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Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Top wines from Oak Knoll

Oak Knoll is a distinctive appellation within Napa Valley for two reasons, its soils are derived from the Dry Creek alluvial fan and its temperatures are consistently among the Valley's coolest. Decanter's Napa correspondent Jonathan Cristaldi offers his top picks from the AVA.

The ‘OKD’ as Oak Knoll District is commonly referred to in Napa, is also considered by growers to be the Valley’s ‘Goldilocks’ AVA, located as it is in a sweet spot at the southern end of the Valley, typically marked by a long growing season.

Temperatures here are cooler in summer than Napa Valley’s northern AVAs and drier in winter. However, the 2021 winter in OKD was something else altogether: it saw the lowest rainfall total in the AVA’s history (dating back to 1968) and came after another drought year in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, yields were low, but the resulting fruit was of exceptional quality: intensely aromatic, densely flavoured, and deeply structured.


Scroll down for the Oak Knoll District’s top 2021 Cabernets



Oak Knoll 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets


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