2002 California Cabernet Retrospective: Wines in Top Shape

For the past 30 years, Wine Spectator senior editor James Laube has been reviewing and writing about California Cabernets. Each year, he conducts blind retrospective tastings of older vintages. He recently tasted wines from 2002. It’s a way, Laube says, to examine how California wines age and recommend when the wines are at their peak. It’s also fun, he says, to find the surprises—good and otherwise—that come with cellaring wines. Here are his notes on 61 top 2002 California Cabernets at age 10.