Orin Swift Cellars Orin Swift Cellars Mercury Head 2023 750ml

A super-concentrated, trim and age-worthy red that's structured and deep, with black cherry flavors on an elegant texture. Very focused, showing supple tannins and slightly restrained fruit, graphite, cocoa, black olive and tobacco leaf flavors. Full-bodied but still balanced. Drink now or hold.

Sitting atop the Orin Swift hierarchy, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Mercury Head comes largely from Morisoli and Stagecoach. All Cabernet Sauvignon, aged just 13 months in 53% French oak, it combines cedar and vanilla with cherries, raspberries and cassis. This full-bodied effort is more concentrated than the other Cab-based reds in the lineup, but it's still plush and generous, with soft velvet sensations slowly unrolling on the lengthy finish.

Sourced largely from Stagecoach and Morisoli, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Mercury Head combines floral and gently leafy nuances with bold red fruit—cherries and redcurrants. Aged 13 months in 60% new French oak, it's full-bodied, broad and expansive, then slightly warming, long and velvety on the finish. (Joe Czerwinski)

Winemaker Dave Phinney expects to bottle a bit more than 6,000 cases of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Mercury Head, what he calls a “typical volume” for it. Sourced from a couple of well-known valley floor sites and the Stagecoach Vineyard (sometimes a bit of Monte Rosso Vineyard fruit makes it in the blend as well) and aged 13 months in 58% new oak, the nose offers up hints of menthol and cedar over a base of ripe cassis and cherries. It’s full-bodied and velvety in the mouth, while a hint of dark chocolate creeps in on the lengthy finish.

This offers a fan-friendly gush of dark plum, blackberry and boysenberry compotes notes wrapped in black licorice. Shows enough brambly energy underneath to keep pumping along steadily through the muscular finish. For those looking for maximum fruit impact. Drink now through 2030. 10,863 cases made.