Some wines announce themselves quietly. Earthquake is not one of them. Michael David Winery is a sixth-generation family farming operation in Lodi, California — a region that has been producing wine since the Gold Rush era and that is now recognised as one of California’s most exciting and characterful appellations, where the deep, sandy soils, warm days, and cool Delta breezes from San Francisco Bay create conditions of quite extraordinary quality for the production of bold, concentrated, and deeply expressive red wines. The Phillips family have been farming this land since 1850, and their Earthquake range represents the fullest and most powerful expression of what Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon can achieve: wines of real intensity, depth, and drama that have earned a devoted following among those who love California red wine at its most uncompromising and completely itself. The name is no accident — Lodi sits in one of California’s most seismically active regions, and the Earthquake wines carry that same sense of force, energy, and raw power in every glass. The 2021 is a bold, full-bodied Cabernet of real character and presence: intense dark fruit on the nose — blackberry and plum — with mocha, espresso, and toasty oak notes that together create a bouquet of extraordinary richness and complexity. On the palate it is generous and powerful, with the depth and structure that come from the addition of Petite Sirah — a variety that adds an inky richness and a tannic grip that gives the wine a persistence and presence on the palate that is quite remarkable. At £38.99, it is Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon at its most dramatic, most concentrated, and most completely itself.