2015 J. Moss Cabernet Sauvignon Mee Lane Rutherford 750 ml

We’ll never forget the first time we tasted a Cabernet from James Moss. It was two decades ago, and James was doing sales for a national distributor (as he still does now). At the end of his presentation, he pulled out a shiner and poured off five tastes for us. 

We were stunned—it was a bold, concentrated Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with tons of pure cassis fruit and $100+ caliber length. James beamed, and said proudly he said in his Texas drawl. “I made it in my garage. One barrel.”

When we tasted James’s 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford, we had a fond flashback to that day. Made from a single vineyard at the end of Mee Lane next to the Wagner family’s Emmolo River Ranch, the wine is hitting its stride today, with intense cherry and blackcurrant flavors, enhanced by lilac and dark roses with plenty of spice. It’s mouthfilling and simply gorgeous.

“I go for a lot of extraction and rich fruit,” James explained of his style. “The 337 clone in this vineyard has smaller berries, plus there was the drought in 2015, so it really lent itself to that intense style.”

The vineyard has a hand in that too. Jim Meehan’s Lagniappe Vineyard in Rutherford is over 25 years old. Before it was planted, the soil was ripped very deep and augmented with volcanic gravel to improve its drainage, which worked perfectly. The vineyard was so impressive that James bought all of Meehan’s Cabernet for three vintages.

We’ve always admired James: The amount of work it took to build this nationally-distributed, black-owned brand is simply staggering. We’ll be toasting him with this perfectly-aged Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon.