The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard shows a riper, more sensual side of Calistoga, but it packs plenty of punch too. Red/purplish fruit, sweet spice, flowers, mint and blood orange abound. The tannins here are a bit softer than in the Coach Insignia, and that lends a palpable feeling of elegance throughout.

A step up, and my favorite in the lineup, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard comes from older vines (planted in 1976) and has a charming, almost mid-weight style that builds nicely with air. Giving up notes of red and black fruits, chocolate, tobacco, and spice, it shines for its balance and purity, yet needs more mid-palate to rank higher. Regardless, I suspect it will evolve for 15+ years and is an impressive bottle of wine.

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard shows all the darkness and muscle of Calistoga. Firm, brawny tannins add to an impression of virile intensity. Black cherry, tar, dried herbs, leather, licorice, gravel and dark spice gradually open in the glass. The 2019 is a powerhouse, that much is pretty clear. Time in the glass brings out the wine's opulence and textural richness. There's real depth and plenty of substance here. This is an especially big wine from Fisher.

More pure crème de cassis, tobacco leaf, lead pencil, and damp earth-like notes as well as some obvious minerality emerge from the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard. Medium to full-bodied and nicely concentrated, with the vintage’s fresher, more focused, yet classical style, this is another beautiful vintage for this cuvée that does everything right. It opens up nicely with time in the glass, yet it will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and should keep for two decades or more. I don’t think it will match the 2016, but it’s still a beautiful, classic wine from this estate, well worth buying and cellaring.

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is a super-classic Calistoga Cabernet built on power and depth. Inky fruit, gravel, smoke, crushed rocks, licorice, spice and lavender infuse the 2018 with tremendous resonance and drive, right from the very first taste. The 2018 marries fruit intensity with richness in grand style. The Lamb is a bit darker and more structured than the Coach Insignia. Don't miss it.

From an iconic site in Napa Valley, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is another deeply hued release from this family that offers lots of mulled red and black fruits, savory spice, dried tobacco, and loamy soils aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, elegant, and nicely textured, it does well in the vintage, with ripe tannins and a supple, nicely textured, balanced style. Drink it over the coming 10-12 years.

The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is a dark, brooding wine that shows the more muscular, virile side of Calistoga. Ripe black cherry, spice, lavender, licorice, scorched earth and menthol all add nuance to this rich, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon. A brooding, dark wine, the 2017 is going to need time to come together. This is such a gorgeous wine, but readers will have to be patient. The 2017 is a deep, explosive wine of great character and pedigree that needs time to be at its very best, even if it is incredibly impressive today.

Fisher's 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is distinguished by its savory profile and slightly rougher tannins next to the other wines in the range. Iron, sweet red cherry, white pepper and licorice add striking layers of complexity. There is plenty of depth and richness to the fruit, but the Lamb remains a touch angular in feel. Even so, there is enough brightness and freshness to make me think the 2016 will reward readers with a good two decade of fine drinking.

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is a tiny production cuvée that includes 4% Petit Verdot and was brought up all in new French oak. It has incredible crème de cassis, crushed violets, lead pencil, and graphite aromatics, full body, a beautiful sense of elegance and purity, and ultra-fine tannins. This is a thrilling Cabernet, from a great vintage, that readers should snatch up. It will benefit from short term cellaring, and deep for two decades or more.

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard has turned out beautifully. Polished, silky tannins allow the creamy, voluptuous fruit to come through very nicely. Dark red cherry, raspberry, sweet tobacco and cedar add nuance, but it is the wine's textural finesse and overall balance that really stand out. This is a terrific example of the year at its best.

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is the most powerful and structured of these Cabernets from Fisher. Dark stone fruit, mocha, smoke and licorice notes abound, while the toast influence from the oak has not yet fully integrated. This is an especially virile, imposing wine. Accordingly, it is best cellared for at least a few years.

An absolutely brilliant wine is the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard, which comes from their five-acre parcel in northeast Napa Valley. Notes of blackberry and blackcurrant fruit interwoven with chocolate, wet stones and smoky barbecue notes are followed by an opulent, full-bodied, gorgeously proportioned and pure wine, with loads of character and richness. It should drink well for up to 20 or more years.

Firm beams of tannin give the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard much of its energy. Finely sculpted yet also quite generous on the palate, the 2013 is wonderfully expressive today. Mineral and savory notes. The Lamb is the biggest and most structured of Fisher's Napa Valley wines. It is also a bit somber today. Still, this is another wine that has come together beautifully over the last year.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is laced with tobacco, cedar, worn-in leather and spices. There's good depth in the fruit, but the 2013 is approaching its full maturity. Dark red fruit, grilled herbs, menthol and licorice linger. All things considered, this has not aged as well as I had hoped.

Dark cherries, plums, mint, spices, new leather and cedar are laced together in the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard. A bit darker and more powerful than the Coach Insignia, the Lamb Vineyard impresses for its balance and pure class. Readers should plan on cellaring bottles for another 1-2 years to allow the tannins to soften a touch.

From their Napa Valley Vineyard, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard (a relatively small production of 250-365 cases in most vintages) offers a Mission Haut-Brion-like wet gravelly nose intermixed with blueberry and blackcurrant fruit. It is full-bodied, exhibits impressive ripeness, purity and already a burgeoning complexity. Like most 2012s, it is relatively exuberant and already showing plenty of complexity and potential. Drink it over the next 12-15 years.

Inky ruby. Explosive aromas of blackcurrant, cherry-vanilla, pipe tobacco and candied rose, with a subtle licorice nuance building with air. Plush and expansive on the palate, offering sweet black and blue fruit flavors that become firmer and spicier with air. In a forward, fruit-driven style, with soft tannins folding smoothly into the wine's sweet fruit on the clinging finish.

Savory herbs, sweet tobacco, crushed flowers and sweet red berries lift from the glass in the Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard. The flavors are beautifully lifted in a gracious, super classic-feeling, mid-weight Cabernet Sauvignon. There is a lot to like, but here, too, my sense is that the 2011 is built for the near and medium term.

(100% new oak): Bright purple. Ripe dark berry, singed plum and incense on the highly aromatic nose, which also displays notes of vanilla and cured tobacco. Shows superb clarity to its broad and palate-staining flavors of dark cherry, cassis and candied lavender. Smoothly plays richness off energy, with serious finishing punch and smooth, sneaky tannins. (JR)

Deep, bright medium ruby. Slightly medicinal scents of kirsch, violet, graphite and road tar. Denser and sweeter on entry than the Wedding Vineyard but also with more apparent vinosity animating the middle plate. Lovely savory, delineated Cabernet Sauvignon with terrific soil character, fruit intensity and mineral thrust. Distinctly site-driven (the vineyard is situated on cobbly, loamy soil on the eastern side of Napa Valley just south of Calistoga) and very long, with the tannins seemingly a bit sweeter and smoother than those of the Wedding Vineyard. A very distinctive, lingering wine with plenty of development ahead of it. My sample held up beautifully with 72 hours.

Fisher's 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard has turned out even better than I had originally envisioned last year. Plums, menthol, violets, smoke, tar, and melted asphalt all seem to jump from the glass. Vibrant and beautifully articulated, the 2010 is endowed with superb pedigree and class. Today the tannins are a bit firm, but that shouldn't be an issue in another few years. The 100% new oak barrels are totally integrated. Savory herbs and black olives are some of the notes that add complexity in this expressive, polished Cabernet Sauvignon.

Glass-staining ruby. Explosive aromas of candied black and blue fruits, vanilla, cola and lavender. Sweet and intensely aromatic in the mouth, showing suave blueberry and cassis flavors, a velvety texture and an array of smoky spice qualities. Finishes sappy, sweet and very long, with lingering florality and very soft tannins.

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard possesses gorgeous textural elegance and depth. Black cherries, plush, licorice, spices and flowers blossom with time in the glass as the wine opens up gradually. The 2009 boasts considerable richness and weight, not to mention terrific overall balance.

(14.9% alcohol): Bright red-ruby. Sexy oak-influenced aromas of black raspberry, mocha and brown spices. Dense, sweet and fine-grained but also nicely high-pitched, offering flavors of dark raspberry, spicy oak, saline minerality and herbs; still in need of time to evolve but displays excellent thickness of texture and lovely energy. Builds slowly and inexorably on the back end, keeping its shape and refusing to go blowsy. Tannins coat the front teeth, with savory minerality extending the flavors and contributing another. Offers a bit more texture and sweetness than the Coach Insignia but still a touch of cola and herbs on the back end. A bit wild but not as obviously as the Wedding.

Inky ruby. Sexy, expansive aromas of black raspberry, cherry compote and smoky oak, with a suave floral quality that gains power with air. Sweet, supple and broad, with intense dark berry fruit complemented by vanillin oak spices and given shape by soft, harmonious acidity. Seductively fruit-driven cabernet that finishes with velvety tannins and excellent persistence.

The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard emerges from the glass with ripe dark fruit, spices and mint in a decidedly, richer, more textured style of Cabernet compared to the Coach Insignia. Layers of fruit blossom in the glass, giving the finish a plush, voluptuous quality that is impossible to resist.

(14.9% alcohol): Good bright medium ruby. The nose shows an almost syrupy raspberry quality but also good floral lift and sexy oak spices. Wonderfully suave and fine-grained, offering excellent depth to its berry, dark cherry and mineral flavors, plus hints of truffle and herbs. The palate-staining finish features firm but ripe tannins and lovely slowly mounting length. This nicely refined Cabernet still shows a touch of medicinal reserve.

Opaque ruby. Slow-to-unfold aromas expand with air, suggesting blackcurrant, cherry preserves, pipe tobacco, smoky Indian spices and dried flowers. Broad, palate-staining dark berry and bitter cherry flavors are sweetened by a suave vanilla quality and given spine by sneaky minerality. Very rich and admirably intense but there's a core of fresh acidity here that gives the wine an unlikely impression of elegance for its power. The finish repeats the cherry and floral notes and clings with excellent tenacity. This demands cellar time.

The dense ruby/purple-hued 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard reveals beautiful blueberry and blackberry fruit along with a subtle gravelly, smoky component, a full-bodied, rich, silky mouthfeel that builds incrementally, outstanding purity and texture, and a personality reminiscent of a great northern Graves Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine from Bordeaux. This beauty is approachable, but it will be even better in 7-8 years, and should last 20-25 years thereafter.

Inky ruby. Brooding aromas of blackcurrant and kirsch, with complicating notes of incense and fruitcake gaining strength in the glass. Expansive dark berry liqueur and bitter cherry flavors become smoky and meaty with air, gaining depth and structure too. The finish is surprisingly fresh and focused, with a strong cracked pepper note that lingers tenaciously. Really benefits from aeration, suggesting that this youngster should be stashed away for a while.

Deep ruby-red. Reticent nose hints at cassis, minerals and licorice. Tightly wound and firmly built; less sweet than the Coach Insignia but still reasonably dense and pliant. Flavors of berries, minerals and cool tobacco leaf convey a juicy character. The firm tannins of this wine will require three or four years of patience. But this is exactly the kind of '03 that should reward cellaring.

The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard (they hadn’t decided whether to declassify the 2004 or not) possesses a distinctive style reminiscent of a northern Graves wine from Bordeaux. The wine’s scorched earth/virile, masculine style, primordial backwardness, and big, black currant, gravelly nose with hints of graphite and hot rocks, are followed by a tannic, medium-bodied, austere wine with undeniable long term aging potential, but not the charm or seductiveness of the other reds. Give it 3-5 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following two decades.

The single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2003 Lamb Vineyard (planted in 1982), displays the great terroir of this site in northeastern Napa Valley. Notes of creme de cassis, barbecue smoke, crushed rock and a volcanic earthiness emerge from this full-bodied, opulent (a characteristic of all the Fisher 2003s), pure, deep wine. Not as sexy as the Coach Insignia or as open-knit as the Cameron, the Lamb Vineyard is holding more in reserve. It also reveals some tannin and structure in the finish that its two siblings have shed. While impressive, its best days are still ahead of it. Give it another 2-3 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 15 years.

Approaching full maturity but still youthful, as if it is in late adolescence, this wine, from the excellent Fisher family based on the Sonoma side of the Mayacamas Mountains, comes from their 12-acre Lamb Vineyard, planted in northeastern Napa. The wine exhibits some scorched earth, white chocolate, underbrush and black currants as well as hints of sweet cherry and loamy soil (or is it just a crushed rock minerality?). Beautiful texture, easygoing purity and a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel give this wine both power and elegance. Drink it over the next decade.

Deep ruby-red. Vibrant, cool aromas of blackcurrant, mint and cinnamon. Juicy and lively in the mouth, with firm currant and cherry flavors complemented by a note of milk chocolate. Today the wine's brightness is accentuated by firm tannins. Not lush or fat (the RCF merlot is chewier) but quite distinctive. In contrast to the Coach Insignia, this wine seemed to go into a shell in the glass.

Bright, saturated ruby. Cool, highly aromatic nose combines cassis, pomegranate, maple syrup, sassafras and spices. Minerally and highly concentrated; dense and quite suave. Boasts a creamy sweetness verging on liqueur-like. This has superb depth of fruit. Finishes with big, sweet, broad tannins and terrific length.

Medium red-ruby. Wild nose combines leather, boudin noir, blackberry, blueberry, mocha and burning tobacco. Concentrated, dense, dark and sweet; more sauvage than the Wedding Vineyard bottling and much darker and less evolved in its fruit character, showing superb concentration and little in the way of tomato vegetility. The roasted meat element carries through the wine but it's supported by plenty of fruit and spice. This big, rich, concentrated Cabernet is still unfolding, and it has plenty of ripe, building tannins for support. Finishes with late notes of leather and spices. Huge material here, but some tasters may find it a bit too funky.

Ruby-red. Expressive nose combines blackberry, cedar, graphite and eucalyptus. Sappy flavors of black fruits and pepper are framed but not overwhelmed by pungent oak spices (this and the Wedding cabernet are aged in all new barrels). A very backward, structured wine with broad, very firm tannins and considerably more length than the Coach Insignia.

The 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is a Fisher-owned site in the northeastern sector of Napa Valley not far from Araujo’s Eisele Vineyard. The wine reveals a saturated ruby/purple color as well as broad, expansive flavors of cassis, camphor, forest floor, truffles and earth. The oak component is completely integrated in this full-bodied, stunningly opulent, pure Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink this beauty over the next 15-20 years.

The fabulous 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard exhibits an inky/purple color as well as a gorgeous perfume of scorched earth, graphite, chocolate, blackberries, cassis, and minerals. Dense, full-bodied, and heady, but tannic and structured, this masculine Cabernet needs 4-5 years of cellaring, and should keep for two decades.

This Cabernet is adorned with a very attractive nose: blackberry, a touch of kirsch and cockle-sheds and cooked meats. A little more concentrated on the palate than Coach, sweet black cherries, iodine and figs. Very complex, harmonious with a long finish. Tasted March 2006.

Full bright ruby. Sappy aromas of dark berries, black cherry, violet, minerals and bitter chocolate. Quite tightly wound and backward; like the '99 example, this comes across as far less youthfully sweet than the Coach Insignia cuvee Very firmly tannic and difficult to taste today.

Medium ruby. Black fruits, licorice, gun metal and minerals on the nose, along with a hint of tobacco leaf. Very firm, dry and penetrating, with pure, nicely defined flavors of dark berries, bitter chocolate and licorice. This has less baby fat and obvious sweetness than the Coach Insignia but impressive purity and persistence.

Medium ruby. Complex nose melds black cherry, lead pencil, menthol and a floral nuance. Firm and minerally in the mouth; less sweet and more dominated by its steely spine than the Coach Insignia. Still quite unevolved. The pH here is lower than that of the Coach Insignia, and this shows in the wine firmer texture. Finishes with slightly drying tannins and a late note of maple syrup. From a very tiny crop.

Full ruby-red. More brooding aromas of black cherry, shoe polish, menthol and tobacco. Then bright and fruity, with lovely depth of black cherry flavor. Quite tightly structured, even a bit medicinal today, with sound acidity. Finishes with substantial, tongue-dusting tannins and very good length.

(14% alcohol): Healthy dark red-ruby. The nose conveys slightly wild suggestions of leather and andouillette but not enough to detract from the fresh aromas of cassis, black cherry, licorice, tar, violet and mint. This still shows dark fruit flavors that I would describe as primary but there's also a savory umami quality as well as an edge of acidity that gives the middle palate a faint bitterness. Impressively energetic for 20-year-old wine but it may yet deliver more sweetness with some additional bottle aging. Finishes with granular, tongue-coating tannins, repeating notes of leather and game and very good length. Lots of flavor here in a slightly medicinal, tannic way. If this were my bottle, I'd still give it a few more years in the cellar.

Saturated deep ruby. Pungent spicy oak, black cherry, chocolate and menthol on the nose. Superripe, sweet and large-scaled, with deep crystallized fruit supported by firm backbone. Finishes with dusty tannins and explosive flavors of chocolate and mint.

Good dark ruby-red, not as saturated as the '96 Wedding sample. Spicy, primary aromas of cassis, minerals and eucalyptus. Sweet, fat and spicy in the mouth; less dense and more oaky than the Wedding cuvee Nicely balanced and firmly structured, but here the tannins hit the palate earlier.

Napa's Lamb Vineyard has turned out some marvelous Cabernets (Fisher's 1993 Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is sensational). The 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard exhibits a dark ruby/purple color, and a sweet nose of cassis fruit, lead pencil, and spice. While the wine may have been slightly tired when I saw it a few months after bottling, it still revealed plenty of intensity, sweet berry fruit nicely wrapped in oak, medium to full body, and moderate tannin in the long finish. Sadly, there are only 595 cases of this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fisher produces three Cabernet Sauvignon cuvees. The least expensive is the Coach Insignia, with the more limited production Lamb Vineyard and Wedding Vineyard relatively difficult to find in the marketplace.

The 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard is an intense, concentrated, opaque purple-colored wine with gobs of black-raspberry and chocolate-like fruit. Extremely young, it requires 5-7 years of cellaring. Impressive and pure, it is one of Fisher's most concentrated Cabernet Sauvignons. My experience has been that this wine explodes in the glass with 4-6 hours of decanting! It was interesting to see how crisp, restrained, and less concentrated Fisher's 1994s were when compared to the extremely rich and successful 1993s.