92 Points, James Suckling
Very textural and chewy, this wine is lively, deep and youthful, offering exuberant red and black cherries with accents of bay leaves, raspberries and mint. Backed by fine-grained tannins and good, lively acidity on a full body.
Now if the Venge name sounds familiar, it’s probably because Kirk’s dad, Niles, is the man responsible for making the first American 100-point wine in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate history for his 1985 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve bottling.
His son Kirk is no slouch himself. A lifetime in wine has earned him incredible expertise as well as amazing friendships – so he’s a luckier man than most. After all, most winemakers don’t get to make wines off Beckstoffer, Baciagalupi, Antinori, Platt, Stagecoach and Dutton Vineyards… But Kirk does annually with his various projects between his two own properties: Venge Vineyards and Croix Estate along with nearly a dozen consulting gigs like Jax and the small cult Cab winery Eleven Eleven.
But what was supposed to be a one or two year thing at Jax has turned into 15 years of Kirk Venge having free range to do what he wants with a smattering of the best vineyards throughout the North Coast.