Or like a Port! 
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You know the answer!
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Haha, I think the Cabs I like would taste like port to you anyway! Enjoy your blended, strained bell peppers and pie cherries with lemon juice!
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You are describing characteristics that you just don’t encounter in Napa cabs though. I think I understand the type you like as being a full throttle ten (on 1 to 10 scale) but there really aren’t any on the other side of the scale that would present as a 1. I’d say you might find some 4’s but who’s making this green acid cranberry stuff 
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The pendulum has to swing back, otherwise people won’t be able to tell Snoop Dogg Cali Red from Harlan.
You find the likes of, for example, William & Mary a ten out of ten on the full throttle scale?
Snoops Cab has always been more like a Franc, quite herbaceous, dank, and odiferous.
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This is a great point. I’ve tried more than one affordably priced Bordeaux from Costco recently that to me was very similar to my last tastes of (insert big named, big priced Napa Cab here). I think there is a lot of label confirmation for people but at the very least you can drink what you enjoy more regularly and buy fewer of those pricey labels while saving them for the bigger dinners and such.
I think like with many things in life we are over simplifying things to be black or white. Sour tart cherry bell pepper lemon juice vs. saw dust and port/raisins. In reality we need to look at things on a spectrum of ripeness.
I think in the ‘current state of the wine industry’ thread a few months ago someone made the point about how oak extracts at different alcohol levels. 16% abv in 100% new oak will taste way more oaky than if the wine was 13% abv.
Then there is the discussion about ripeness at harvest and water/acid additions. Grapes harvested at 26 brix can be watered back to 14% before going to barrel, giving some of that super ripe fruit with less of the oak impact.
What I am trying to say is there are a lot of variables at play here, and I think the industry will always have a very diverse range of styles. Plenty of wine to go around and plenty of styles to choose from
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100%
I think the problem with the direction of this conversation is that the OP is describing something that isn’t actually real (or at least materially). It comes across as someone just trying to stir the pot or has never actually tasted these wines.
Having said that, I do think there is an actual conversation to be had on this topic. For instance, @Roy_Piper previously shared his thoughts that there is a general movement to throttle things back a little (basically the risk/cost is no longer worth the reward). However, those are small adjustments - not going from 10 to 1. The avg brix picked across Napa/California will always be on the higher end of the overall spectrum because that’s the nature of the location/current climate but it may trend lower than what it has been.
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@Matt_England , may I translate your post?
OP is a moron and his argument is just pot stirring. However, OP has a point…
Am I about right?
sorry if it came off that way to you. I think there is an underlying topic that is relevant but how you are describing the wines seems like you haven’t actually tasted them before. This is then causing a distraction in your argument that makes it hard to take seriously.
FWIW - I don’t think W&M is dialed up at a 10, nor do most people. What we are really talking about are different points in the bell curve
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This was my thought exactly. I am very curious @Brandon_R have you tried wines from Mowe, Beta etc? Not trying to argue because I do see your point, theres a lot of conversation on these forums over this “new wave” of napa producers making much more elegant wines than what you might find elsewhere in Napa.
A couple of weeks ago, I opened a bottle of 2016 Lexington Cabernet Sauvignon from Gist Ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains and was taken aback by the acidity. I count myself a member of the AFWE, but this was not that pleasant – the first day. I was shocked that anyone was making wine like this. (I don’t remember the alcohol, but I think it was 14%. [Later add: It was labeled at 14.5%.])
But drinking the remainder over several days (refrigerated in between), it fleshed out and gained real classic cab flavors and was quite delicious. There was still more acid than I expect in a Cal cab, but it came into balance. So, while it was a surprise at first, it ultimately showed well.
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Recently I’ve felt like the 2016 vintages from SCM are asleep. Makes sense that it would have taken some time to come around. Bit of a cooler year if i remember correctly
I think the fact that some California Cabernet producers are “dialing it back a little” will lead to greater availability of more diverse styles, not less. That’s a good thing for consumers IMO. I like that they’re heading in that direction.
Now if they can only survive the broad decline in wine consumption.
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There is obviously a glut of the long time status quo. How could anyone blame a subset of producers trying to carve their own niche in the market that’s been underrepresented for a long time.
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I think the OP would like to see more chatter about the wines that appeal to him, but directionally the amount of posts that get a lot of attention are wines similar to BETA. I like all kinds of different cabs. There are days when a Bevan, Myriad or Fait-Main are exactly what I need. I actually didn’t buy those in 2023, opting to wait for the 2024s to be released. The vintage just seems to be more aligned to the profile modern cab producers are trying to create.
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I just read a big thing of tasting notes on about a hundred and change 2021 Napa Cabs. What I found most interesting was how all over the place reported ABVs were from like 15.8% to some well under 14%, including from seasoned vets like Spottswoode coming in at 13.6%. What I also chuckled at was you not wanting cabs to be like those from the late 90s. I assume you’re referring exclusively to 97, because 98 was not a big year and 99 was mostly cool with late heat and abvs that were, for the most part, well below the alarmingly high wines from the early to mid 2000s and 2010s.
I admit that I am not a big Napa cab drinker anymore, but that’s largely because I witnessed and experienced a consolidation of winemaking, a resulting consolidation of style (more new oak, riper fruit), and a push to the boundary of “too big” until there was consumer pushback.
Frankly I’m exceptionally grateful of the direction Napa winemakers are taking. There appears to be more stylistic heterogeneity than ever before. One can now more easily find lower alcohol higher acid wines than in previous years, and there is also a glut of the big rich bombers.
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This isn’t relevant to the topic, but man, I find the idea of a nearly 16% ABV non-fortified wine insane. Like, what ethanol concentration do you need before Saccharomyces starts to die? Surely we must be approaching some sort of upper limit to this.
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