in its 9th vintage, Marietta's Game Trail has established itself as one of the top California Mountain Cab deals out there. Recent vintages have been especially strong, and the '22 grabbed 94 points from Antonio Galloni of Vinous Media.
This is a wine you could put in a blind tasting against much more expensive wines from Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, or Atlas Peak, and I can promise you it would show well. It'll just run you a lot less $$.
2022 Marietta Cellars 'Game Trail' Cabernet Sauvignon
94 points Vinous Media, 95 points Yours Truly
I love mountain-grown Cabs, as they present a more elegant, complex, and refined personality than their valley-floor counterparts. This one comes from Marietta's small block of Cabernet in their Game Trail Vineyard.
Situated in Mendocino County's Yorkville Highlands AVA and perched at 1,400 feet on a south-facing ridge between the north end of Alexander Valley and the west end of Anderson Valley, this rugged site gives us a wine with a ton of personality.
It's these mountain sites that are cooler and higher -- naturally, they ripen slower and more evenly, yielding grapes with more complex and intricate aromas and flavors along with more freshness and acidity. The rocky soils of these sites also adds an intense and complex mineral character to these wines, and all of those elements are on display in this amazing wine and incredible value.
You might think I'm crazy for calling a $50+ bottle of wine an amazing value. Think what you like, but when you compare it with lower-scoring wines from Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, and Mount Veeder that start at $75, you'll quickly realize that this is a serious "find."
I could go on and on, but I know you want to know what this stuff tastes like.
Here are my tasting notes: This pours a deep, pretty much opaque color. Peppery, minty, and dark fruited are the initial notes I get. With a bit of air and ample swirling, this really kicks into gear -- blackcurrant perfume, eucalyptus, roasted herb, violet, crushed rock. Powerful, youthful, but really tasty already with food. Finishes long, spicy, floral. This will be one of those wines to blow people away with in 10 years, if stored properly.....
Vinous Media: "The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Game Trail emerges from a site planted at 1,400 feet in elevation in the Yorkville Highlands. Readers will find a dark, savory, almost pungent Cabernet Sauvignon that is deeply expressive of place. Blackberry, olive tapenade, black pepper, sage and lavender add to a palpable impression of gravitas. I would give the 2022 a year or two in bottle to shed some of its baby fat. It's an incredibly distinctive wine, that much is plainly obvious. Drink 2025 - 2037."
I've got nothing more to say. Let's let the wine do the talking : )
