Inaugural Release Press

Reviews
features
97

Jeb Dunnuck

2021 Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

“The Las Piedras Vineyard seems to have hit another level over the past couple of years, and the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Las Piedras Vineyard is a prime example of the quality and style of this St. Helena site. Gorgeous red and black fruits, graphite, baking spices, and chocolate all give way to a medium to full-bodied, ultra-pure, seamless, finesse-driven Cabernet Sauvignon…”

97

Jeb Dunnuck

2021 Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

“The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard comes from block 2, on the flatter, more eastern side of this great site in Oakville… This dense, inky-hued effort offers a killer bouquet of chocolaty dark fruits, dried herbs, tobacco, and loamy earth. Full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, it stays balanced and has ultra-fine tannins and a great finish.”

94

Jeb Dunnuck

2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

“The appellation 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is well worth your time and money. Blended with a splash of Petit Verdot, it has a terrific array of red, blue, and black fruits intermixed with notions of graphite, spring flowers, and an undeniable sense of minerality.

Its balanced, has remarkable purity, fine tannins, and outstanding length. It’s already delicious and impossible to resist, and I see no need to delay gratification, although I have no doubt it has over a decade of prime drinking in it.”

94

Wine Spectator

2021 Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

“Lush, forward and seductive in feel, with creamy notes of mulberry, blackberry and plum sauce that glide over a polished, fine-grained structure. Offers melted licorice and fruitcake accents alongside a flash of iris on the finish. Makes the stylistic choice to maximize fruit while sacrificing some form and tension. Drink now through 2038.”

— James Molesworth

96

Wine Spectator

2021 Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

“This is rich and dense, offering steeped plum, black currant and boysenberry reduction notes welded together with graphite, licorice root and walnut husk accents. There’s a broad feel and a deep tug of warm loam through the finish, with ample energy in reserve. Among the more backward wines of the vintage, though, so be prepared to wait. Best from 2026 through 2042.”

— James Molesworth

96

Decanter

2021 Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

“This is from Beckstoffer Las Piedras in St. Helena. Aged in 75% new French oak. Just 100 cases. This is Kinsman’s first time working with the site. It’s even and lengthy, and the vines producing this wine are about 8-10 years old. A purity of fruit comes forth in this wine in the blue-fruit spectrum with hints of black and violets, cassis, and liquorice. Full-bodied with silky tannins, blackberry fruit, blueberry compote, and wonderfully rich mocha spices that thread a sweet line interrupted by savoury notes of salty minerals on the long finish. It is super attractive and polished.”

— Jonathan Cristaldi

98

Decanter

2021 Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon

“This is from Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard in Oakville, entirely from Block 2 on the southern side up against Hopper Creek. Incredibly polished and refined with no hard edges. Superfine tannins are intricate and lengthy, underscored by a firm spine of lacy acidity. The fruit profile is pure, ripe, and succulent, with a density lifted by that bright spine of acidity. Flavours and aromas of blackberry and black cherry are nuanced by crushed cocoa nibs, tobacco and rich earth on the lengthy finish. Gorgeous now and capable of long-term cellaring.”

— Jonathan Cristaldi

97

Decanter

2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

“This is from Bench in the Stags Leap District and from a site on Diamond Mountain. It also includes some fruit from Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard. There’s a splash of Petit Verdot from Bench, co-fermented with Cabernet Sauvignon from the same site. This wine is intensely aromatic, pure, and bright with lifted dark berry fruit, sagebrush, and earthy minerality with lilacs. Medium to full-bodied with the finest tannins, a slight chocolaty edge, and mouthwatering blood-orange acidity on the finish. Seamless.”

— Jonathan Cristaldi

95

James Suckling

2021 Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

“This first vintage from a new Napa winery is packed with red and black fruit and firm, fine-grained tannins that will help it age gracefully. Made from 100% cabernet sauvignon, it offers raspberries, blueberries, savory hints of sage and a chalky, minerally feel. Fruit reemerges on the palate and speeds through the finish. Full-bodied. Drink or hold.”

97

James Suckling

2021 Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon

“First vintage from this new label, sourced from a topnotch independent vineyard. Luscious, deep and concentrated in black fruit and dark chocolate, braced by dense, massive fine-grained tannins that bode well for aging. Dark spices, star anise, black cherries, baked blueberries and touches of vanilla bean and tobacco. Best from 2030.”

94

James Suckling

2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

“Polished, focused and velvety, this is the most affordable of three Annulus cabernet sauvignons from this, their first vintage. With a majority of the grapes coming from Stags Leap District, it’s full-bodied and harmonious, with light, silky tannins and delicious black cherries, star anise and blackcurrants. Drink or hold.”

New Directions in Napa Cabernet

Wine Spectator
November 15,2024

“Annulus is the ultimate limited-production, family- run Napa label… “We had been in Napa Valley for 20 years,” Evnin says. “We collected Napa Valley Cabernet for most of that time, and we got to know a decent number of the vintners and sat at their tables and heard their stories and what they were trying to do…”

Full Article

Napa’s Newest Dream Team Assembles to Launch Annulus

Men’s Journal
September 18, 2024

“Annulus is a family wine venture from proprietors Luke Evnin and Deann Wright, longtime Napa Valley residents… The brand focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon, crafted from two of Napa Valley’s most prized vineyards…”

— Matthew Kaner

Full Article

The 3 Most Exciting
New Napa Valley Wineries
Debuting This Fall

Robb Report
September 17, 2024

“Annulus is debuting with three wines, two single-vineyard bottlings and a Napa Valley cuvée crafted by the powerhouse team of well-known Napa winemaker Nigel Kinsman and consulting enologist Michel Rolland…”

— Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen

Full Article

Napa Valley Family Releases Its First Wines Made From Top Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyards

Forbes
July 2024

“For this family… Annulus Cellars wines would reflect the heart of winemaking in their beloved valley, where families place every… fiber of their being into their wines…”

— Cathrine Todd

Full Article

Iconic Vineyards and a Cult Winemaker: Napa Valley’s Annulus Wines

Haute Living
Summer 2024

“Kinsman’s classical approach [and]… focus on highlighting purity of fruit and vineyard expression leads to beautifully balanced, complex wines with great aging potential.”

— Fran Miller

Full Article

Small Wonders: Five Small-Production Napa Vineyards You Need to Know Now

San Francisco Magazine
June 2024

“Launched this year, Annulus… sources grapes from Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard and Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard, first planted in the 1840s and 1884, respectively…”

— Jillian Dara

Full Article