This is the RESERVE bottling from Royal Prince. Their regular Cab is great, but this is a much more substantial and formidable wine. Remember when I introduced you all to Venge Cab? This offer feels a lot like that, but I personally think the 2019 Reserve Cab from Royal Prince drinks more like one of Venge's higher-priced Cabs. I'm talking Bone Ash-type quality folks!
The 2019 Royal Prince Reserve Cab seriously drinks like a $150+ wine, and I'd confidently put this in a blind tasting against much more expensive Napa Cabs. As the winery says, "the NDA on the sources for this wine is long and littered with iconic names." I 100% believe it, and I was lucky to snag the lion's share of what made it to North Carolina.
2019 Royal Prince Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
97 points Josh Spurling, 96 points Tasting Panel
ORDER NOW in our online store.
Do you remember how good the 2019 Royal Prince "regular" Cabernet Sauvignon was? Wait until you taste their Reserve. This is the STUFF you all. It's a wine that drinks way above its price, class, and it just has IT going on. As I mentioned earlier, the Royal Prince Team signed a number of NDA's barring them from disclosing their fruit sources. I can say with total certainty that those sources are of a very high quality. We're talking estates whose wines sell for $100+.
Opening with awesome aromas of cassis, dark raspberry, high-end dark chocolate, vanilla bean, cigar tobacco, and spice box, the palate is dense, layered, and structured. Winemaker Maayan Koschitzky, who enjoyed stints at Dalla Valle, Screaming Eagle, and Melka (he's still helping out there) before joining the Royal Prince team, has absolutely crushed it with this wine. There is no other top-shelf, premium Napa Cab that touches this for the price.
The Tasting Panel offered up a similar assessment. "Superstar Winemaker Maayan Koschitzkey and Vintner David Green's latest masterpiece shows concentration and finesse, priced way below perceived quality. Layers of Devil's Food cake, truffles, espress, and cocoa don't overshadow the sun inspired notes of plum and black raspberry. A textured crown of mountain brush and sandalwood-infused black cherry is mouth-coating. The mid-palate wash of licorice and lush tannins keep tune with an on-going treasure of flavors."
I know Napa Cab greatness when I taste it. Right when I stuck my nose in the glass of this one, I knew it was going to be great. The aromas are quite "advanced," deep, and complex for a wine in this price range. I knew right away that the fruit for this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon had to have come from top estates whose wines sell for 2 to 3 times the price. Beyond great aroma, which isn't too hard to achieve with Cab, it was the density of texture and the polished yet structured mouthfeel that typically is found in $100+ bottles. You can't "fake" those things, and this wine has that combination of full-force flavors and fine mouthfeel that is typically reserved for the best of the best Cabs.
Offering up this wine is like giving you early notice on a blue chip stock, but what I am doing is completely legal 😜 I could go on and on, but the truth of this nearly perfect Napa Cab can't be fully embraced until you get it home and get it in your glass. I HIGHLY recommend a good 1-2 hour decant and aeration on this one. It's huge right out of the gate, but things fall into place nicely with time. Furthermore, I suspect this will evolve and develop for 15-20 years, perhaps longer.
With smoke issues plaguing a lot of 2020 Napa Cabs, I went all in on this one and bought my distributor out. If you enjoy big and stylish Napa Cabernets, do yourself a favor and get at least a six-pack. You'll be glad you did!
ORDER NOW in our online store.
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville