Ex Libris Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia Valley) 2016

92 pts John Gilman

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon from Ex Libris is a good, ripe and well-balanced bottle of young cabernet. The wine comes in at fourteen percent octane and offers up a nicely old school nose of red and black cherries, cigar wrapper, a touch of spice elements (mostly cardamom), good soil signature and a discreet framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, nascently complex and beautifully balanced, with fine depth at the core, lovely focus and grip and a long, poised and ripely tannic finish. This is fine cabernet for the cellar and it should prove to be an excellent drink with a decade’s worth of bottle age.