The 2016 Screaming Eagle is, as usual, mainly Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple colored, it leaps from the glass with bright, exuberant blackberries, kirsch and warm blackcurrants scents plus touches of lavender, roses, tilled black loam, wild sage and dark chocolate with wafts of yeast extract, underbrush and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, firm and fine grained, with amazing freshness, it is layered with crunchy black and red fruits, sparked by floral and mineral notions and finishing with epic length and depth.- LPB

A very vertical wine with creamy, silky tannins running through the center of the wine and plenty of berries, herbs and currants intertwined with the tannins. Some tile and licorice undertones. It’s medium-to full-bodied. Excellent complexity. Extremely long. Svelte and racy.

The team at Screaming Eagle first declared that they wouldn’t be releasing their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon in 2017, yet they were able to make a draconian selection, so there’s a minuscule amount of the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon scheduled to be released only in magnums. It’s unquestionably a beautiful wine and has the classic elegance and regal quality this cuvée always shows as well as pure aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, acacia flowers, and subtle background oak. With medium to full body, a seamless, multi-dimensional texture, and great tannin quality, it’s going to be accessible with short-term cellaring and, given the magnum-only format, evolve at a glacier pace.

(96+ points) The 2017 Screaming Eagle is a deeply intriguing, fascinating wine, as it represents just a small portion of the harvest in that only pre-fire lots were used here (and in The Flight). As a result, the 2017 is unusually bright and tightly wound, with a decidedly savory, mineral-infused, old school-leaning personality. I won't be surprised if the 2017 turns out to be even better than this note suggests, although I also don't expect I will taste it too often given that the entire production was bottled in magnum. - By Antonio Galloni on November 2018