Known for its ageability, Napa’s Cabernet Sauvignon is typically a wine to lay down for years.

In the heat affected 2022 vintage, you’ll find wines of warmth and generosity that won’t need time to come into their own, Jonathan Cristaldi offers a guide on wines to open now, what to sit on for a year or two and which wines produced in this hot year are built for the long haul.

Scroll down for Jonathan’s suggestions on when to drink his favourite Napa 2022 Cabernets

Short-term pleasure

These are wines for the hedonist. Immediately pleasurable, these 2022 Cabernets may get better, but are certainly ready now.

They offer a mix of just-ripe red and black-fruited profiles, typically are medium-to-full-bodied, and have plump, soft tannins that are so well-integrated the drinking experience is effortless, like accepting an invitation to dine at The French Laundry on someone else’s dime.

Paul Hobbs Cuvee Sophia Proprietary Red, Napa Valley (Coombsville)

Perhaps the most approachable at the pull of the cork this wine will ever be, with plenty of tannins for potential cellaring, but really, it is accessible early on.

Amici Cellars Hirondelle Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (Stags Leap District)

With softer tannins than typical vintages, this is a wine to enjoy early and often.

Moone-Tsai Cor Leonis Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Balanced valley-floor juiciness and rich fruit with fine, grippy tannins and loads of brown spices, begging for lamb and burger pairings. Those spices will evolve nicely in the next 5-7 years.

Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

With early, upfront appeal, the wine’s gentle tannins and integrated cedarwood spices create a smooth, approachable texture, making this an easygoing yet refined Napa Cabernet.

V. Sattui Winery Vittorio’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (St Helena)

Extremely gentle tannins further enhance its upfront juiciness and approachable, easy-drinking nature.

Grace Family Vineyards Reliquus Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (St Helena)

Reliquus is crafted from a blend of fruit sourced from Grace Family’s estate vineyards in the St. Helena AVA. Designed to be approachable and easy-drinking. 93/100

Maxville Winery The High Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Fantastic depth and concentration, supported by a framework of robust, well-structured tannins.

The Vice Batch #142 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

It is a well-structured, food-friendly wine with depth and approachability.

Click here for scores and reviews of all 650+ 2022 Napa Cabernets tasted

Mid-term appeal

These wines are for collectors at ease with their current stash—those content to lay bottles down for a year or two before pulling the cork. That extra time in the bottle will yield a finer integration of tannins, which, in the end, is all about mouthfeel.

Do you favour satin or velvet? Silk or cotton? These are meticulously made wines that arguably ought to have been held back by the winery for another vintage or two – yet when cash flow calls, who can afford the luxury?

Tuck them away and start enjoying their emerging complexities come next summer.

Morlet Family Vineyards Passionnément Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley (Oakville)

Full-bodied and densely packed, the palate is layered with robust, compact tannins that thread seamlessly into a long finish, and still, Morlet’s 2022s are all well-suited to pairing with lengthy meals and are a pleasure to enjoy early and often.

Inglenook Rubicon Napa Valley (Rutherford)

Really impressive for its classic dusty mineral and earth character, full body, and balanced tension. Easier-going than 2021 and 2019 and ideal for earlier enjoyment. 95/100

Eleven Eleven XI Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (Oak Knoll)

From Oak Knoll, where wines enjoyed cooler temps, leading to structure, powerful tannins, and still compact and coiled up.

Dalla Valle Vineyards Maya, Napa Valley (Oakville)

Right out of the gate, at the cork’s pull, it is medium-bodied and so approachable in 2022. This wine is a real treat for collectors because it offers youthful exuberance with easy-drinking upfront appeal, but it has the structure to cellar as well. Best to let 2021 and 2019 keep slumbering.

Realm Cellars The Bard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

This wine delivers the rich, dark fruit signature of Realm, layered with the kind of density and concentration not quite characteristic of the warmer vintage.

Hoopes Dante’s Block Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (Oakville)

This barrel selection offers a complete wine with all the hallmarks of great Napa Cab, from ripe fruit to leather and tobacco spice and a medley of dried herbs matched by cool minerality, all traits that will reward with secondary and tertiary notes later.

Long-term reward

Whether you’ve a home cellar, a reliable high-end wine fridge, or off-site storage, these are the bottles that merit long-term cellaring. Ideally, you’d have at least three, six, or a full case—tasting them young, again in five years, and then enjoying them steadily after seven or eight years of rest.

These are the finest-crafted wines from a hot vintage—wines made by winemakers who, during the latter stages of harvest, tended their vines more devotedly than their families.

The result is unmistakably in the glass. They offer immediate appeal, but will reach their peak between eight and 10 years from vintage.

Ad Vivum Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (Yountville)

Not enough wines from Yountville were tasted in 2022 to produce an AVA-specific report, but this wine from Chris Phelps is pure magic, with suave appeal and Bordelais-like building tannins atop a juicy centre.

Matthiasson Phoenix Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

One of the most complex wines of the vintage, leading with spicy Calabrian chilli oil, blue fruits and loads of spice with assertive tannins underscored by an electric sense of energy and tension.

Cathiard Vineyard Founding Brothers, Napa Valley

Super compact and driven by tension and vivacious fruit, a real vintage standout with incredible freshness.

Annulus Cellars Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (Oakville)

Stylish, suave, and expressive, sporting superfine tannins infused with an iron-scented minerality. Juicy and approachable now, but worth holding

Arrow&Branch Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (Oakville)

Compact, tension-filled, vibrant, energetic, and built for the long haul. Best from 2027 and on.

AXR V. Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (St. Helena)

From a site at the base of Spring Mountain, this wine offers the magical upfront pleasure of dark ripe fruits, superfine tannins and energy. Because forests surround the site, the microclimate created helped mitigate the impacts of the 2022 heat spell.

Harlan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (Oakville)

There’s an incredible freshness and tension, and compared to 2021, despite the earlier harvest, the clarity, generosity, and crunch of the bright fruit stand out. Arguably hedonistic and one you can revel in at the pull of the cork.

Napa Valley 2022: The drinking windows

Related articles

• Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full report and buying guide 
• Napa Cabernet 2021: Score table
• Napa Valley 2021 Cabernets home page

The 2022 vintage in St Helena delivered wines with a signature polish, depth and elegance despite the challenges of the heat dome.

Due to its location in the warmest part of the valley floor, St Helena tends to produce rich, fruit-forward wines.

To read all coverage of the Napa Cabernet 2022 vintage use the code NAPA22 for a 20% discount off an annual Premium subscription

However, this vintage saw remarkable balance, freshness and vibrant energy across many bottlings.

Winemakers who harvested strategically before the extreme heat preserved bright acidity and structure, leading to wines that retain both immediate appeal and ageing potential.

St Helena 2022: The top-performing producers

Colgin Cellars

AXR

Vida Valiente

Bure Family Wines

Corison

Morlet Family Vineyards

Memento Mori

Patria

Annulus Cellars

The fruit profile of St Helena wines in 2022 is defined by a mix of ripe black cherry, blackberry, cassis and spiced plum, often accented by red-fruited lift – raspberry, pomegranate, and cherry pit – bringing vibrancy and freshness.

Some wines showcase blue fruit character, a notable trait for this AVA.

A mineral streak of graphite, crushed rock and saline elements runs through several wines, highlighting the diverse soils of the AVA, from alluvial fans to deep gravel beds.

Notes of sagebrush, bay laurel, and tobacco reflect the influence of nearby mountain slopes and forested areas, contributing to a savoury and structured edge in contrast to the lush fruit core.

St Helena wines in 2022 exhibit well-integrated tannins, ranging from silky, plush and velvety in more approachable bottlings to firm, pixelated and tension-driven in the most structured examples.

While some wines show classic Napa richness and density, others surprise with a taut, refined structure reminiscent of Bordeaux.

St Helena at a glance

Climate Due to greater protection from western hills, St Helena is warmer with less fog or wind incursions from the Bay. This narrowest part of the Napa Valley floor reflects more heat off the hillsides.

Soils South and west borders are more sedimentary, gravel-clay soils; further north and to the east, soils are volcanic in origin.

Elevation 61m-145m

Acidity remains impressively fresh, particularly in wines sourced from Beckstoffer Dr. Crane, Beckstoffer Las Piedras, and high-elevation parcels near Spring Mountain, ensuring balance in this warm vintage.

Wines from Dr. Crane, Las Piedras and sites near Spring Mountain will benefit from five– 20+ years of ageing, thanks to structured tannins, deep fruit complexity and firm acidity.

These include Beckstoffer Dr. Crane (Sam Kaplan, B Cellars), Las Piedras (Vice Versa, Annulus) and select estate Cabernets from Tychson Hill and Bure Family.

Click here for scores and reviews of all 650+ 2022 Napa Cabernets tasted

Many St. Helena wines in 2022 are beautifully polished and ready to enjoy now, with ripe fruit, soft tannins and elegant textures.

Wines from Morlet, Spottswoode and select estate bottlings are balanced, expressive and enjoyable over the next 10 years.

Consumers who prefer high-acid, cool-climate Cabernets, may want to skip over the St Helena wines in 2022 as they lean into fruit-driven depth and richness, rather than a more restrained, structured style.

Cristaldi’s 2022 value picks from St Helena

J Lohr Carol’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Corison Cabernet Sauvignon

Salvestrin Dr. Crane Vineyard, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Crocker & Starr Wines, RLC, Cabernet Sauvignon

Napa Valley Cabernet 2022: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

St Helena 2022: the top-scoring Cabernets

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• Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full report and buying guide 
• Napa Cabernet 2021: Score table

The 2022 Oakville vintage is a study in balance, depth and precision, despite the challenges of a heatwave year.

Oakville’s diverse terroir – ranging from the gravelly alluvial fans on the western bench to the iron-laced, volcanic soils of the eastern slopes – allowed for remarkable retention of freshness and structure even in a warm vintage.

To read all coverage of the Napa Cabernet 2022 vintage use the code NAPA22 for a 20% discount off an annual Premium subscription

Wines from top estates – including those sourced from Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, Vine Hill Ranch, Oakville Ranch, and iconic producers like Harlan Estate, Dalla Valle and Screaming Eagle – exemplify polished, structured and finely detailed expressions of Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon.

Oakville 2022: The top-performing producers

Annulus Cellars

Arrow&Branch

Screaming Eagle

Dalla Valle Vineyards

Rudd Estate

Harlan

Nickel & Nickel

The Debate

Kinsman Eades

Morlet Family Vineyards

Purlieu

Schrader Cellars

Winemakers leverage meticulous farming, precise harvesting and careful oak integration to craft wines of both power and refinement.

In the glass, these wines exhibit classic Oakville black fruits of black cherry, blackcurrant and cassis, though several wines feature brighter, red-toned cherry and pomegranate lift.

Expect layers of sagebrush, bay laurel and dried wild herbs, along with incense, sandalwood and cedarwood spice from oak ageing. Many wines showcase a striking ironstone, graphite or crushed rock minerality, elevating the depth and structure.

The gravelly and volcanic soils lend themselves to firm, mineral-laced tannins, giving wines length, tension, and longevity. While some wines display more plush, velvety tannins, others maintain grippy, structured and framing tannins for long-term cellaring.

Buyers will want to look for wines that have ‘Vine Hill Ranch’ or ‘Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard’ on the label, and collectors should be eyeing the wines from FUTO, Harbison, Screaming Eagle, and Harlan Estate. Due to their firm structure, deep concentration and impeccable balance, these wines are built for long-term ageing (15–30 years).

Oakville at a glance

Climate Moderately warm and heavily affected by the cooling influence of the morning fog and evening fog. The eastern side of Oakville is exposed to the warm afternoon sun.

Soils The Oakville soils are fairly deep and retain moisture but vary along an east/west delineation. The eastern soils tend to be iron-rich and volcanic, while those on the western side of the AVA tend towards sedimentary soils in the form of gravelly loam.

Elevation Oakville runs the spectrum from the valley floor at 30m and extends 150m up the Mayacamas and 300m up the the side of the Vaca Mountains.

Three of my top-scoring wines from the entire vintage are from this AVA – Annulus Cellar’s Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet, Arrow&Branch’s Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet, and Harbison Estate’s ‘Horsehoe’ Cabernet (a site that borders Screaming Eagle’s vines).

They all delivered wines that exhibit a combination of power and finesse, ideal for long-haul collectors, and best of all, upfront drinking appeal.

Click here for scores and reviews of all 650+ 2022 Napa Cabernets tasted

Dalla Valle, Oakville Ranch, and PlumpJack Reserve offer lush, approachable fruit with fine-grained tannins, perfect for early drinking (up to 10 years). Amici Cellar’s Beckstoffer To Kalon is one of the most immediately enjoyable To Kalon expressions from this vintage, perfect for earlier drinking.

If you enjoy layered, mineral-driven Cabernet Sauvignon, look for Fait-Main Tierra Roja and Käännös Vine Hill Ranch.

Cristaldi’s 2022 value picks from Oakville

B Cellars, Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Nickel & Nickel John C. Sullenger Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Bacio Divino, Janzen, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Oakville Ranch, Cabernet Sauvignon,

AXR, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Gallica, Oakville Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Favia, Cabernet Sauvignon

Oakville 2022: the top-scoring Cabernets

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• Napa Cabernet 2021: Score table

Those 2014 Napa Cabs you’ve been eyeing in the cellar? Unsure if it’s time to pop corks? You’d hardly be alone in the sheer agony of wondering. After all, the 2014 vintage has stood in the shadow of the 2013 vintage, widely hailed as one of Napa’s finest this century.

Well, good news: for the most part, they are evolving quite nicely, even if inconsistency means they won’t quite qualify as anyone’s deathbed vintage.

Still, right now, they make for an excellent glass, and the best have decades to go.

Scroll down for Jonathan’s pick of 2014 Napa Cabernets

In early September, I spent a half day at the Napa Valley Vintners — the trade association which promotes the Napa Valley wine region — tasting mostly Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines from 2014.

As the Vintners initially reported, the 2014 harvest was ‘early, excellent,’ showing wines of ‘quality’, that were ‘exciting, fantastic, beautiful, demanding but fruitful’.

Another drought year

In reality, 2014 was the third consecutive year of drought, with rainfall totals half of normal levels. This resulted in a very early harvest, with most grapes – shockingly – picked before mid-October.

The growing season was cooler than in 2013 and 2012, with no heat spikes above 37.7°C. Berry sizes were small, leading to wines with concentrated flavours and soaring tannins.

‘Our yields were down slightly from the previous two vintages’, recalls Ray Signorello, proprietor of Signorello Estate. ‘The wines showed early promise, and 10 years out, deliver complexity, richness and depth. I feel they should continue to age gracefully for many years to come.’

The growing season is marked by the sobering 6.0 earthquake that struck at 3:20 am on 24 August 2024, thankfully before any major harvest work began — assuredly sparing many lives. Winemakers, for the most part, reported little disruption to harvest activities.

Shaken not stirred

One notable exception was Matthiasson Vineyards, which was significantly affected by the quake. Images of the toppled barrels at Matthiasson (similar to the one above at a different winery) spread quickly across social media and news sites.

The Matthiassons lost many barrels of wine and faced extensive damage to their 110-year-old farmhouse. Despite the losses, Jill and Steve Matthiasson focused on supporting their community — mainly displaced vineyard workers.

Today, the Matthiassons have rebounded and continue their work, focused on sustainable farming and producing lower-alcohol wines capable of long-term cellaring. Their 2014 Matthiasson Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley was among my top-scoring wines with 96-points.

Of the nearly 50 wines I sampled from the vintage at the Napa Valley Vintners, I’ve selected 35 that showcase the precision of winemaking and the quality of fruit that survived the challenges of the growing season.

Whether showing youthful power and more body and weight today or settling into refined elegance, the 2014 Napa Valley Cabernets embody a vintage marked by excellence and longevity — showing remarkable structure and balance across the board, with many wines hitting their stride.

My tasting notes reflect a range of characteristics, from youthful exuberance in some bottles to more developed, weightier wines, with secondary nuances in others. Many wines retain vibrant acidity and well-structured tannins, indicating their potential for further ageing.

A throughline in 2014

A notable hallmark of this vintage is the interplay of savoury and fruit-forward elements. The wines show bold blackcurrant and cherry fruits intertwined with complex earthy, mineral, and herbal notes like tobacco, sage, and graphite.

Some wines, especially those aged in mostly new French oak, still exhibit rich cocoa, cedar wood, and spice layers. A few wines still present muscular tannins requiring more time to soften, others are already approachable, showcasing an elegant balance between fruit and savoury depth.

Across the board, the wines continue to captivate, offering fresh intensity and ample fruit character with a solid backbone of acidity and tannin. This suggests that the best bottles still have years of life ahead.

Echoing these sentiments, Groth Vineyards & Winery winemaker Ted Henry likened the 2014 vintage to the recently concluded 2024 vintage in that it ‘was marked by a calm and steady growing season’.

Henry added: ‘Both years experienced ideal temperatures, characterised by mild, warm days. Given the remaining fruit on the palate at ten years old, I anticipate this vintage will drink well for at least another decade, if not longer.’

Napa Valley 2014: A look back

Related articles

• Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full report and buying guide 
• Napa Cabernet 2021: Score table
• Napa Valley 2021 Cabernets home page

Napa Cabernet 2021 vintage rating: 5/5

Authenticity, complexity, density and power are the hallmark traits of the 2021 Napa Cabernet wines. Savoury-packed and mineral-rich with ample mid-palate concentration and densely layered red and black-fruited profiles, wines are framed by compact tannins that etch themselves onto the palate with a fine, pinpoint granularity. They are unquestionably age-worthy wines.

There has been a paradigm shift in the last decade regarding what makes for a ‘value’ Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Napa Valley.

In the not-too-distant past, ‘value’ Cabernet fell within the super-premium category of US$35-$49.99.

But today, most ‘value’ Napa Cabs start at $50 and go up to $100, falling into the Ultra Premium category, as defined by NIQ.

Scroll down for a selection of 2021 top value Cabernets

Of the 500+ wines I tasted for my 2021 Napa Cabernet vintage report—a buyer’s guide of Napa’s finest wines – I sampled just over 100 wines that cost $100 or less, and of those, just four wines are under $50 USD while most hover between $60-$90.

For most up-and-coming wine drinkers considering investing in enough bottles to have around for cellaring, locking in either six or 12 bottles at $60-$80 apiece makes for a pretty steep barrier to entry.

However, to be clear, I’m talking about ‘value’ wines within the finest tiers of Napa’s producers.

Are there supermarket Cabernet Sauvignons available for $35-$49? Yes, if you’re shopping in the supermarket.

But are they all labelled as Napa Valley? No, they are more likely a larger catch-all like North Coast or a California appellation.

Napa Cabernet 2021: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

More precisely, price alone cannot determine a good value in Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Other factors are just as important—things like who made it and where the grapes came from.

Consider Caterwaul Cabernet Sauvignon, a $55 wine made by consultant winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, also the mastermind behind $300+ Schrader wines.

This leverages excellent fruit sources in Pope Valley along with elements from Brown’s numerous A+ vineyard sources to produce a hugely drinkable wine at an exceptional price point.

Or take Kirk Venge, another consultant winemaker who makes $335+ wines for clients like B Cellars. At the same time, his label, Venge Vineyards, offers a host of wines from $80-$125 per bottle from reputable sources like the famous Stagecoach Vineyard.

In instances like that, you have pedigree in the winemaking and the fruit sources, and the more consumers get to know the names of Napa’s top consultant winemakers and which brands they produce, the easier it will be to discover Cabernet from Napa is a real value, and not just by price alone.

Napa Cabernet 2021: Cristaldi’s best-value wines from each AVA

Calistoga 2021 top-value wines

Jax Vineyards, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga, Napa Valley, 2021

Venge Vineyards, Igneous Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga, Napa Valley, 2021

Canard Vineyard, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga, Napa Valley, 2021

Coombsville 2021 top-value wines

Matthiasson, Dead Fred Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville, Napa Valley, 2021

Terra Solis, CABi Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville, Napa Valley, 2021

Farella Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville, Napa Valley, 2021

Howell Mountain 2021 top-value wines

Black Stallion Estate Winery, Collector Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, 2021 

Oleandri, Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, 2021

Spring Mountain 2021 top-value wines

Ballard Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain, 2021

Barnett Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain, 2021

Oakville 2021 top-value wines

AXR, Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, 2021

La Pelle Red Hen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, 2021

Mending Wall, Oakville Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon

Crossroads By Rudd Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, 2021

TOR Wines, Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, 2021

Patria, Oakville Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, 2021

Rutherford 2021 top-value wines

Frog’s Leap, Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, 2021

Black Stallion Estate Winery, Collector Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, 2021

Grgich Hills Estate, Miljenko’s Selection, Rutherford, Napa Valley, 2021

Whitehall Lane Millennium MM Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, 2021

Stags Leap District 2021 top-value wines

Cliff Lede, Rhythm Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District, Napa Valley, 2021

Venge Vineyards, Annapurna Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District, Napa Valley, 2021

Chimney Rock, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District, Napa Valley, 2021

Mount Veeder 2021 top-value wines

The Hess Collection, Mt. Veeder Estate Cabernet, Mount Veeder, Napa Valley, 2021

Conn Creek, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder, Napa Valley, 2021

Hudson, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder, Napa Valley, 2021

Diamond Mountain 2021 top-value wines

Diamond Creek Vineyards, Three Vineyard Blend, Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley 2021 

Davies Vineyards, J. Davies Estate, Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley 2021

Materra, Cunat Family Vineyards, Diamond Mountain Reserve, Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley 2021

Baldacci Family Vineyards, Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley 2021

Oak Knoll 2021 top-value wines

Kanpai Wines, Hi No Tori Cabernet Sauvignon, Oak Knoll, Napa Valley, 2021

Sunshine Valley Vineyards Jubilee, Oak Knoll, Napa Valley, 2021

Clif Family Winery Kits Killer Cab, Oak Knoll, Napa Valley, 2021

Napa Valley 2021: the top value Cabernets

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• Napa Valley 2021 Cabernets home page

Napa Cabernet 2021: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Rutherford

The 2021 growing season turned out an ideal vintage for Napa Valley’s Rutherford producers and an especially good year for those who love the region’s calling card, ‘Rutherford dust’ spice aromas and grainy-dusty tannin profile.

In this dry year, Rutherford growers fared among the best of all the AVAs in the valley, producing a crop of wines widely viewed to have exceptional ageing potential. Like much of Napa in this drought year, 2021 saw an early growth spurt for the vines, followed by veraison in early July, culminating in fewer, smaller, and more concentrated berries developing evenly and smoothly.

This allowed for a picture-perfect harvest, with producers taking advantage of the opportunity for multiple passes through the vineyards to select optimally ripe berries.

It proved to be a tremendous recipe for capturing ripeness, power, and concentration without sacrificing acidity, structure, and (more importantly for Rutherford dust fans) terroir-specific nuance.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Rutherford & St Helena 2021 Cabernets

Rutherford at a glance

Climate:

Rutherford is still marginally influenced by early morning fog, its western bench area is cooler, with less late afternoon sun, tempered by afternoon marine winds. Many vineyard sites are above the fog line, providing warmer nights and cooler days than the valley floor.

Soils:

Its famous western benchland is comprised of sedimentary, gravelly-sandy and alluvial soils. The eastern side has more volcanic soils, moderately deep and more fertile.

Elevation:

155 to 500 feet (47 to 152 metres)

Rutherford 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Scarecrow
• Bella Oaks
• Inglenook
• Quintessa

St Helena

The St. Helena AVA, which fans out north and south around the pinching middle of Napa Valley’s ‘hourglass’ shape from the Vaca and Mayacamas mountains, which nearly come together north of the town centre, typically offers up ripe, sultry expressions of its sunny and warmer terroir.

However, 2021 added layers of complexity to the St. Helena style, partly due to the drought conditions. Back in 2020, cleansing rainfall in November and December was desperately needed and critical because that short bout of rain (following terrible fires) was succeeded by dry weather.

Less than 33 centimetres of rain fell through the entire remainder of the growing cycle.

While subsequent heat spells were rarer and short-lived in 2021, warm weather between bud break and bloom set meant vines in the St. Helena AVA sent out fewer shoots, resulting in smaller clusters and below-average yields (down as much as fifteen per cent from the previous 2020 vintage).

But the harvest was so even-keeled that some producers reported picking in eight separate passes, capturing anything and everything on offer by the grapes in this vintage, from increased acidity and lower alcohol levels to silky, ripe tannins and dense, dark fruit flavours.

The 2021s from St. Helena can be stunning, with ample depth of flavour balanced by vivacity and enough structure to suggest that this vintage might include some of the AVA’s most potentially long-lived reds.

St Helena at a glance

Climate:

Due to greater protection from western hills, St Helena is warmer with less fog or wind incursions from the Bay. This narrowest part of the Napa Valley floor reflects more heat off the hillsides.

Soils:

South and west borders are more sedimentary, gravel-clay soils; further north and to the east, soils are volcanic in origin.

Elevation:

200 to 475 feet (61 to 145 m)

St Helena 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Schrader Cellars
• B Cellars
• TOR Wines
• Corison
• Vice Versa

Cristaldi’s value picks from these appellations:

Frog’s Leap, Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, 2021

Black Stallion Estate Winery, Collector Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, 2021

Grgich Hills Estate, Miljenko’s Selection, Rutherford, 2021

Whitehall Lane Millennium MM Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, 2021

Sleeping Giant, Inglewood Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, 2021

Corison Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, 2021

Schrader Cellars, LPV Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, 2021

Rutherford & St Helena 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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• Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full report and buying guide 
• Napa Cabernet 2021: Score table
• Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Top wines from Rutherford & St Helena

Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

The ‘OKD’ as Oak Knoll District is commonly referred to in Napa, is also considered by growers to be the Valley’s ‘Goldilocks’ AVA, located as it is in a sweet spot at the southern end of the Valley, typically marked by a long growing season.

Temperatures here are cooler in summer than Napa Valley’s northern AVAs and drier in winter. However, the 2021 winter in OKD was something else altogether: it saw the lowest rainfall total in the AVA’s history (dating back to 1968) and came after another drought year in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, yields were low, but the resulting fruit was of exceptional quality: intensely aromatic, densely flavoured, and deeply structured.

Scroll down for the Oak Knoll District’s top 2021 Cabernets

Oak Knoll at a glance

Climate:

One of the coolest appellations in Napa owing to its southern locale and proximity to the bay, it can hold onto marine air and fog until late morning, leading to a cool to moderate climate. Late afternoon breezes frequently occur, maintaining slightly cooler temperatures than the upper, northern parts of the valley.

Soils:

The valley’s largest alluvial fan, formed by Dry Creek, is the Oak Knoll District’s defining feature. The northwest area is composed of volcanically derived soils, with stony or gravelly consistency. The south and east areas transition from gravel to silty clay loam.

Elevation:

Oak Knoll spans quite the range from 130-1,000 feet (40 to 305 metres).

With only a handful of heat spikes during the summer, ripening was even, and several producers used the opportunity to engage in multiple harvest passes. The early picking captured acidity and tannins, while the latter harvests captured plush, ripe fruit.

If that sounds like a recipe for fantastic palate balance, that’s because it is, and the 2021 OKD wines show a great combination of hedonistic excess and ageing potential.

Oak Knoll 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Kanpai Wines
• Eleven Eleven
• Black Stallion Estate Winery
• Sunshine Valley Vineyards
• Materra, Cunat Family Vineyards

Oak Knoll 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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Napa Cabernet 2021: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Spring Mountain

The idyllic and mountainous Spring Mountain AVA, reaching up to 640 meters of elevation on the northern and eastern slopes of the Mayacamas range, has always been about rugged individuality and an almost heroic performance from the vines, even in easy-going vintages.

In 2021, however, the vines struggled even more than usual, with little rain to quench their thirst. Yields varied almost block by block and were below average overall.

In nearly all cases, though, quality was exceptional, with growers and winemakers grinning from ear to ear early as the harvest came in.

The intensity of flavours and colours became the hallmarks of the 2021 wines from Spring Mountain, with concentration that’s rare even for the mountain fruit for which this AVA has become legendary.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Spring Mountain & Mt Veeder 2021 Cabernets

Spring Mountain at a glance

Climate:

One of Napa’s cooler to moderate appellations, dependent upon elevation and aspect. Many vineyard sites are situated above the fog line, providing warmer nights and cooler days than the valley floor.

Soils:

Spring Mountain is comprised of sedimentary soils of weathered sandstone and shale, which is very high draining.

Elevation:

600 to 2,600 feet (183 to 792 metres)

Spring Mountain 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Phillip Togni
• Stony Hill
• Vineyard 7 & 8

Mt Veeder

This Napa Valley sub-appellation is situated at elevations of 152 and 792 metres on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains.

The potential for making world-class wine from Mount Veeder has been evident since at least the 1860s.

While this AVA has long been defined by rugged terrain and difficult farming, it also has a softer side. It enjoys cooling influences from the San Pablo Bay (in fact, its daytime temperatures are among the coolest in Napa Valley, second only to neighbouring Carneros).

This combination of cool winds and temperatures means vines are treated to the most extended growing season and often the lowest yields in Napa Valley.

Given that 2021 was the second straight year of severe drought for Mount Veeder and the fact that vines took off in growth during a warm spring, by early summer, it was evident that yields would be lower even by Mount Veeder standards.

Cooler fall weather, beginning in August, brought a sigh of relief for this AVA’s growers. It afforded them the dual luxuries of a long ripening curve for their grapes and a laid-back approach to harvest that allowed for multiple passes for both canopy management and harvesting.

The best 2021 Mount Veeder wines are true standouts, products of what will be remembered as an excellent vintage, brimming with dense flavours, ample structure, and fascinating complexity.

Mt Veeder at a glance

Climate:

Mt Veeder is one of Napa’s cool to moderate appellations. Most vineyards sit above the valley’s signature fog, translating to warmer nights, cooler days, and less diurnal range.

Soils:

A former seabed, Mt Veeder is home to sedimentary soils, with shallow sandy or sandy-loam.

Elevation:

500 to 2,600 feet (152 to 792 metres)

Mt Veeder 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Pulido-Walker
• Conn Creek
• O’Shaughnessy Estate

Cristaldi’s value picks from these Mountain appellations:

Ballard Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain, 2021

Barnett Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain, 2021

The Hess Collection, Mt. Veeder Estate Cabernet, Mount Veeder, 2021

Conn Creek, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder, 2021

Hudson, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder, 2021

Spring Mountain & Mt Veeder 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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• Napa Cabernet 2021: Score table
• Napa Valley 2021 Cabernets: Top wines from Stags Leap District

Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

The Stags Leap District is named after a legend among the indigenous Wappo people, about a stag escaping a hunting party by leaping to its death at a gap in the rock promontory that sticks out in the foothills of the Vaca Mountain range.

Planted at elevation (over 120 metres above sea level) among hills pierced with large rocks, the slightly foreboding visage presented by the vineyards in the Stags Leap District AVA belies the supple, silky, and inviting wines produced there in 2021.

The preceding winter was colder than average, and, like the rest of Napa Valley, this area’s spring was dry. The 2021 vintage was Stags Leap District’s fourth consecutive year of below-average rainfall, and irrigation became tricky as wells fell to their lowest levels since 2017

Scroll down for the top Stags Leap District 2021 Cabernets

Stags Leap District at a glance

Climate:

Moderately warm with afternoon marine winds coming north from San Pablo Bay to cool the warmer air radiating off the bare rocks of Stags Leap itself and the surrounding hillsides.

Soils:

The soils in the Stags Leap District range from volcanic gravel loams on the valley floor to its rocky hillsides, with hard clay subsoils.

Elevation:

From sea level to about 120m in elevation.

Due to the drought, bloom and veraison were both accelerated to a lightning pace, resulting in lower yields of densely flavourful berries.

‘It was a lower-yielding vintage,’ noted Christopher Tynan, Director of Winemaking for Cliff Lede Vineyards, who emphasised that the quality of the 2021 harvest in Stags Leap was exceptional.

Tynan credits this to a growing season that was ‘very forgiving weather-wise,’ with ‘no significant heat spikes’ to over-ripen the fruit and a long picking window that allowed producers in the AVA ‘to capture that freshness and acidity,’ balancing the deep, sultry fruit flavours and concentration of the vintage.

Shafer winemaker Elias Fernandez said that with longer hang times and a perfect growing season, ‘the fruit looked phenomenal’. 

Stags Leap District 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
• Cliff Lede Vineyards
• Dalla Valle Vineyards
• Shafer
• Schrader

Stags Leap District 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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Napa Cabernet 2021: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Howell Mountain

Wine producers who source grapes and farm grapes on Napa’s Howell Mountain were already well positioned for the drought conditions presented by the 2021 vintage.

Situated above the fog line and planted on mountainous slopes that are naturally well-draining, prime vineyards in Howell Mountain often produce lower yields of small berry clusters – all made even more pronounced by the lack of precipitation in 2021.

From bud break and flowering to bloom, fruit set, and veraison, everything came in ahead of schedule and offered producers the luxury of a weeks-long harvesting window.

Most producers in this AVA are used to the kind of canopy management that helps tame the powerful tannic structure and deep fruit concentration that vines growing here provide.

The savviest producers were well positioned to take advantage of the additional depth of fruit offered up in the 2021 harvest, resulting in typically muscular reds that showcase impressive length and robust, pixelated tannins.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Howell & Diamond Mountain 2021 Cabernets

Howell Mountain at a glance

Climate:

Located above the fog line on the eastern side of the valley, the AVA is warmer and drier than other AVAs. This mountain appellation has more hours of sunshine and very little, if any, maritime influence.

Soils:

Predominantly volcanic, shallow and infertile. Drainage is high, and soil fertility is quite low.

Elevation:

1,400 to 2,600 feet (427 to 792 metres)

Howell Mountain 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Stony Hill
• Simon Family Estate
• Adamvs
• Sylvan Lake Vineyards
• Outpost

Diamond Mountain

Like the rest of Napa Valley, the 2021 growing season on Diamond Mountain – a dramatic, rugged growing area rich in volcanic soils – kicked off with only small amounts of rain, leading to a relatively small spring bud break and, eventually, small but flavour-packed grapes.

The sigh of relief? Despite being a dry year, 2021 was mostly smooth sailing in this rugged AVA, with warmth and consistency and a total lack of dramatic fire and heat events of the previous vintage. Depth and complexity rule the day when it comes to Diamond Mountain’s 2021 offerings.

Unlike most of the rest of the valley, lower-than-normal yields weren’t as much of a factor (so you’ll stand a decent chance at getting your hands on one of their exceptional 2021 releases).

The 2021 vintage on Diamond Mountain reminds Diamond Creek winemaker Graham Wehmeier of the 2013 vintage, ‘as far as structure but not the generosity of the crop,’ he said. ‘But that core and density of the tannin quality is similar.’

Diamond Mountain at a glance

Climate:

Moderately warm temperatures with lower high temps and higher lows than the floor of Napa Valley. All owing to topography and altitude. Temperatures range from 50 to 90°F (10 to 32°C) in growing season.

Soils:

Uplifted soils of volcanic origin. The soils are fine-grained, even gritty in texture, and composed of weathered sedimentary and volcanic origin.

Elevation:

400 to 2,200 feet (122 to 671 metres)

Diamond Mountain 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Diamond Creek Vineyards
• Kinsman Eades
• JH Wheeler

• Cristaldi’s value picks from these Mountain appellations:Black Stallion Estate Winery, Collector Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, 2021Oleandri, Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, 2021Diamond Creek Vineyards, Three Vineyard Blend, Diamond Mountain, 2021Davies Vineyards, J. Davies Estate, Diamond Mountain, 2021Materra, Cunat Family Vineyards, Diamond Mountain Reserve, Diamond Mountain, 2021Baldacci Family Vineyards, Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain, 2021

Howell & Diamond Mountain 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

The 2021 vintage in Oakville produced some of Napa Valley’s best wines, hewn from a growing season that was even, calm, and free from the impacts of wildfires or significant heat spikes.

However, this was not a vintage devoid of some drama for Oakville growers: coming right after another dry season, Oakville received only about 35% of its average rainfall across the 2020 and 2021 vintages.

The lack of available moisture forced an early bud break in the vines and smaller canopies. While yields were 25% lower than average, and berries were smaller than usual, careful crop thinning was required due to the lighter canopies to ensure that the developing fruit didn’t get burned.

Scroll down for the Oakville 2021 Cabernets rated 98-100 points

Oakville at a glance

Climate:

Moderately warm and heavily affected by the cooling influence of the morning fog and evening fog. The eastern side of Oakville is exposed to the warm afternoon sun.

Soils:

The Oakville soils are fairly deep and retain moisture but vary along an east/west delineation. The eastern soils tend to be iron-rich and volcanic, while those on the western side of the AVA tend towards sedimentary soils in the form of gravelly loam.

Elevation:

Oakville runs the spectrum from the valley floor at 130ft (30m) and extends 500ft(150m) up the Mayacamas and 1000ft(300m) up the the side of the Vaca Mountains.

‘We had smaller canopies and fewer leaves, and spring got off to a cool, late start,’ recalled Nick Gislison of Screaming Eagle. ‘So late bud break and slow development because our soils were dry and temperatures were moderate meant that it took longer for everything to get ripe.’

A few brief heat spikes did little to impact the vines, and harvest in Oakville was a leisurely affair for most growers, but the more concentrated fruit required a gentle hand in the cellar to preserve aromatic nuance in the final wines.

The 2021 Oakville reds are dark, weighty, and dense on the palate, balanced by a beautiful sense of energy.

There are some great wines to be found.

Oakville 2021: the top-performing producers:

• Simon Family Estate
• Screaming Eagle
• Dalla Valle Vineyards
• Rudd Estate
• Harlan
• B Cellars

Oakville 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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Having tasted over 500 wines, Jonathan Cristaldi delivers his summary and buying advice for the Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 releases. Drought conditions, light winter rains, and a cool spring set the stage for one of the best growing seasons in the last 25 years.

After a delayed bud break, near-perfect conditions persisted throughout Napa Valley, and harvest came on the early side, delivering positively gorgeous wines that are concentrated, layered, and framed by ripe, sleek, and densely packed, super-fine tannins, with loads of savoury qualities and vivid minerality.

Napa Cabernet 2021 vintage rating: 5/5

Authenticity, complexity, density and power are the hallmark traits of the 2021 Napa Cabernet wines. Savoury-packed and mineral-rich with ample mid-palate concentration and densely layered red and black-fruited profiles, wines are framed by compact tannins that etch themselves onto the palate with a fine, pinpoint granularity. They are unquestionably age-worthy wines.

The low-yielding 2021 crop of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in Napa Valley delivered bewildering wines of authenticity, total intrigue, bordering on the flirtatious, with captivating complexity and staying power designed to build impressionable nuance over long-term cellaring.

So, if you stopped reading this report right here and set about buying up as many bottles as you can find, you’ll be thanking us in the years to come. But read on to understand why this is such a terrific year.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Napa Cabernets of 2021

A dream come true

Stylistically, smaller berries and lower yields imbued the 2021s with ample mid-palate concentration and densely layered red and black-fruited profiles framed by compact tannins that etch themselves onto the palate with a fine, pinpoint granularity.

The name of the game is patience when it comes to the best Cabernets, of which there are many—and those can cellar for decades. Early enjoyment requires letting the wines breathe before pouring.

‘The first thing to note is there was a massive sigh of relief coming off the back of 2020,’ said consultant winemaker Nigel Kinsman. ‘So much so that I remember being ecstatic as the fruit was being weighed and seeing what we had and counting our blessings.’

According to almost every grape grower and winemaker throughout Napa, 2021 was an ideal season—a gift following the 2020 fires and massive concerns of smoke taint. As Atelier Melka’s Maayan Koschitkzy puts it: ‘2021 was a dream vintage for us.’

Click here to see all Cristaldi’s notes and scores for over 500 2021 Napa Cabernets

Trying circumstances

Dreams aside, ‘2021 was definitely a drought year,’ said consultant winemaker Celia Welch, ‘and many of the challenges revolved around ensuring that the vines stayed balanced with shorter shoot lengths, smaller canopies and an overall smaller crop.’

Welch acknowledges that there is bound to be a scarcity of 2021 wines due to the reduced crop size but encourages seeking them out for ‘their flavour intensity and concentration [that] will give the fruit essences great durability’.

Welch also painted 2021 in a broader sense of what was happening in the world with testing and every attempt made to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while keeping businesses running.

‘For winemakers, this meant that we were trying to make sure we had barrel deliveries on time, enough manpower to get the harvesting and fermentations managed appropriately, all while staying healthy ourselves.’

Napa Cabernet 2021: Cristaldi’s wines of the vintage

Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Nathan Coombs Estate, Coombsville

Ovid Cabernet Sauvignon

Rudd Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Philip Togni, Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain

Matthiasson, Phoenix Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Macauley Vineyard, Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Ad Vivum, Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville

Ulysses, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Dry beginnings

Tracking the growing season from the tail end of 2020, the winter rains came late, not until November and December and not quite enough of it. By early spring, drought conditions persisted, followed by a relatively cool spring.

Temperatures rarely rose above 26.6°C (80°F) until May and June. Bloom and veraison were relatively rapid, and July, August, and September were warm, but temperatures rarely spiked above 32°C (90°F).

‘Across the valley, winemakers knew they didn’t have sufficient water resources to take the fruit through to the end of harvest,’ said TOR winemaker Jeff Ames, ‘and many had to drop fruit, which further decreased yields.’

‘2021 required a lot of patience,’ said Nick Gislason, winemaker for Screaming Eagle, ‘The growing season was even-keeled and on the later side. There were no pressures during harvest. The single biggest marker of our wines is intensity and focus with real perfumed notes.’

Though cool weather in the spring delayed bud break, the perfect growing conditions that persisted throughout the summer months led to an earlier harvest—a pivotal fact because, by October, a series of atmospheric rivers brought nearly 25cm (10 inches) of rain.

Wrapping up early

‘Harvest was completed by mid-September,’ said Rudd Estate winemaker Natalie Bath, ‘which was early for us.’ Rudd Estate is on the eastern side of Oakville, where vines are subject to late afternoon sun and heat. In 2021, even with a relatively mild season, diligent canopy management was critical to ensure ‘a crescendo of acidity,’ said Bath.

Selective berry picking was also crucial in helping balance the fruit concentration and tannin levels in the wines. Many producers focused on lighter toasts with their oak ageing programme, and the best efforts led to wines imbued with the power and darkness of the vintage balanced by almost bewildering freshness.

Excellence in restraint

Many winemakers compare 2021 to 2015, 2013, 2014, and 2001—all vintages marked by building drought conditions, minimal winter and spring rains, and reduced yields, which leads to power, concentration, and an overwhelming freshness factor in the finished wines.

‘The 2001 vintage is a close match for me,’ says Peter Michael winemaker Robert Fiore, ‘because it was a year that produced very dark and tannic wines with considerable structure.’

Tor Kenward and Jeff Ames find the 2021s similar to 2013, describing them as ‘sophisticated’ and ‘with plenty of staying power.’

Larkmead winemaker Avery Heelan found the tannin profiles ‘big and rustic, similar to the 2014 vintage,’ yet was quick to point out that ‘the [growing] seasons were completely different’ – she argues that historic vintage comparisons are becoming difficult ‘considering the increasing effects of climate change over the last 25 years.’

‘We had some of the smallest berries ever in 2021, and that bodes well for making high-end wine,’ said Kinsman.

‘Loose clusters and more sunlight meant we got more tannins, but the tannins are super-fine. If you like less flamboyant wines, 2021 is your vintage. Mineral-driven, and savoury.’

Napa Cabernet 2021: Cristaldi’s six best-value wines of the vintage

Black Stallion Estate Winery, Collector Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, 2021

Whitehall Lane Millennium MM Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, 2021

Corison Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa Valley, 2021

Clif Family Winery Kits Killer Cab, Oak Knoll, Napa Valley, 2021

Materra, Cunat Family Vineyards, Diamond Mountain Reserve, Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley 2021

Crossroads By Rudd Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, 2021

See all wines rated 98-100 points in this report

Napa Cabernet 2021: Cristaldi’s top-most recommendations

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 ‘I’m stuffing as many 2021s in my personal cellar as I can make room for, even after tasting well over 500 Cabernets.’

In addition to accessing the full vintage report from the September print issue of Decanter, Premium readers will receive special appellation reports from 11 of Napa’s top Cabernet-producing sub-AVAs, highlighting the vintage conditions and best-performing wines in each.

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Scroll down for a sneak peek at tasting notes and scores from the Napa 2021 Vintage Report.

An outright classic

While the 2023 vintage is described in Napa as the ‘vintage of a lifetime,’ the wines currently in the market are from 2021, a classic in its own right.

Following a very destructive 2020 when wildfires ravaged the valley, the 2021 vintage was a welcome respite and a somewhat cooler year overall. The one-line summary given by the Napa Valley Vintners to describe the 2021 growing season was: ‘The joy is back.’

While very little rain fell in the winter and spring of 2021, the nights remained cool throughout the summer. Most importantly, daytime temperatures were steady, with no heat spikes creating issues with ripening or flavour development.

The resulting grapes were small in size and concentrated in flavour. Owing to the drought conditions, yields were naturally lower. Cristaldi has found excellent wines, particularly for those who love the mineral, woodland, and spice characteristics often found in well-balanced Cabernet Sauvignon.

Speaking to Cristaldi from his home north of the San Francisco Bay, I got a real sense of his excitement about the 2021 Cabernets.

‘I’m stuffing as many 2021s in my personal cellar as I can make room for, even after tasting well over 500 Cabernets,’ Cristaldi said.

‘What’s most exciting about the 2021 Napa Cabernets is the real consistency in style across the board. They are super savoury and have taken beautifully to a host of oak-ageing regimens. They show bright fruit with dried herb aromatics shining through on the nose and ultra-fine tannins balanced by a depth of fruit on the palate.’

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The best of all worlds

‘Thinking about the 2021 Napa Cabernets in the context of the last few vintages, you’d be hard-pressed to find bottles that aren’t fabulous at the pull of the cork,’ he added.

‘Those who made 2020 Cabernets did so knowing the risks that the growing season imparted to the wines. There’s no getting around the angular tannin quality and darkness of the wines brought on by the heavier use of oak.

‘By contrast, the 2021 vintage delivered a smaller crop with a much higher skin-to-pulp ratio than in 2019 or 2018. And more judicious use of oak by winemakers across the board means the wines have the depth of fruit and tannin structure to age while remaining fairly light on their feet.

‘These 2021s are like a multi-vintage blend of 2013, 2016, and 2019. They bear the structure of 2013, the freshness of 2016, and the dark-fruited character of 2019, but they are incredibly savoury.’

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A sneak peek at five wines from the Napa 2021 Vintage Report

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By all accounts, 2021 was an extraordinary vintage across the Sonoma appellations, yielding wines with depth, power, concentration and excellent acid retention, perfect for long-lived ageing and a distinct sense of place. It is a collector’s vintage.

Both red and white wines fared almost equally well, but many winemakers tout the reds – across all varieties – as the wines to watch, commenting that they will be exceptionally long-lived due to their tannin structure.

Winemakers are at the mercy of Mother Nature, with every vintage telling a complete story of what meteorological phenomenon occurred during the year. As 2020 was a devastating vintage for many parts of Northern California – Sonoma included – 2021 was a welcome reprieve from the challenges of past years.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top 2021 Sonoma County wines.

A resounding rebound

Due to smoke taint, many producers decided to forego 2020 as a vintage altogether. Estimates suggest that grape harvest decreased by about 14%.

But 2021 was a dream. We often talk about fabulous vintages in specific grape varieties or certain areas of a particular region. Everything thrived in Sonoma County in 2021: all appellations and all varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Syrah, and everything in between.

Overall, the growing season and harvest were remarkably uneventful, which is what winemakers and vineyard managers hope for each year.

This was still the third drought year in a row for the region. Yet, despite little winter rainfall and dry conditions, even daytime temperatures and cool evenings ensured even ripening and significant acid development.

Sonoma County 2021: J’nai’s top red wines of the vintage

Kosta Browne, Gap’s Crown Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Wayfarer, Mother Rock Pinot Noir, Fort Ross- Seaview, Sonoma Coast

Macrostie, Wildcat Mountain Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

T Berkley Wines, Ophelia Cabernet Franc Sonoma County

Sonoma County 2021: J’nai’s top white wines of the vintage

Kosta Browne, Diablo Vineyard Chardonnay, Russian River Valley

Hartford Court, Stone Côte Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Radio-Coteau, Estate Riesling, Sonoma Coast

Kistler, Trenton Roadhouse Chardonnay, Russian River Valley

Weather takes all

‘It has been near perfect for growing grapes this year, and a second year of a lighter crop is bringing more balance to the market, which is encouraging,’ said Karissa Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers and executive director of Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation, in a press release.

Save for a tiny frost event early in the season in the Russian River Valley, the weather in Sonoma County in 2021 was remarkably cooperative.

Ripening times varied of course. The county’s warmer areas ripened slightly earlier than normal because of the lower yields, while cooler areas ripened as expected since there were no hindrances to the grapes’ maturation.

Due to the uneventful season, winemakers across the AVA had their choice of picking date.

A stellar vintage, but not without challenges

On a case by case basis, however, there were still challenges to overcome – such as the aforementioned drought.

‘The 2021 vintage was a great year, though not without its challenges,’ says Justin Seidenfeld, winemaker for Rodney Strong Vineyards. ‘This was mainly because it was a drought year, which caused an early start to the growing season.

‘This led to an early start for harvest, which, for us, began on August 11. That is more than a month earlier than 2023. The early start led to a pretty small crop, which led to faster-than-normal ripening. That said, the small crop led to an intense concentration of flavours and textures.’

Drought

Drought conditions in California are an ever-present threat to the state’s viticulture. During prolonged drought periods, hydric stress can retard shoot growth, which can then adversely affect crop yields.

This is why dry-farming has become such a hot topic in areas affected by low rainfall.

The theory is that when surface water isn’t readily available, the vines struggle, but they also produce their best fruit – intensely flavoured with good tannin structure due to the thicker skins that the grapes develop at this stage.

And if vines are really thirsty for a drink, their roots will dig well below the topsoil to find groundwater. In essence, dry-farming is an enforced drought. However, prolonged periods of drought coupled with a warming climate can still be problematic, weakening the vine through stress if once even the groundwater is used up.

‘Rains came through frequently, but only enough to rehydrate the soils,’ says Tom Gendall, VP of the Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance Board of Directors.

‘They would fill the soils, and then a week of cool winds would dry the topsoil, allowing it to be refilled by the next small squall of rain.

‘Many farmers rely on rainwater overflow from seasonal streams to fill reservoirs, and many reservoirs went unfilled and were basically empty entering the 2021 growing season.’

Gendall continues: ‘The season was warm to hot, the soil dried out quickly. If you had good access to water, it was a wonderful growing season. If you had limited access to water, this resulted in stunted canopies, very diminished crops and strange ripening patterns.’

See tasting notes and scores for all 2021 Sonoma County wines Decanter has tasted here

Lower Yields

The dearth of water directly affected crop vigour and yield. In this third drought year, winemakers reported crops that were 5-30% lower than average. From a quality standpoint, this is often a boon, as lower yields means the formation of smaller berries, which create more concentrated fruit flavours.

But from an economic standpoint, the picture isn’t as rosy as it means there’s less wine to sell.

Some winemakers have even had to release library selections earlier than they would have liked to compensate for the lack of wine on offer. But scarcity, in its turn, creates demand.

Sonoma County vintage ratings

2021 5/5

The 2020 season made the 2021 vintage feel like a welcome return to normality. Both growers and winemakers were rewarded with a vintage of outstanding quality and low to healthy yields, depending on the sub-appellation. The wines tend to have great concentration and smaller berries yet sufficient yields. They offer freshness, brilliant fruit, characteristic salinity, and a noble, savoury character. The 2021 vintage also awarded the wines an abundance of structure, granting them superb ageability.

2020 2/5

A picture-perfect vintage was all but destroyed by wildfire smoke from the high-pressure and wind events that saw the LNU Complex Fires and the Glass Fire start in September and into October. The fires were highly destructive, destroying homes, forest land, and the wines that were growing there. Many Sonoma wineries did not produce red wines in 2020; those that did saw varied impacts from smoke taint. Some Chardonnays presented a lone bright spot for most producers.

2019 4.5/5

2019 brought a warm, consistent summer with few heat spikes. The region’s signature morning fog allowed fruit to preserve its acid and aromatic flavours. A long growing season allowed for a leisurely harvest. A wonderful vintage across varieties, sub-regions and price ranges.

Riding the wave

Despite the continued hurdles facing winemakers across California, Sonoma’s winemakers and viticulturists took the challenges of 2021 in their stride to produce some outstanding wines.

‘Both red and white wines turned out beautifully, but I think the Pinot Noirs of 2021 are the true standout,’ says Theresa Heredia, winemaker for Gary Farrell Winery.

‘They are simply outstanding. The quality was definitely atypical, and most feel that 2021 produced some of the best wines in over a decade.

‘Compared to the previous three to four vintages, the wines from 2021 have substance and power. Yet, they still possess a beautiful finesse that one would expect from Sonoma’s Russian River Valley.’

A selection of wines from Sonoma’s 2021 vintage

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Early spring in Napa is a time of promise. Mustard greens spring to life in the vine rows and the coming vintage release still in barrel allows us a look ahead.

Darting from tasting to tasting in Premiere Napa Valley week this year, my anticipation matched that of spring’s exhilarating potential.

Focusing on single-estate blends and sampling nearly 100 Cabernet wines, my early impression is that two distinct styles will emerge from the 2022 growing season.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the Premiere Napa Valley 2022 barrel samples

One offers a super-ripe, dark-fruited profile with soft, round and plump tannins; the other lighter wines with red fruit, assertive tannins and angular acidity.

Even reports from the Napa Valley Vintners association have labelled 2022 a ‘tale of two harvests’.

Hot topic

There was a major heat event in early September, and although it was followed by unexpected late-season rains it still caused sugars to spike and led to widespread fruit desiccation.

Some wineries happened to have commenced harvest for Cabernet Sauvignon grapes a week prior, but most were nowhere near ready to pick and held out.

That meant having to combine underripe fruit with overripe fruit in many cases, in order to create a balanced wine.

Richly scented, black-fruited Cabernets in a more opulent style are sure to dominate the majority of bottlings. The lighter-bodied examples with a more restrained opulence will be harder to find and aren’t likely to improve with cellaring, so if those are your preferred expression, drink soon.

Winter rains began in November 2021, peaking in December and tapering off to leave vineyards mostly dry in the early months of 2022, teased by minuscule amounts of intermittent rain in March and April, coupled with relatively cool temperatures heading into June.

The dry, cool start to the season took a dramatic turn in late summer with a historic heatwave that began on 31 August and settled into a ‘heat dome’ that lasted 10 days, bringing with it record-high temperatures in Napa Valley for the better part of five days.

Several vintners on the valley floor in St Helena and Calistoga reported unheard-of readings of 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49°C). The ‘tale of two harvests’ is a story of those who harvested before and after the heat dome.

But it’s not the whole story, and quality is inconsistent no matter the point of harvest. Mountain-grown fruit clearly benefited from elevation. During bouts of extreme heat, it was as much as 5.5°C cooler at higher elevations than on the valley floor.

For producers who had not begun picking prior to 31 August, or who decided to wait it out, the heat dome caused widespread raisination – at the sorting table, meticulous selection was critical to remove the desiccated fruit, with the result that yields were reduced.

Most producers will therefore have produced far less wine in 2022 than in years less impacted by such extreme weather conditions.

Winemaker approaches

Avery Heelan, winemaker for Larkmead in Calistoga, noted that quick fermentations for the most part (and depending on the site) reduced the potential for ‘extracting harsh skin tannins’ from any desiccated fruit.

Wesley Steffens of Vineyard 7 & 8 described it as ‘a nail-biter vintage’ with temperatures ‘of 115 Fahrenheit (46°C) for five days, but the rain that came a week after the heatwave gave our fruit a chance to relax’.

While Steffens noted that tannins are ‘ripe and prevalent’ and it will be a riper-style year, he cautioned: ‘It’s not a vintage that needs to be hidden in the cellar.’

Barrett Anderson, winemaker for Spring Mountain Vineyard, said that when the heat dome arrived, ‘many vines were not at ideal brix [sugar content, ie potential alcohol] levels and didn’t really move after’. For Anderson, it came down to strict berry selection.

‘We did deep shots of irrigation,’ said founder of Hertelendy Vineyards, Ralph Hertelendy. ‘We knew it was coming, and we had sprinklers and drip lines to mitigate the heat so it didn’t stunt [our] ripening. We had a beautiful canopy, so we didn’t get much raisination. We used optical sorting, and I sorted by hand.’

Bordeaux native Benoit Touquette of Realm Cellars and Fait-Main said plainly that it was ‘all about fruit selection’.

Rebekah Wineburg of Quintessa, who produced a polished 2022, rolled her eyes at the memory of the season: ‘It was drought, heatwaves and rain,’ she said, ‘but we survived.’

Chelsea Barrett, winemaker for Materra, recalled: ‘We were all physically and mentally pushed.’ As vintners shape their final 2022 blends, the outcome of the ‘tale of two harvests’ comes down to attention to detail in the cellar.

Richard King, a prominent trade buyer from Fort Worth, Texas, reasoned that good winemaking really shines in challenging years, saying: ‘It’s a testament to Napa’s enduring quality and craftsmanship.’

About Premiere Napa Valley

Premiere is the annual multi-day trade-only event hosted every February by the Napa Valley Vintners association.

It’s an American take on events like Bordeaux’s En Primeur, in which wine buyers and critics from around the world visit the French region in spring to tour producers and venues and sample the new-release vintage wines that are still completing their maturation period in barrel.

The main event is an auction (this year held on Saturday 24 February), preceded by a barrel tasting of the unique lots of limited-edition ‘wine futures’ to be sold off.

Once bottled they will go to the winning bidders’ private collections, restaurants or shops. As with En Primeur, tasting these one-of-a-kind barrel samples offered a chance to preview the style and makeup of the 2022 vintage of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

See tasting notes and scores for the Premiere Napa Valley 2022 barrel samples

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 ‘The 2021 vintage was a beauty for the Sonoma Coast winegrowers. These are wines with great freshness and intensity. The benchmark producers, who are making some of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the world have found briliant conditions and are crafting collectible bottles from 2021. ’

The 2021 vintage is one filled with gratitude for winemakers on the ‘true’ Sonoma Coast. An incredible rebound from the disastrous and deadly 2020 marked by wildfires and a global pandemic.

Wonderful concentration, healthy yields and nearly perfect clusters were all part of the story with a happy ending in 2021.

It was a mystery that a third consecutive drought year could result in such healthy yields. Still, winemakers were willing to accept it. Ted Lemon of Littorai called it a ‘head-scratcher’ one that, in the end, has produced brilliant, beautiful wines from the Sonoma Coast.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Sonoma Coast 2021 red and white wines

Sonoma Coast 2021: Top red wines of the vintage

Peay Vineyards, Scallop Shelf Pinot Noir, West Sonoma Coast

Littorai, BA Theriot Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Occidental, Running Fence Vineyard, Cuvée Catherine Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Cobb, Emmaline Ann Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Hirsch Vineyards, Raschen Ridge Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Ernest Vineyards, Clearly Ranch Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Sonoma Coast 2021: Top white wines of the vintage

Cobb, H Klopp Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Littorai, BA Theriot Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Peay Vineyards, Estate Chardonnay, West Sonoma Coast

Hirsch Vineyards, Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Wayfarer, Chardonnay, Fort Ross-Seaview

The moody skies at Occidental. Credit: Ana Carolina Quintela

Mellow and moderate

The 2021 vintage in Sonoma was mostly unremarkable in terms of weather events. It was an almost textbook growing season, and after the tragic wildfires of 2020, the fairly ordinary was an extraordinary relief.

The year 2021 began arid and parched, though quite cold on the Sonoma Coast. The vines ended their dormancy by budding out in mid-March, following a more typical pattern.

A warm beginning to May got the ball rolling quickly, with a few days climbing into the lower 80s (26°C). Those temperatures quickly settled down into the typical 60-70 degrees of a Sonoma summer, setting the tone for what would be a consistent and moderate growing season. While much of the American West Coast was locked in the grips of the June ‘heat dome,’ Seattle saw 107°F, but temperatures barely reached into the 90s (32°C) in Sonoma’s coastal areas over those few days.

While it was a moderate-to-cool summer on the Sonoma Coast, it was extremely dry. Windy weather during bloom, along with the ongoing drought, might have combined to reduce fruit set and the eventual yields from vintage 2021, however, for most growers it didn’t turn out that way.

Thick skins and small berries have led to some delicious, concentrated wines. Vigour was kept under control by the drought conditions, and things ripened evenly and consistently across the Sonoma Coast appellation.

A vexing appellation

While many of the wines of the Sonoma Coast are ethereal bottlings of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, known for their tremendous clarity and transparency, the AVA itself is really anything but.

The Sonoma Coast AVA can be confusing to understand geographically. Reaching from the far western edge of the West Sonoma Coast to Mendocino County the appellation wraps around, and all the way inland, to Chalk Hill. In the south, it extends to Los Carneros and San Pablo Bay. It fully encompasses all of Fort Ross-Seaview and Green Valley of Russian River Valley. It also contains nearly all of the broader Russian River Valley and more than half of the Petaluma Gap and Chalk Hills AVA.

It is so large and varied in weather and geology as to be almost meaningless for any generalisations.

‘The general Sonoma Coast appellation is larger than Texas,’ winemaker Ross Cobb jokes. ‘A few of us (initially Carroll Kemp of Alma Fria, Cobb and John Raytek of Ceritas) agreed that we should do something to differentiate the true coastal part of Sonoma from the “so-called” Sonoma Coast AVA. So we wanted to break off from that and explain those cooler, coastal elements, the unique weather, soils and history that the West Sonoma Coast shares. To be honest, all of the naming is still a little confusing because of all the overlapping AVAs.’

A group of winery owners, including Andy Peay, Ken Freeman, Ted Lemon, and Jasmine Hirsch, formed an early iteration of the current West Sonoma Coast Vintners board. The AVA application was stalled during COVID-19 and finally became official in May 2023.

West Sonoma Coast at a glance

Established: Announced by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) on May 22, 2023, the 19th AVA in California

Elevation: 400-1800 feet (~120-550 metres)

Climate: The West Sonoma Coast is marked by heavy coastal fog and the significant influence of the Pacific Ocean. On average, it is about 10 degrees cooler than the broader Sonoma Coast AVA. The proximity to the coastline means that daytime temperatures are cooler, and the nights are warmer.

Boundaries: The boundary extends to the Pacific Coast on the west and inland between five and seven miles on the eastern edge. The southern boundary is the northern edge of the Petaluma Gap AVA, and the northern boundary is the Mendocino County line.

Key Varieties: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and some Syrah

Nested AVAs: Fort Ross-Seaview AVA is completely contained within the West Sonoma Coast

See the Sonoma Coast 2021 score table

Sonoma Coast vintage ratings

2021 5/5

The 2020 vintage was a disaster in pretty much all of Northern California, and the Sonoma Coast was no exception. This made the 2021 vintage feel as though it were heaven-sent. Both growers and winemakers were rewarded with a vintage of outstanding quality and healthy yields. The wines tend to have great concentration and smaller berries, yet sufficient yields. They offer freshness, brilliant fruit, characteristic salinity and a noble, savoury character. The 2021 vintage also awarded the wines an abundance of structure, granting them superb ageability.

2020 1/5

A picture-perfect vintage was all but destroyed by wildfire smoke from the high-pressure and wind events that saw the LNU Complex Fires and the Glass Fire start in September and into October. The fires were highly destructive, destroying homes, forest land, and the wines that were growing there. Most Sonoma Coast wineries did not produce red wines in 2020; those that did saw varied impacts from smoke taint. Some Chardonnays presented a lone bright spot for most producers.

2019 5/5

The 2019 was a high watermark vintage for the wines of the Sonoma Coast. Low to moderate yields drove concentration in the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay fruit, resulting in wines of intensity that balance the finesse of the coastal sites in the appellation. There is an undeniable elegance that marks this cooler year in its cooler reaches of the Sonoma Coast.

A 2022 vintage preview

In addition to tasting the 2021 wines on the Sonoma Coast, I visited some producers who had bottled and were soon to release their 2022s. Ted Lemon at Littorai tasted me through barrel samples of all of his 2022 wines.

‘2022 was another drought vintage, and it was developing similarly to 2021,’ says Rob Fischer, winemaker at Marine Layer. Yields were pretty moderate, certainly below average.’ There was a tremendous heat dome event in Northern California in early September, and the Sonoma Coast was no exception. 2022 tells two tales: the stuff that was picked before Labor Day and everything afterwards.

‘We were calling our growers saying “Water, water, water!” with the big, imminent heat coming,’ Fischer continues. ‘It’s cooler out here on the coast, but it was 110°(Fahrenheit) at our winery in Healdsburg.’

The vintage is one to buy, showing brilliance and resilience in spite of the late-season heat dome that divided winemaking decisions. While the heat spike certainly had significant impacts inland, those on the ‘true’ Sonoma Coast seem to have come through it with vivid wines of place.

Sonoma Coast 2022 preview: Top 10 wines

RAEN, Royal St Robert Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Littorai, Richardson Ranch Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Peay Vineyards, Pinot Noir, West Sonoma Coast

Small Vines, TBH Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Wayfarer, Mother Rock Pinot Noir, Fort Ross-Seaview

Ernest Vineyards, Estate Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

RAEN, Lady Marjorie Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Peay Vineyards, Maritima Estate Chardonnay, West Sonoma Coast

Hirsch, Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Faila, Platt Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

See the Sonoma Coast 2022 score table

Sonoma Coast 2021: The top-scoring wines

The following wines scored 95 points or above and are listed white then red in score order.

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Home of top-quality Paso wine, Adelaida is the westernmost of the sub-districts and closest to the Pacific Ocean.

At its closest point, Adelaida lies just less than 10km from the coast, with the Santa Lucia Range mountains in between the two. The average rainfall in Adelaida is generally the highest in the Paso region, at 635mm per year, and in 2021 the bulk of the rain came from one late-winter storm.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Adelaida District 2021 wines

Tablas Creek reported 330mm of rainfall that year, with 300mm coming from that one storm. The Adelaida district boasts the highest elevation in Paso, up to 670m.

Molly Lonborg at Alta Colina said: ‘Because of our high elevation, we have a lot of high-intensity fruit, a lot of colour and a lot of tannin.’ Soils are limestone dominant with water-retaining properties and give the ability to retain freshness and acidity in the wines.

Jason Haas, proprietor at Tablas Creek Vineyard, calls 2021 in Paso Robles ‘the recipe for a really great, blockbuster-style vintage’ and ‘as you would if you could design a vintage from scratch’.

Paso Robles: know your vintages

2020: 3/5

A difficult vintage from all sides, including drought, dramatic heat spikes and smoke from nearby wildfires, coupled with pandemic-related stressors, including facemasks. Widely mixed quality, depending on the producer. Not all producers made wine due to smoke taint or potential smoke taint issues from wildfires.

2019: 5/5

An excellent vintage on all accounts. The 2019 growing season and the harvest were ‘perfect’, with many reports of it being ‘one of the best’ and ‘favourite’ vintages in recent history. The wines are dense, structured, powerful and will be very long-lived.

2018: 4.5/5

A desirable, long-growing season crafting wines that are classic, structured and intense in fruit. Wines with firm tannins and ageing potential. A strong, powerhouse vintage.

2017: 4/5

A hot and wet vintage with record-setting rain in January. A warm summer with a late August heat spike that slowed maturing, causing a later start to harvest for many. The wines are drinkable earlier with freshness and lifted fruit.

Cohen’s pick from Adelaida District 2021: the sub-appellation’s standout wines

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Napa Cabernet 2020: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

As with the previous vintage, the few Cabernets from Oakville I sampled are among my top scorers for the 2020 vintage. They are perfumed, elegant, light on their feet with good fruit concentration, and show poise and balance.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Oakville 2020 Cabernets

Early in my tastings, I visited Screaming Eagle and spoke with winemaker Nick Gislason, who said that ripening was slowed a bit by what he described as ‘dappled sunlight’, resulting from high-elevation smoke particles from the August LNU fires, which did not impact their vines.

Maya Dalla Valle noted that ‘alcohol levels were quite manageable due to the slower sugar accumulation’. Oakville benefits from the cool air coming off the San Pablo Bay, which funnels up through Atlas Peak and down into the Oakville area, particularly for vines in eastern Oakville, near the Silverado Trail. That classic Oakville elegance, minerality, velvet texture, and tension are present in the finest—and, sorry to say, most expensive and rare—bottlings of 2020.

However, there are some great values to be found.

Oakville 2020: the top-performing producers:

• Morlet Family Vineyards
• Screaming Eagle
• Harlan Estate

Oakville 2020: the top-scoring Cabernets

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Napa Cabernet 2020 vintage rating: 3.5 stars

The wines often show the warmth of the vintage, with rich, riper red fruits, dusty mineral notes, and burly, almost rustic tannins due to heat spikes. Many are medium- to full-bodied, compact and rather tight at the pull of the cork. They gain in volume and soften with decanting.

Napa’s 2020 vintage is very much about farming choices and location. The growing season began with a dry winter; early rains reduced crop yields. Two fires impacted the region in the middle of the growing season.

Still, the vast majority of producers who bottled any Cabernet Sauvignon harvested their grapes before the second fire, which erupted on 27 September.

Despite all the challenges, wine lovers will find plenty to admire among the wines I have recommended here. Now three years on, having had good time to settle in the bottle, these are wines to drink now and often.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top 34 Napa Cabernet 2020 wines

Individual AVA posts:

Rutherford | Oakville | Coombsville | St Helena | Stags Leap District

The short version of the 2020 growing season in Napa is best summed up in one stark reality: compared to a typical vintage, only half the quantity of wines were produced.

Indeed, many wineries opted not to produce wine at all. When it came to assessing the 2020 wines earlier this year, apart from one large organised event at which I was able to taste 80 wines, even finding out who had actually made wine and was willing to send out samples was a challenge, and understandably so.

The 60 other wines I was able to try were therefore tasted over several months, many on an individual basis.

Those who did make Cabernet Sauvignon, or any wine for that matter, did so with great care and were methodical in their approach, given the tumultuous conditions of both the hot growing season and all the complexities of adjusting to Covid pandemic restrictions for cellar work.

Luck and timing

While the two intense fires mark the 2020 vintage in Napa Valley, nearly every producer who did choose to bottle a Cabernet, and whom I interviewed, relied heavily on testing their wines for any evidence of smoke issues, or the presence of glycosides (sugars bound to volatile smoke phenols). It is a vineyard-by-vineyard issue.

The Cabernets that show best are simply the lucky ones: those harvested from vineyards least impacted by the fires. And while good scores tell part of the story, it is not the whole story. Simply put, it’s complicated.

Wine is, after all, an agricultural product. As with any crop, its growth potential is determined by all the factors at play in any given location – from degrees of smoke concentration and duration of exposure to wind direction, elevation, sun exposure and vine-row orientation. All of this, coupled with different pick dates, means there is more variation in both style and quality in 2020.

Wesley Steffens, director and associate winemaker for Vineyard 7 & 8, told me: ‘We made a beautiful 2020 Cabernet, though a fraction of what we would have, as we lost nearly 70% of our fruit to smoke. The Cabernet we did produce was harvested just days before the Glass Fire broke out and enveloped Spring Mountain [just a few km away towards St Helena]. Sadly all was on track to be a gorgeous vintage.’

Value & quality: Cristaldi’s 2020 Napa top picks

Covenant Wines, Napa Valley

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, FAY, Stags Leap District

Morlet Family Vineyards, Coeur de Vallée, Oakville

Choose advisedly

With uncharacteristically warm temperatures in late winter 2020, early spring saw the mercury reaching above 15°C, even climbing above 21°C, a trend that continued well into November, with summertime highs averaging between 26°C and 32°C, and at least three significant heat spikes above 37°C in August and in September.

But two fire events remain the defining factors of the season. The LNU Complex Fire ignited on 17 August, and the Glass Fire began on 27 September. While so many producers remained optimistic after the LNU fire that they’d avoid smoke issues, the intensity and proximity of the Glass Fire, which erupted on a hill just north of St Helena, dashed any hopes for those who still had fruit on the vine longer than a day or two after it ignited.

In such a vintage as this, what is the reader and the drinker of wines to do? While there is some uncertainty, I hope this report serves as a good gauge, and beyond the wines included here, consumers should seek out their favourite labels and, if produced and still available, buy them and drink them. If you have a questionable bottle, contact the winery and discuss it.

Some of the appellation highlights from my 2019 report, such as Calistoga, Howell Mountain, and Spring Mountain, returned so few wines in 2020 that I’ve focused on appellations with more wines produced; Coombsville, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena and Stags Leap District are explored in slightly more detail and are among the best to seek out.

See the Napa Cabernet 2020 score table

Napa Cabernet 2020 recommendations

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The emergence of Spring Mountain Vineyard, an early, important winery in the story of Napa’s rise as a world-class wine-growing region, begins with the late Knight Michael Robbins.

In 1963, the Iowa-born Korean War veteran and San Francisco real estate mogul purchased a Victorian house in St. Helena, California, west of Highway 29, and established Spring Mountain Vineyard (later, it would become the home of St. Clement).

Robbins released his first Cabernet Sauvignon in 1969. In the following decades, Spring Mountain Vineyard began developing a reputation for producing excellent, award-winning wines capable of ageing gracefully for many decades.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 10 wines from Spring Mountain Vineyard

At present, Spring Mountain Vineyard’s portfolio is quite diverse. Still, the winery’s most significant bottlings, and most widely distributed, are its Sauvignon Blanc, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, and flagship Elivette Cabernet Sauvignon.

It’s critical to note that Elivette was called ‘Reserve’ until the 2000 vintage when it was renamed as an homage to current owner Jacob E. Safra’s parents, father Eli, and mother Yvette.

Other varietal bottlings include; Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Petit Verdot, a Block Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Block Selection Cabernet Franc.

Evolution after 1969

By 1974, Robbins purchased a 323-hectare property a few minutes south-west on Spring Mountain Road, which included an ageing 1,115-square-metre Victorian house called Miravalle. A house that had been designed by Albert Schroepfer, the architect who had built the Niebaum mansion at Inglenook and the Beringer Rhine House.

Robbins restored the mansion, expanded an existing wine cave, and built a winery.

Spring Mountain Vineyards rose to critical acclaim for its wines and aesthetic beauty. The 1973 Spring Mountain Chardonnay – produced by Charles Ortman – was placed fourth in the famous 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting.

During the 1980s, Miravalle served as the backdrop for the prime-time television soap opera Falcon Crest, which aired 227 episodes over nine seasons.

During the Falcon Crest era, the Spring Mountain wines began to fall out of fashion, and Robbins filed for bankruptcy.

In 1992, Swiss financier Jacob E. Safra purchased the estate. Safra replanted the Miravalle Vineyard to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

He also acquired three adjoining properties: Chateau Chevalier (founded in 1891), Alba Vineyards (established 1979, formerly Streblow Vineyards), and a prized single-site called Draper Vineyards (formerly La Perla, which was founded in 1873)—bringing the entirety of the estate to a sprawling 342.36ha, with 85.38ha planted to vineyards.

Safra sold to MGG Investment group in June of 2023.

The Spring Mountain Vineyard estate is a standard-bearer of the Spring Mountain District AVA. Rising from 121m to 518m, it spreads out over the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Range, northwest above St. Helena.

Its vines jut out of jagged hillsides in all directions, rooted in a mélange of soils (at least eight of Napa’s known 33 various soil series).

Maintaining a style

In 2019, winemaker Barret Anderson, an alum of Jackson Family Wines, took over from Justin Hirigoyen. Anderson joined Ron Rosenbrand, the longtime vineyard manager, who has overseen the estate since 2003. Rosenbrand’s father, Theo Rosenbrand, learned the ropes from André Tchelistcheff while serving as Beaulieu Vineyards winemaker from 1966-1979.

Rosenbrand marvels that some of the grapes he farms—from the old La Perla estate—were purchased in the 1960s and 1970s for BV’s famous Georges de Latour Cabernet.

Anderson, thrilled to be working with the estate’s ‘world-class fruit,’ realises his good fortunes. ‘A lot of the heavy lifting had been done before I arrived,’ he says of the farming, which includes some organic, and all sustainable practices like no-till, cover cropping and composting, and sheep grazing. Anderson also credits the numerous winemakers before him, going back to Ortman.

Ortman made the wines when Robbins was owner. He set a high bar of quality—crafting wines of restraint, balance, focus, and precision. Wines capable of long-term cellaring. A tasting of older vintages going back to 1979 confirms this. ‘My focus is to carry the torch at this point and do my best to keep on keeping on,’ says Anderson.

Spring Mountain Vineyard at a glance

Founded: 1969

Owner: MGG Investment Group LP

Annual production: 168,000 bottles

Total hectares planted to vines: 85.38ha

Elevation: 121-518m

Key vineyard details: 135 unique and separate hillside vineyard blocks have been identified, all varying in height, slope, soil, sun exposure, and microclimates, harvested typically with multiple passes for different degrees of ripeness—then fermented individually, pending tank space in the winery, and blended later.

Key wines: Sauvignon Blanc; Estate Cabernet Sauvignon; Elivette; Syrah

Estate Cabernet vintages currently available for purchase: 1979, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018, 2019.

Top five vintages to try: 1979, 1988, 1993, 2009, 2016

Winemakers: Barrett Anderson (2019 to present); Justin Hirigoyen (2014 to 2018); Patrick Sullivan (2013); Consultant winemakers Patrick Leon & Bernard Hervet (2012 to 2014); Jac Cole (2003 to 2012); Craig Becker (1998 to 2002); Craig MacLean (1994-1998); Tom Ferrell (1991 to 2001); John Williams 1980-1984; Charles Ortman 1971-1979; Knight Michael Robbins 1969-1970

Black magic

The unanswerable question, of course, is, with all the new advancements in technology, will the kind of precision-winemaking that is overtaking cellars worldwide ‘keep on’ producing truly cellar-worthy wines? Or will the upgrades accidentally break some unheralded winemaking magic?

Depending on who you’re talking to, entire vineyards in Napa once suffered from red blotch or leaf roll so badly that grapes could not ripen to their full potential—even if left on the vine until the last respectable moments of the season.

There was the uncertainty of tank space or temperature control and mostly a universal sense of ‘we didn’t know what we were doing.’ It’s the kind of thing vintner Tor Kenward who shepherded Beringer during the 1980s and 90s and through days of Nestlé’s reign would, I imagine, chalk up to a certain kind of ‘black magic.’

And there is a bit of black magic encompassing Spring Mountain Vineyards. Barrett Anderson believes wholeheartedly in the magic of the place, as does Rosenbrand and everyone who works there today. So, a few simple mechanical and technological upgrades ushering the winery into this century are positive.

‘Changes in the cellar are in the works to improve some processes,’ says Anderson, ‘like automatic pump-overs and gentler must-pumps to add control to handling and extraction. My main goal for these wines is to simply be a caretaker of the fruit that comes off the hill.’

The devastation in 2020

I toured the steep hillsides and craggy ranges of the Spring Mountain Vineyard estate as a passenger in Rosenbrand’s pickup truck in September, two weeks after a spate of intense heat spikes had hit Napa Valley. The temperature registered 48.8 degrees centigrade (120 degrees Fahrenheit) in the vineyards, according to Rosenbrand.

The conversation then turned to The Glass Fire of 2020.

‘That was my house,’ he said, motioning to a nearby foundation, ‘I lived down there.’ In the distance, a ridgetop of trees that were once thick, lush conifers now stood in rows of burnt matchsticks, still waiting to be felled. Many others had already been cleared, and the vantage points in all directions were utterly novel.

After the fire ignited on 27 September 2020, Rosenbrand remained on the property. The fire eventually jumped Highway 29 and came toward Spring Mountain Vineyard from two directions. Rosenbrand put his own life in danger to protect the structures around the property, assisting firefighters, but eventually, they all had to go.

Exactly 18 buildings burned in the Glass Fire, including the historical La Perla winery, built in 1873, and the Thomas Church-designed La Perla House at the summit of the estate. ‘There are no plans to replace these lost buildings as yet,’ says Dermot Whelan, VP of sales and marketing.

After the flames

The silver lining is that as fires have ravaged Napa, vineyards have been in the spotlight for creating excellent fire breaks. That awareness, coupled with the devastation of the native forest land on the Spring Mountain Vineyard estate, could mean Napa County will permit them to plant more hectares where vines had never been planted—possibly an additional 36ha.

Two years after the fires, in September 2022, Spring Mountain Vineyard filed for Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Some American newspapers have questioned the winery’s decision to file for bankruptcy. Even suggesting it was an attempt to dismantle pending lawsuits connected to the fires.

‘This was not caused by financial or operational hardships,’ says Whelan, ‘rather it was a strategic manoeuvre by ownership to refinance our debt obligations with our lender. We plan to continue on a normal course, business as usual, with any needed funding still provided by Mr Safra. We’re targeting our emergence from Chapter 11 around the end of Q1 in 2023.’

Finding a silver lining

Rosenbrand parked his truck outside the still-standing Chateau Chevalier winery—a stone winery dating back to 1891, adorned with wood-framed windows and wood towers with shingled cupolas and massive redwood doors accented with beautiful ornate stained glass.

It survived the fire, Rosenbrand marvelled. ‘No firefighter was here. The fire burned all around. See how badly that palm tree is burned right there?’ He asked, pointing to the tree a few metres from the building. ‘And here, there were two right by the front door, and they just burned to a crisp. And yet the door didn’t catch.’

We stepped through those doors into a grand foyer, which houses a collection of photos. One dated 1916, and there were empty bottles with ornate labels dating back to the 1970s.

The winery was designed for gravity to flow down to the naturally cool barrel cellar where we stood. All of it was supported by massive redwood beams over one hundred and fifty years old. Incredible that it didn’t burn.

Thriving in the shadows of waning light

Back outside, we surveyed the estate’s eastern-northeastern exposure. ‘We get a lot more acidity left in the grapes because as the sun is starting to settle, in the late afternoon.’ said Rosenbrand,

‘We’re getting very little harsh direct sunlight here. And that higher natural acidity is why, I believe, our wines have such longevity and ageing potential.’

Stopping near the summit of the estate, looking southeast, we could see all of St. Helena and far down the valley. ‘Everywhere we looked was devastation, save for one oasis of green,’ said Whelan.

He motions to a block of lush, healthy vines in front of us—the grapes from here are all reserved for their Elivette Cabernet. Even the rows of vines that had once produced the single-varietal bottling of Petit Verdot I’d quite admired had survived.

With the sun inching its way west, the vines on this knoll were bathed in shadows while the light, coming from behind us, still illuminated the valley below. We grabbed some berries still hanging on the vine, which teemed with deep flavours and tart, zippy acidity—more of that black magic.

Given the depth of Spring Mountain Vineyard’s remarkable wine library, they can offer visitors a tasting going back five decades. Often including the 1979 Cabernet Sauvignon.

My five-decade tasting confirmed that the wines of Spring Mountain Vineyard are real treasures of Napa—meant for enjoyment now and, as we will see—later. Much later.

Spring Mountain Vineyard: scores and notes for 10 wines

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Napa Cabernet 2019: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Napa Cabernet 2019 score table: top 221 wines

Fresh from compiling the Decanter Napa Valley Cabernet vintage report for 2018 Matthew Luczy has pulled together a list of his top 10 producers and 10 wineries to watch based on the wines tasted.

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena, Stags Leap District

Unsurprisingly the producers behind Luczy’s two wines of the year – Corison and Kapcsándy – top his ‘best producers’ list alongside a host of wineries from across Napa’s varied AVAs.

Napa Valley Cabernet: Best value 2018 wines under £50/$50

All of the estates featured in the top 10 have two or more wines in the report with some as many as six. Here’s the rundown, and find the tasting note of the top-scoring wine from each producer below.

Matthew Luczy’s top 10 producers in A-Z order

• Chimney Rock
• Corison
• Dalla Valle
• Hourglass
• Kapcsándy
• Lokoya
• Larkmead
• Meteor
• Pilcrow
• Sodaro

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

As well as his top 10 producers Luczy has compiled a list of ‘ones to watch’.

These are wineries which are perfect to discover now (if you don’t already know them) and keep an eye on for the future.

Again, find the tasting note and score for each producer’s top-scoring 2o18 Cabernet below.

Luczy’s top 10 producers to watch in A-Z order

• Acumen
• Brandlin
• Gallica
• Jericho Canyon
• Jones
• Mathew Bruno
• Metzker
• Nemerever
• Truchard
• Volker Eisele

Napa Cabernet 2018: Wines from the top 10 producers and 10 wineries to watch

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

The rise of US urban wineries

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

Decanter’s Californian expert Matthew Luczy reviewed 250 wines for his Napa Valley Cabernet 2018 vintage report.

Previous Decanter articles have highlighted his top-rated wines overall, plus the best from each sub-appellation, however for those looking for quality and value, the below list comprises wines all priced $50 (£38) or less.

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena, Stags Leap District

Luczy’s wines of the vintage:

Corison, Kronos Vineyard 97 pts | Kapcsándy, Grand Vin, State Lane Vineyard 97 pts

Within this top 14 are wines from across Napa’s varied AVAs and from well-known and lesser-known producers.

Scroll down for the best value 2018 wines

To offer some context, the most expensive wine in the report – the 97-point-scoring Grand Vin State Lane Vineyard from Kapcsándy Family Wines – is priced at $500 (£380) a bottle and there are 145 wines over the $100 price point, with 42 costing more than $200 a bottle.

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

Under $50/£38 ex. sales tax (tasting notes below)

Turnbull, Napa Valley – $35.99

Blackbird, Arise Proprietary Red Wine, Napa Valley – $42

Mount Veeder Winery, Napa Valley (Mt Veeder) – $27

Gibbs Vineyards Three Clones, Napa Valley – $35

Buehler Estate Napa Valley – $35

Whitehall Lane, Napa Valley – $46

Duckhorn, Postmark Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley – $30

Hesperian, Anatomy, Napa Valley – $49

Robert Mondavi, Napa Valley – $29

Round Pond, Napa Valley – $40

St Supéry, Estate, Napa Valley – $42

Duckhorn, Decoy Limited Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley – $24

Textbook, Napa Valley $21.99

Conn Creek, Napa Valley – $29.99

*Prices were correct at the time of publication for the 2018 vintage

Within the the $50-$100 bracket there’s value to be found too with wines from Frog’s Leap, Castello di Amorosa, Shafer, Chimney Rock, Grgich Hills Estate, Inglenook and more.

Less than $100 – 94 points and above

Merryvale, Napa Valley – $65

Farella, Napa Valley (Coombsville) – $65

Bravante, Napa Valley (Howell Mountain) – $85

Brandlin, Estate, Napa Valley (Mt Veeder) – $80

Chimney Rock, Tomahawk Vineyard, Napa Valley (Stags Leap District) – $95

Chimney Rock, Clone 4, Napa Valley (Stags Leap District) – $94

St Supéry, Dollarhide Estate Vineyard, Napa Valley – $100

Best value Napa Valley Cabernets 2018

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

The rise of US urban wineries

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

St Helena is the warmest valley floor region, with limited access to marine layer and ocean breeze.

Shaped like an hourglass, it is the narrowest section of the valley, thus trapping warm daytime temperatures.

Scroll down for the top-scoring St Helena 2018 wines

Soils are extremely varied, but gravel loam makes up much of the soil in the southern portion, with volcanic deposits in the north.

Celebrated and singular winemaker Cathy Corison established her namesake label here in 1987. Her estate vineyards, Kronos and Sunbasket, although in the St Helena AVA, sit on what is known as The Rutherford Bench.

Corison says, ‘Rutherford Bench is an old term. When I started making the Corison Cabernets, there were no sub-AVAs. It was the benchland between Oakville and St Helena that had always been very special.’

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

‘This is the warmest part of the valley, so the grapes ripen on the early side. I pick early, even on early sites, which promotes lignification of the seeds so the tannins are like velvet. They come out of the vineyard that way. There’s nothing I can do about it.’

The low-and-slow nature of the vintage played perfectly into her hands, saying ‘I’m sure you’ve heard it over and over, but it was the perfect long season. In fact, it was kind of like 2011 in that way except without the rain.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, Stags Leap District

Intensity and suppleness are unifying factors in the wines, with an elegant persistence to the tannins.

Corison, Merryvale, Spottswoode and Hourglass’ Estate bottlings are particularly classic examples of this diverse region.

See the top-scoring St Helena 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

Must see Napa and Sonoma wineries: Five new openings from old favourites

One of the smallest AVAs in Napa, with gentle slopes creating unique exposures for many vineyards.

The region receives a direct funnel of marine layer from San Pablo Bay, with afternoon ocean breezes helping tame midday temperatures.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Stags Leap District 2018 wines

It borders the Yountville AVA on three sides, with the fittingly-named Stags Leap Palisades forming its eastern border, the Napa River to its west and lowlands to the south.

Soils vary greatly here, with volcanic deposits from the Vaca Range in the eastern section and sedimentary soils against the Napa River on the west.

Winemaker from Chimney Rock Elizabeth Vianna described the year through a comparison with Miles Davis’ album The Birth of the Cool. ‘It was so refreshing to have a cool vintage. My nickname for it is ‘The Rebirth of the Cool.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena

Harvests like 2018 have the added bonus of easing up on the often-hectic bustle of picking.

Vianna explains: ‘Our estate is about 100 acres. In a more compressed vintage, I may pick all our Cabernet in about 8 to 10 days. That’s really harried and crazy.

‘In 2018, I had a span of 18 days to pick. We had gotten used to harvesting everything in September and finishing by early October. In 2018, we finished 1 November. That’s like the old-fashioned vintages we used to work 10 to 15 years ago.’

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

The best examples are elegant, graceful Cabernets with vibrant, clean energy, but producers cater to an array of consumer tastes.

The single-vineyard wines from Chimney Rock are particularly definitive.

Shafer produces more modern iterations, and Realm Cellars takes this profile to bonafide ‘cult’ status.

See the top-scoring Stags Leap District 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

Producer profile: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

Rutherford lends its name to two famous Napa terms: ‘Rutherford Dust’ and ‘The Rutherford Bench’.

The former was allegedly coined by André Tchelistcheff, although its meaning to this day is nebulous. It is uncertain if he was generally encapsulating the x-factor of the region, or describing the powdery tannins common in the best examples.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Rutherford 2018 wines

The Rutherford Bench is an unofficially-defined subsection of the valley floor and western hillsides.

Its delineation is somewhat confusing when mapping it on to current AVA borders, but it is essentially the portions of Oakville, Rutherford and the southern tip of St Helena that are west of Highway 29.

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

As with Oakville, there is considerable east-to-west variance. The wines are generally softer and less forward than those of Oakville, although no shortage of high-octane wines are produced.

Vineyard Manager for Frog’s Leap Winery Rory Williams says of 2018: ‘It was an epic vintage, and it felt like a reward for the extremes of the prior year.

‘The Cabernet ripened slowly over the course of the autumn, with the weather in Rutherford sitting at a happy medium of cool mornings and warm afternoons. That classic balance led to the development of both great density and complexity in the wines, and hopefully a vintage that we’ll be enjoying for a long time to come.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, St Helena, Stags Leap District

Inglenook (especially the Rubicon bottling) and SR Tonella are classic examples, with Scarecrow and Staglin producing a riper, more modern profile.

Frog’s Leap is a genuinely impressive value proposition.

See the top-scoring Rutherford 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

The rise of US urban wineries

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

Coombsville is Napa’s newest sub-AVA, established in 2011.

At the southeastern corner of Napa Valley, it enjoys increased exposure to the cooling influence of San Pablo Bay.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Coombsville 2018 wines

Daytime temperatures are as much as 5°C cooler than the rest of the valley. Many early plantings were based around Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Amphitheatre-like and tucked into the Vaca Range, the soils include rocky gravel, alluvial deposits and volcanic loam.

Stylistically, the wines split the difference between the svelteness of the valley floor and the rusticity of mountain appellations. They are powerful and burly but fresh and vibrant.

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

Like the rest of Napa, 2018 in Coombsville was a vintage of extended hang-times and slightly higher yields.

‘The crop came in heavier than the year prior, 15-20% more than 2017. I wouldn’t call 2018 a warm vintage like 2016 or 2017, where you had triple-digits temperatures. It was much more moderate’, says Leo Tellez, winemaker at Sodaro.

‘Our harvest started on 28th September and wasn’t over until 3rd November. It wasn’t that the fruit was dehydrating, it just needed time. The pH of the wines was really interesting; the sugars were coming up but the pHs didn’t shift. It was one of my longest harvests ever.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Calistoga, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena, Stags Leap District

Indications of the high quality harvest extended beyond grapes. Renowned winemaker Andy Erickson has land in Coombsville, commenting that ‘we have orchards and gardens on our property. All the fruits and vegetables were delicious all summer long. That’s a good sign.’

Classic Coombsville vineyards include Farella, Meteor, Sodaro and Butala.

See the top-scoring Coombsville 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

The rise of US urban wineries

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

At the southern end of the Mayacamas range, Mount Veeder is rugged, remote, and feels frozen in time compared to the valley floor beneath.

Steep slopes render tractors useless, and low yields from vineyards with twisted exposures are the norm.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Mount Veeder 2018 wines

It is the only mountain AVA with direct exposure to the San Pablo Bay, with Carneros at Veeder’s southern base.

Most vineyards reside above the fog line atop loam, shale, sandstone and fossilized seabed.

This combination of mountain structure and marine influence sets the region apart, producing broad shouldered wines that are forward and tannic but balanced with a floral, saline freshness.

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

Chris Carpenter crafts both Mt Brave and a spectacular Lokoya bottling from Veeder. ‘The tannin is tremendously structural with lots of backbone. The wines maintain acid by way of its position to the San Pablo Bay. It’s a really easy place to work with in that way, knowing that I’ll maintain acidity.

‘The hard part is that the tannins can be really ponderous if I’m not careful. They can almost overwhelm some of the delicate, violet characters you can get.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena, Stags Leap District

The growing season here is the longest in Napa, compounded by a vintage like 2018.

Harvests such as this offer an opportunity to coax a softer side from the mountain, which Sara and Jonah Beer of Pilcrow do through the Hillwalker site.

‘We think of Mount Veeder as being more on the elegant, feminine side of things compared to something like Howell Mountain. There is always this beautiful, granite minerality’ says Sara.

There is no more definitive producer than Mayacamas, with Progeny and O’Shaughnessy making riper but authentic examples. Mount Veeder Winery produces a lovely ‘value’ proposition.

See the best Mount Veeder 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

The rise of US urban wineries

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

As with the entire Napa Valley, 2018 in Calistoga was a drama-free ‘winemaker vintage’ where producers were free to express individual styles.

‘There’s nothing wrong with a vintage being climatically average. It’s actually really good. It was a breather. It gave the vines time to relax after a pretty stressful 2017’ says Larkmead winemaker Dan Petroski.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Calistoga 2018 wines

The northernmost AVA in Napa Valley, Calistoga has some of the warmest daytime temperatures but also the coolest nights, helping grapes retain a zesty, clean acidity. While producer styles vary widely, there is a consistently rich power to the wines, one harnessed by an upright, sturdy, high-toned structure.

Larkmead sits at the far southern edge of the region, producing a deep, plush style. ‘We’re technically in the Calistoga AVA but we designate our wines Napa Valley’, says Petroski. This is common throughout Napa Valley, especially among entrenched, historical producers that long predate the sub-AVA breakdowns, or the AVA system entirely.

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

On the northern end of the appellation is the famed Chateau Montelena. These wines display a brighter, more energetic profile than those of Larkmead. ‘This is where the two mountain ranges come together’ says Montelena winemaker Matt Crafton. ‘Calistoga used to have a gliderport. People would ride thermals that come off the Palisades and the Mayacamas. As that heat rises up through convection, make-up air is pulled in through Russian River from the Pacific. Every afternoon when it’s warm, right around 3:30, a 15°C breeze comes in and cools everything down quickly.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena Stags Leap District

Top expressions of Calistoga include The Eisele Estate, Jericho Canyon, Jones, Montelena’s Estate bottling and Hourglass’ Blueline Estate.

See the best Calistoga 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley 

The rise of US urban wineries

California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

Located in the Vaca range above St Helena, in 1983 Howell Mountain was among the first Napa subregions to be split off into its own appellation.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Howell Mountain 2018 wines

To be eligible for the AVA, vineyards must be planted at or above the level of the fog line, 420 metres above sea level. This results in both substantially more exposure to sunshine, as well as narrower diurnal swings due to the cooler average temperature.

There is higher average rainfall than the valley floor, compensated for by the well-drained, rocky, volcanic, tufa soils.

Many of the wines are massive, rustic and built for the long-haul, although there are an increasing number of flashy, slick styles being produced. Even in these modern showings, the persistently chewy tannin structure of Howell Mountain is not one that is easily masked.

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

Winemaker for Lokoya and La Jota, Chris Carpenter describes Howell Mountain as having a ‘gravely minerality that comes through, and a mid-palate that none of the mountain wines from the Mayacamas come close to.

Tannins from Mount Veeder and Spring Mountain tend to be really focused. On Howell, the tannins are much broader in a really compelling way. Mixed with the savoury character of Howell Mountain Cabernet, I think it is a really great combination.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena, Stags Leap District

Top examples include Lokoya’s appellation-designate, La Jota, Metzker and O’Shaughnessy.

See the top-scoring Howell Mountain 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley A taste of Howell Mountain: Tor Cimarossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2003-2016California Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

Home to more posh addresses than perhaps any other sub-AVA, Oakville has become an epicenter of the modern, luxe Napa Cabernet.

Scroll down for the top-scoring Oakville 2018 wines

Situated directly in the centre of the valley, it is far enough south to access the moderation of San Pablo Bay, and also bask in afternoon sun once the fog has evaporated.

There is considerable east-to-west diversity, prompting industry hypotheticals of AVA subdivision.

Wines tend to be more ripe and lush in the western section where the soils are sedimentary. The eastern portion exudes a more taut, high-toned minerality from its red volcanic soils.

Dalla Valle winemaker Andy Erickson describes 2018 as ‘classic Napa Valley: big flavours, very aromatic, and even though there is volume, there is really great balance.

‘It’s one of those vintages where most people made really good wines. It’s kind of a no-brainer. Usually the most uneventful vintages produce the best wines.’

Napa Valley Cabernet: Full 2018 vintage report

Speaking of the eastern section where Dalla Valle sits, Erickson notes, ‘The east side is where you have decomposing, iron-rich volcanic soils that come down off Pritchard Hill. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc just really love that condition. Well-drained but still plenty of clay in the soils. The vineyards cruise through the season.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines coming soon:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Rutherford, St Helena Stags Leap District

Many classic showings of Oakville will make credit cards recoil, this being home to Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Opus One and MacDonald.

Turnbull’s Black Label and Groth’s Reserve are solid examples.

Heitz’s Martha’s Vineyard is the ultimate showing from a quality-price-ratio perspective.

See the top-scoring Oakville 2018 wines

See also

Decanter Premium Collector’s Guide: Napa Valley Heitz Cellar: Producer profilePromontory: Harlan’s rugged Napa territoryCalifornia Cabernet 2016: Panel tasting results

The 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet vintage belongs in an echelon with the finest of the past two decades. It was absent of challenges that plagued many of the previous years, ranging from drought, low yields and heatwaves.

It was spared in the second most destructive wildfire season in California’s history, behind only 2020. The best wines show control, poise and transparency between vineyard and appellation.

Scroll down to see Matthew Luczy’s top-scoring 2018 Napa Cabernets

When compared to recent vintages, it is most synonymous with the highly acclaimed 2016. ‘There were a lot of synergies in both the growing season and the wines. They have a lot of the same energy, expression and life’ explains Chris Carpenter, winemaker for Lokoya, Cardinale, La Jota and Mt Brave, all part of the large Jackson Family Wines portfolio.

In terms of weather, ‘slow’ and ‘easy’ were consistent descriptors. After the heatwaves and wildfires of 2017, this calm was met with open arms. Pilcrow’s Jonah Beer says: ‘Mother Nature allowed us to walk through the vintage rather than sprint. Everything came in like a parade instead of a stampede.’

Quick links

Individual AVA analysis and top-scoring wines:

Calistoga, Coombsville, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena, Stags Leap District

Luczy’s wines of the vintage:

Corison, Kronos Vineyard 97 pts | Kapcsándy, Grand Vin, State Lane Vineyard 97 pts

Full verdict

Chimney Rock winemaker Elizabeth Vianna gave similar praise, saying ‘2018 is a beautiful, cool vintage. We got fully ripe but nothing was overripe. The fruit integrity was pristine and there were no heat spikes. It was just a dream.’

Winter brought February rains, leading to a temperate, dry spring. Budbreak and flowering occurred slightly later than normal, and summer was warm overall. Dan Petroski at Larkmead points out: ‘It was a cooler year, but when I say “cool”, it was still 90°F [32°C]. That’s “cool” in Napa.’

Cathy Corison also recalls the atypical summer. ‘It dipped into the 20°C/70°Fs! That’s crazy in Napa! It never got over 35°C/95°F for all of July, August and September.’ She also notes the deep colour of the wines, saying ‘You could write a letter with them.’

Due to the mild spring and generous flowering of 2017, yields were up 20% to 30% on average.

Harvests like this almost remove the variable of vintage altogether, producers being left free to express their individual styles. At the end of the day, wine is made by people, and people are influenced by culture, timing and incentives. 2018 could be likened to a smooth flight; even without turbulence, the pilot still has to fly the plane and land it.

See all of the wines in the Napa Valley Cabernet 2018 vintage report here

Maintaining historical perspective is important when assessing any vintage, and Napa Valley has undergone many distinct phases. The 1960s began the ‘Second Golden Age’, and the ’70s placed the region on the world stage. The 1980s introduced wide-scale irrigation, as well as a bout of phylloxera that caused numerous replantings.

The ’90s gave rise to cult wines: mailing-list-only wineries showered with lofty scores. The dotcom boom and resultant real estate values dramatically elevated vineyard prices throughout California. The influence of critics with penchants for punchy and slick wines brought about noticeable standardisation and uniformity, especially among elite producers.

The mid-2000s were arguably the peak of the ripeness and oak craze, with the cooler 2010 and 2011 vintages initially correcting for some of this escalation. Movements like In Pursuit of Balance and the Somm documentary series brought awareness to the merits of balanced wines and those whose passion is educating consumers about them. It was the beginning of a sea change.

Winemakers, viticulturists, PR firms and winery presidents alike spoke of a ‘return to our roots’, a ‘reeling in’ and ‘dialing back’ of ripeness and extraction. However, based on the 330 samples reviewed for this report, this largely doesn’t seem to be the case.

The back-to-back blockbuster vintages of 2012 and 2013 largely kickstarted the ripeness parade all over again. As the decade has progressed, many producers seem to be saying one thing and doing another.

Napa Valley area under vine by variety

Cabernet Sauvignon 8,800ha

Merlot 1,681ha

Cabernet Franc 444ha

Petit Verdot 296ha

Malbec 194ha

Past vintages guide (out of 5)

2018 4.5

2017 3

2016 4.5

2015 4

2014 4.5

2013 4.5

2012 4.5

2011 3.5

2010 4

2009 4

From the valley floor to mountain slopes, northern Calistoga to southern Coombsville, the average alcohol-by-volume of the wines submitted was 14.7%. In a vintage like 2018, this can’t help but feel excessive. Numerous examples simply burned on the nose and finish – and not just wines labelled upwards of 15%.

If the ageing potential of a fine wine is a factor in its perceived value, these levels are worrisome. Ethanol is static, thus a wine that is overtly hot in its youth will only be edged further out of balance as time sheds the fruit around it.

Is the variance and complexity of Napa’s terroir truly being expressed, or is uniformity and manipulation permeating and masking it? A circumstance akin to The Emperor’s New Clothes appears to be the answer in many cases. There seem to be precious few influential wineries truly producing hands-off wines, and far too many where narratives of ‘expressing place’ are varying degrees of disingenuous.

Domino effect of manipulations

On multiple occasions, I was quoted sugar levels at harvest that equate to 16%+abv on wines labelled 14.5% or thereabouts. This indicates that either grapes were harvested extremely ripe and watered back, altered with reverse osmosis post-fermentation, left with residual sugar, or some combination thereof. An opposite but still-bothersome situation was a winemaker commenting that a wine was less than 14%, but they were uneasy to label it as such due to consumer perception of a ‘lighter’ style.

An aside regarding California’s labelling laws: if a wine is less than 14%, the producer has 1.5% of labelling leeway in either direction. Above 14%, a 1% change is allowed. Tax rates increase by 38% on wines above the threshold, and the tolerance cannot be used to dodge this.

In the case of manipulation, such practices quickly begin a domino effect. Water additions pre-fermentation dilute the skin-to-juice ratio of grape must, lowering the amount of flavour extraction possible. To maintain concentration in the finished wine, a portion of must is bled off and an equal – but often less – amount of water is added back.

Must contains nutrients, sugar, phenolic compounds and acidity. Water additions replace the volume lost (sans nutrients) but also raise pH, making the must more susceptible to microbial issues. To ensure stability, acid and increased sulphur additions are now necessary, as is sterile-filtration prior to bottling in many instances.

These actions quite literally strip a wine of its true character. It appears the Emperor is not only unclothed, but stands on a house of cards.

Knowledge is power

To be clear, this is not a manifesto seeking the return to a bygone era where storied wineries struggled to reach 12.5% (many of whom adjusted chemistry in the cellar as well) nor is it a slight towards consumers that genuinely enjoy riper flavours.

Napa currently has the potential to make the best wines it ever has. We know considerably more now than in decades past about how vine spacing, rootstocks, clone selection, canopy management and yeast strains affect a finished wine.

Great progress has been made in the once-prevalent, obvious over-usage of new oak, which couldn’t have been said earlier in the decade. The majority of the 2018s I tasted were remarkably tastefully seasoned and well-integrated with their oak.

What is troubling is the pervasiveness and normalisation of this slipping-of-the-leash in terms of balance, especially as wine prices perpetually escalate. It brings to mind the aphorism ‘rising tides raise all ships’. In this instance, however, the tide is weakening the hulls and leaks are springing.

A time for change

2018 was a blank canvas for each winemaking team. As much as producing world-class wine is contingent on grape quality, it is equally dependent on choices in the cellar. Over-treatment muddies the identity of any wine, however amenable the weather is.

There is more than enough diversity and diligence to go around in Napa. It is very possible for producers to make decadent wines which retain balance and authenticity, while their neighbours hang their hat on more understated expressions.

It is up to those who influence the wine world – producers, consumers and journalists alike – to call spade a spade and encourage sensible practices that highlight rather than conceal. We need a ‘Third Golden Age’ in the Napa Valley.

See Matthew Luczy’s top-scoring 2018 Napa Cabernets

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A surprisingly uniform vintage across the region, with smaller volumes but exceptional quality if you know where to look. Linda Murphy selects the best wines following a series of tastings for Decanter magazine and Premium subscribers...

Nearly 650km separate California’s northernmost quality Cabernet Sauvignon region, Lake County, and Santa Barbara County’s Happy Canyon appellation in the far south. What are the chances of near-mirror vintage conditions throughout a state that is larger and more diverse than many countries?

The 2015 vintage

Well, in 2015 that chance was nearly 100%, with the vast majority of producers using very similar words to describe the vintage. Those words were: ‘early’, ‘one of the coolest Mays on record’, ‘fifth consecutive year of drought’, ‘low-yielding and low-case volumes’, ‘more labour required’, ‘meticulous sorting’.

Scroll down to see Linda’s top California Cabernet 2015 picks

While it’s not a year for accountants, winemakers are both giddy and relieved at the quality and concentration of their wines, which are now being released.

From north to south, California’s Cabernet Sauvignon producers faced similar conditions in 2015 and had virtually the same result: exceptional, concentrated and complex wines but with yield reductions of 10% to 60%. Because of the dearth of stocks, several wineries have already released 2016 Cabernets to keep the cash flowing.

Quick link See all of Linda’s 2015 Cabernet tasting notes & scores

A small number of 2015 wines reviewed separately by Elin McCoy have also been included in order to provide a wider selection of reviews

The bottom line? Impatient drinkers will enjoy these deeply fruited, flavour-packed, classically styled 2015s now. But put them away for a decade or more and be richly rewarded. Regardless, now is definitely the time to buy, before stocks run out.

‘We called 2015 a “zombie harvest” because it wouldn’t end’ – Sally Johnson, Pride Mountain Vineyard

Lake County

Napa Valley’s neighbour to the north has been steadily building a positive reputation for Cabernet Sauvignon in its Red Hills AVA.

Obsidian Ridge in particular has made focussed Cabernets with volcanic-soil-driven dark-fruit character and savouriness, despite the challenges of the area’s wildfires. Winemaker Alex Beloz says: ‘The 2015 valley fire, which scorched 30,756ha, began only a few miles south of our vineyard. The start of the fire coincided with our first day of harvest.

‘We were able to get our first load safely down the mountain, but were not allowed to re-enter for days. When we finally got the all-clear, we discovered that we had been upwind of all the smoke so our vines were unscathed.’

Napa Valley

‘It was a pretty good year until fruit set,’ recalled Chris Carpenter, winemaker for Jackson Family Wines’ La Jota, Lokoya, Mt Brave and Cardinale brands.

‘We got some rain and cool temperatures and lost about 30% of our crop then. But the rest of the season played out beautifully and the wine quality is outstanding. We just don’t have a lot of it.’

Carpenter’s Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are grown largely in the cooler, thin-soil vineyards in the elevated Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain and Mt Veeder AVAs, where ripening comes late in the season.

Yet at Francis Ford Coppola’s Inglenook, in the warmer, flatter Rutherford AVA, winemaker Chris Phelps had all his Cabernet Sauvignon fruit in the cellar by 24 September. ‘For Rubicon and the Estate Cabernet, we’re looking for elegance, and while warm September weather had us finishing harvest early, the grapes didn’t suffer any dehydration.

‘The 2015s are a bit more opulent than we’d like, but they still have freshness. A splash of Merlot blended in the Rubicon gave us less extraction.’

John Conover, who oversees operations for Cade on Howell Mountain, PlumpJack Winery in Oakville and Odette Estate in Stags Leap District, produced a hedonistic style of Cabernet Sauvignon that is very popular in the US. ‘We had some issues, but the wines are pure, unctuous and give immediate satisfaction.’

Sonoma County

Pride Mountain Vineyards winemaker Sally Johnson has a unique perch in the Mayacamas Mountains that separate Sonoma and Napa counties. Her vineyards straddle this county line, with bottles labelled accordingly.

‘2015 had a little bit of everything,’ remembers Johnson. ‘Hail, drought, a cool, wet May and a fog-like cloud that stayed for two weeks. Hail and wind knocked clusters off the vines. But in the end the wines came out great, something in the middle of 2012’s softness and balance, and 2013’s tannic structure.

‘It was certainly a riper year than 2011, though we called 2015 a “zombie harvest” because it wouldn’t end. With uneven ripeness, we made numerous passes through the vineyards.’

Chris Louton of St Francis Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma Valley noted the light harvest in 2015, which began at a record-early date for the winery of 10 August. The result was smaller, looser clusters, he says, though the warm, consistent summer delivered healthy grapes, though at less-than-desirable quantities.

Santa Cruz Mountains

Late-spring storms and cool weather slashed yields here by 20% to 50%, yet quality didn’t seem to suffer. Eric Baugher, chief operating officer for Ridge Vineyards, reported that production of Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon and Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was down.

‘But what’s great about this vintage is the quality,’ he says. ‘It’s one of the finest I’ve seen in my lifetime at Ridge. Beautiful, intense flavours and aromas in the berries. No heat spikes during summer. The vines cruised through harvest.’

Paso Robles

On the Central Coast, it can be so hot in some vintages that, in the wrong hands, Cabernet Sauvignon can resemble Port – with alcohol levels to match. But 2015 was not such a year.

‘Drought and unseasonably cold, windy, cloudy weather in May greatly impacted berry set,’ explains Jeff Meier, president of J Lohr Vineyards & Winery. ‘In many respects, 2015 is reminiscent of 2004 in terms of crop size and warm growing season.

‘Fortunately, unlike 2004, the weather conditions during veraison were mild. Cabernet Sauvignon yields were down by as much as 60%, with other Bordeaux varieties down closer to 10%. One silver lining is the very high quality of reds. Colour densities are the highest I’ve seen in more than a decade,’ he adds.

Austin Hope, winemaker at Hope Family Wines, says: ‘We did see some slight drought stress on the vines and had to irrigate more than normal. The berries were a little smaller than usual and this resulted in more concentration in the wines, with higher skin-to-juice ratios.’

Santa Barbara County

This region is best known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, given its cooling Pacific Ocean influence. Yet in the far-eastern AVA of Happy Canyon, Bordeaux varieties enjoy the warmer climate. For Tyler Thomas, who makes wines for Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyard, the only bad thing about the 2015 vintage was the cool spring and resultant poor fruit set.

‘We had clusters on the sorting table that already looked destemmed – literally 10 berries per cluster. That’s unfortunate for yields but isn’t a quality issue. Our production of Cabernet Sauvignon ended up about 40% of normal, yet the wines are thrilling and energetic with a fresh, coastal, sage herb note.’

Linda’s top 2015 California Cabernets:

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Decanter's experts give their verdict on California Cabernet from the 2011 vintage...

Originally published in Decanter magazine's February 2015 issue and now available online and in full for Premium members

• 118 wines tasted with four rated Outstanding

• The panel tasters were: Romain Bourger, Stephen Brook & Angela Mount

The sheer number of high-scoring wines proves 2011 is not a write off, and with large-scale producers eclipsing more prestigious estates, there is great value to be found, says Stephen Brook…

The panel was surprised when the results were disclosed that half of the Outstandings were, by Napa standards, high-volume wines offered at modest prices. But the surprise was a pleasant one. It shows that consumers don’t have to pay extortionate prices for fine Californian Cabernet.

It also indicates that some larger wineries, like Beringer and J Lohr, are at an advantage in a tricky vintage as they can select the best fruit from their own vineyards and from those that supply them on a contract basis. Looking back at my notes from previous vintages, I’ve always scored the Napa Cabs from Beringer and Black Stallion very positively in blind tastings. The wineries do a good job and offer good value.

By contrast, the two other Outstandings are high-priced: Insignia from Phelps, made in substantial volumes yet always a benchmark for sumptuous and structured Napa Cabernet; and Hartwell, a much smaller property, but with vineyards in Stags Leap District. In the past its wines have been patchy, with excellent bottles alongside more effortful wines. With this Reserve it has hit the bullseye.

Given the very high number of Highly Recommended wines, in itself a tribute to the vintage, it’s hard to draw firm conclusions. The panel admired big Napa reds like Darioush, Pahlmeyer, Quintessa, Groth and the three from Robert Craig, but gave comparable scores to more elegant, restrained styles such as the wines from Spottswoode, Mondavi’s To Kalon Reserve and Chimney Rock.

Nor were all the top wines from Napa. J Lohr’s Hilltop Cabernet comes from its 800ha in Paso Robles; by California standards it’s not expensive and it’s wonderful to see such quality spread across over 17,000 cases (Lohr’s Napa Cab also excelled).

Sonoma didn’t impress, though there were a few very good wines from Alexander Valley, always a prime spot for ripe Cabernet. Ridge’s Monte Bello often fails to shine in its extreme youth, but will no doubt blossom with bottle age.

One might have expected a stronger showing from stalwarts like Spring Mountain Estate, Diamond Creek and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Not that they fared badly, but were outgunned by many less prestigious names.

Undoubtedly the character of 2011 will have played a large part in these less-than-consistent results. It’s a vintage any French grower, accustomed to slow ripening and regular rot, would have handled without complaint, but Napa producers are less used to such conditions and more likely to panic. And some vineyards may have suffered simply by being in the wrong place. But the very high average scores suggest this is not a vintage to reject, though it is one in which to select.

Quick link: See all of Decanter’s California Cabernet 2011 tasting notes & scores

The scores

118 wines tasted

Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were invited to submit Californian Cabernets from the 2011 vintage. A maximum three wines per producer were permitted and wines had to be a minimum of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 4

Highly Recommended 35

Recommended 69

Commended 0

Fair 10

Poor 0

Faulty 0

The results

This atypically cool vintage, beset by rain, rot and major issues with ripeness, was not optimal by any means, but our experts were still impressed with the quality on offer.

Angela Mount said freshness in the wines, due to the cool vintage conditions, was a boon for European palates. ‘We often accuse Californian Cabernets of being too showy, crafted and groomed with intense alcohols and high sugars. The fact this is a lighter vintage in both concentration and alcohol will appeal to those looking for elegance,’ she said.

While the wines were lacking ripeness, Stephen Brook conceded that your enjoyment of them depended on your tolerance for herbaceousness: ‘None were undrinkable, but I feel that US drinkers will not like these.’

Romain Bourger noted: ‘These Californian wines are probably riper than many Bordeaux vintages, which Europeans are more used to.’

Looking around the regions, Sonoma bore the brunt of criticism, with a number of faulty first bottles and the worst of the unripe characters, though Brook said Alexander Valley was the best of its sub-regions. Hoping for more highlights, our experts said Paso Robles offered some ‘easy, fleshy wines but nothing of great substance’.

The generic Californian wines were praised – the residual sugar for which these wines are often criticised were tamed thanks to the cool vintage. ‘I was expecting to score lower here,’ said Mount, ‘but the wines at this level were balanced and of a really good standard, offering great value in 2011.’

All the tasters said that despite expecting to give their highest scores to Napa’s sub-regional AVAs, they gave their highest scores to the generic Napa wines, the majority of entries.

‘Again, they weren’t typical of the high alcohols and voluptuous fruit you’d expect, but that leafiness was very welcome,’ said Brook.

Mount said in the best wines, the word ‘freshness’ might be a more apt term than ‘leafiness’, ‘herbaceousness’ or ‘greenness’, and it was clear that in the best wines the winemakers worked hard to get the most out of a tricky vintage.

‘The fruit was still ripe and plush, but it had a fresher style. They were much more balanced than the in-your-face wines we are used to from Napa,’ she said.

However, Brook said that the wines at the ‘lightest, freshest’ end of the spectrum were hard to assess, as the judges needed to determine if they were ‘elegant and refined or merely lacking some stuffing and typicity’.

Oak was another bone of contention. Bourger felt that the ‘spicy, toasty, cedar wood tones’ masked the fruit in many wines. By contrast, alcohol levels were unusually praised.

‘I’m a fierce critic of excessive alcohol and it really wasn’t much of an issue,’ said Brook. ‘Normally I find about 10% of Californian wines undrinkable, but here even those at 14.8% had the alcohol perfectly integrated into the fruit.’

Sub-regions

Looking at sub-regional AVAs, while many were high-scoring, none of the tasters found them superior to the generic Napa bottlings.

‘An AVA isn’t a guarantee of quality, just a guarantee of origin,’ said Brook, who found Spring Mountain ‘disappointing’. The experts deemed Mt Veeder the best of the bunch, with Stags Leap, St Helena and Oakville showing potential but needing time.

Drinking

Our judges advised broaching the lighter-style generic California or Napa wines now and the bigger, more tannic examples in a few years, expecting them to drink well into the next decade. ‘This is one of the most accessible Californian Cabernet vintages I’ve tasted, and it should not be ignored,’ said Brook. ‘It’s certainly a vintage where you have to select carefully – you can’t assume everything is going to be equally good – but it’s not as dire as many people have said.’

Mount said 2011 was a perfect vintage for those who normally avoid Californian Cabernet because of its blockbuster style, though the prices may still put off many.

There’s no doubt this is an atypical vintage, but it’s by no means a bad one, says Stephen Brook, who likens the wines’ herbal notes and restraint with good Bordeaux…

Soon after this vintage was released in the US, I was talking to some American colleagues. One said: ‘I’m really looking forward to tasting the 2011s. It’s a cool vintage that should deliver some really elegant Cabernets.’ Another said: ‘It’s going to be hard work tasting the 2011s. There are just too many green, hard wines coming out of the North Coast.’

Now that the wines are on the market, it appears both predictions were right. 2011 was certainly cool – even cooler than 2010. Flowering was problematic and led to uneven ripening, but good work in the vineyard could minimise that.

The summer across the North Coast was cool and damp, and the weather was almost as bad further south in Paso Robles, another major Cabernet zone. Early October saw heavy rain, and botrytis was widespread.

Even though yields were low, much of the Cabernet fruit never reached optimal ripeness (at least by Californian standards), but the forecast was poor. Many growers rushed to pick, maybe hoping to compensate for any underripeness by deft practices in the winery such as tannin additions. Others decided to wait but found they had to cope with rot, and soon realised the continuing cool conditions were making further ripening unlikely.

So in terms of grape sugars, the 2011 vintage is not that different from a good vintage in Bordeaux. Californian winemakers, and perhaps consumers too, require more than grape sugars that will convert into alcohols between 13.5% and 14%. They want phenolic ripeness too, to minimise any greenness that may derive from immature skins and seeds.

Individual preference

There’s no denying that many wines in this vintage, whatever their regional origin, do show some herbaceousness. The extent to which that enhances rather than mars the overall quality and pleasure of the wine will be an individual judgement.

The same character can be found, for example, in Cabernets from Coonawarra or Margaret River, yet they are widely admired styles. British and other European wine lovers will probably appreciate the elegance, discretion and balance of the best of these wines; others will miss the brash fruitiness and the fleshy texture of a super-ripe Cal Cab.

It’s a vintage that left many of America’s top critics confused. Eric Asimov of the New York Times, no fan of the blockbuster style of Napa Cabernet, said he and his fellow tasters found wines with ‘odd combinations: tart yet sweet and oaky, tannic yet unstructured, herbal yet with alcohol. Luckily, we found more that we liked.’

This confirms 2011 is an atypical vintage, and not what most admirers of Napa Cabernet (at least North American ones) want. It’s surely the case that Cabernet grapes in northern California yearn for maximum ripeness. No winemaker deliberately aims to make wines that are angular or unbalanced. California Cabernet is a wine for hedonists; 2011 is not a hedonistic year.

Yet the wines are not as skinny and mean as their detractors claim. And perhaps not as elegant (a compliment in Europe, less so in California) as their admirers claim. It is also safe to say that 2011, in its climatic conditions, is not a vintage that many growers will want to experience again.

It has ignited more discussions on stylistic issues, which is never a bad thing, but most winemakers and consumers will turn with relief to more classically ripe and opulent vintages, such as 2013, that lie ahead.

California Cabernet: know your vintages

2013 Could be a classic year, as small berries gave tannic, powerful wines.

2012 In contrast to 2010 and 2011, a trouble-free vintage with many lush, forward wines that may lack structure.

2011 A wet June and October led to delayed ripening, much rot and a late harvest. But by no means disastrous.

2010 A cool year, but the best wines are appetising and show restraint and finesse, and will age well.

2009 Mid-October rain marred the harvest, but growers who picked before the downpours had very fine Cabernets.

2008 A good year, but not every wine succeeds. Selection required. The best are very concentrated.

2007 A leisurely harvest. Very ripe wines from what is turning out to be a classic vintage, especially in Napa and Sonoma.

2006 Not a consistent year, so careful selection required. Moderate sugars and firm tannins. Wines range from mediocre to very good.

2005 Stylish, fine-tuned Cabernets, and with little of the dilution associated with a very large crop. Powerful wines from Paso Robles.

California Cabernet: the facts

Area under vine 34,000ha

Principal regions Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley, Alexander Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles

Annual production 450,000 tonnes

Top scoring California Cabernets from the panel tasting:

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California Cabernet 2014: Panel tasting results

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Mature Californian wines from the cellar

Our three-strong panel has blind tasted and rated 174 wines from the vintage. Below, Premium members can be among the first to see which wines came out on top, with an introduction to the vintage by Karen MacNeil and a report on the results by Tina Gellie.

One hundred million dollars-worth of destruction – that’s often the first thing that comes to a Napa Valley producer’s mind when you mention the California 2014 vintage.

The figure, from analyst Rob McMillan at Silicon Valley Bank, is an estimate of damages that resulted from a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that ripped through the valley at 3am on 24 August 2014.

The harvest was already well underway, having started early on 30 July with grapes intended for sparkling wine.

More than 60% of Napa Valley’s 450-plus wineries sustained damage – mostly to structures, machinery, barrels and wine in vats. Much of the Cabernet Sauvignon, luckily, was still on the vine.

‘The earthquake traumatised us all,’ says Phillip Corallo-Titus, winemaker for Chappellet Winery. ‘But the vintage itself was stellar. All season long, the weather was even; there was so little stress on the vines. It was like an open run on goal.’

Quick Link: View all 174 wines from this panel tasting

Perhaps with one impediment: the drought. For the fourth year running, Napa Valley was deep into a severe water shortage. Every morning during the winter of 2013/2014, Napa residents awoke to yet more sunshine. In fact, the winter was one of the driest on record in the state.

In February and March, furious rains brought some relief. By April the weather was dry again, setting the grapes on a perfect course toward bud break.

Scroll down to see the wines

From the winemakers

‘I love the 2014s,’ says Cathy Corison, owner and winemaker of Corison Winery. ‘I was worried at first because the 2013s are so lush. The 2014s were more brooding at first but have since blossomed. They have a harmony and unity that define a great vintage.’

‘They are seductive,’ agrees Phillippe Melka, consulting winemaker for more than 20 top small Napa estates including Lail, Tusk, Dana and Vineyard 29. ‘But it was important to move quickly at the end, to avoid long hang-time and keep the wine’s natural freshness.’

‘Great Napa Cabernet is all about diurnal temperature shifts,’ says Corison. ‘And 2014 was full of cool summer nights. There aren’t many places in the world where Cabernet basks in 32°C temperatures during the day, and goes to sleep at night at 10°C.’

The old idea that Californian Cabernet is sweet, alcoholic and lacking in complexity is just that – an old idea. Vintners who weather earthquakes and wildfires, vintners who stare straight into the jaws of global warming, become highly sensitised to the climatic nuances of their place.

When Nature gives them half a chance, California’s winemakers make Cabernets of great structure and beauty. As they did in 2014.

The scores

174 wines tasted

Entry criteria: producers and UK importers were invited to submit their 2014 Californian Cabernet Sauvignons (minimum 75% of the variety)

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 4

Highly Recommended 50

Recommended 84

Commended 29

Fair 7

Poor 0

Faulty 0

See all 174 wines from the panel tasting

More about the results

With 79% of wines Recommended or above, this is clearly a solid vintage, but our experts were hoping for more top scorers. Tina Gellie reports on their findings:

Extremely competent Cabernets, but no real showstoppers, concluded our trio of experts, from what they deemed an approachable but inconsistent vintage.

‘I’d hoped for a greater number of magnificent wines,’ said Stephen Brook. ‘Yes, we had a few, and many very good wines, but I was disappointed there weren’t more that knocked my socks off.’

Alex Hunt MW agreed, but added: ‘I have come to expect that of Californian Cabernets. While a deservedly world-class category of wine, it’s not where you look for guaranteed fireworks.’

Much of this had to do with money, Hunt explained, where so much was at stake that few producers could afford to take risks. ‘It is the equivalent of endless beige interiors in super-prime apartments: there’s no doubt about the impeccable taste and opulence, but you just wish for a piece of funky art – a bit of danger, risk or excitement – to disrupt all that uniformity.’

Brook commented that expectations of annual blockbusters were now so high in California, with critics’ scores driving sales, it forced winemakers to play it safe. ‘People might be insulted by our 91 or 92 points, but that is high praise from us! That probably equates to 95 or 96 in American scoring,’ he said.

Stefan Neumann MS urged readers to remember there was no single Napa Cab taste profile, particularly amid the swathe of generic Napa Valley wines, which here showed vast differences in quality and style.

According to Brook, consumers shouldn’t assume that generic Napa Valley wines were of lesser quality than those with a specific AVA on the label. ‘You get bargain-basement Napa, but some of California’s top wines, such as Insignia, are released as “Napa Valley”, as they are blends of different AVAs. Others may actually come from a designated AVA but have traditionally always been sold under the generic designation.’

Nevertheless, when focussing in on specific AVAs within Napa, our tasters found a clear step up in quality.

For Brook, Stags Leap District was his favourite: ‘poised, balanced, lovely’. Oakville stood out for its ‘gorgeous texture – velvety, seductive wines’, while Mount Veeder impressed with ‘intensity and freshness’.

Hunt felt that the vintage conditions benefited these valley-floor AVAs, giving them better balance and more consistency than higher-altitude areas in Napa such as Howell Mountain, which Brook found ‘hefty, with a few wines worryingly tired’.

The anomaly was the low-lying Rutherford AVA, which Brook said ‘had bizarre variation: rich, imposing wines but also many delicate and lower in alcohol but with no staying power’.

Away from Napa, our experts agreed that the few entries from Santa Cruz Mountains were peerless in their freshness, drive and energy; Paso Robles was true to form with big, brash, fruit-driven wines; and Alexander Valley justified its reputation as the standout area in Sonoma for Cabernet Sauvignon.

In general, the panel was happy with the overall quality of winemaking, the biggest criticism being for ‘simplistic’ wines that lacked the natural acidity or tannin structure to balance the opulent fruit, generous oak and high alcohol levels.

Neumann summed up 2014 as an ‘accessible, joyful, characterful vintage’, offering Cabernets that could be enjoyed over the next few years, with the best bottles cellaring well beyond 2030.

Our tasters each pick their top 3 wines from the tasting:

Stephen Brook

Brook has been a contributing editor to Decanter since 1996. He is the author of almost 40 books, including The Complete Bordeaux, now the definitive study of the region, and The Wines of California, which won three awards. His most recent book is The Wines of Austria. Brook also fully revised the last two editions of Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion.

Mount Eden Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains 2014

In the Santa Cruz Mountains, Ridge usually gets the attention, but Mount Eden occupies the neighbouring ridge, where Jeff Patterson farms old vines, making exceptional wines in top years. This is beautifully balanced. 96 Drink 2020-2030

Sequoia Grove, Rutherford, Napa Valley 2014

This family estate producing sensibly priced wines is a dependable Cabernet property, with vines in the prestigious Rutherford. This is still reserved, but it’s firmly fruity with fine ageing potential. 96 Drink 2020-2030

Inglenook, Rubicon, Rutherford, Napa Valley 2014

In the past I found this icon blend too tannic, but since 2007 it’s been on top form, possibly thanks to ex-Margaux winemaker Philippe Bascaules and consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt. Velvety and elegant, this should age beautifully. 93 Drink 2019-2031

Alex Hunt MW

Hunt is purchasing director for Berkmann Wine Cellars. He became a Master of Wine in 2010, completing a dissertation on ripeness trends in California, and receiving the Madame Bollinger Medal for excellence in tasting. He wrote a regular tasting column for JancisRobinson.com and has been a DWWA judge for over a decade.

Mount Eden Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains 2014

Manages the rare feat of being immediately delicious while also standing up to aesthetic scrutiny. Opposite so many tiring heavyweights, it gets more interesting the more you sip, thanks to terrific balance. 97 Drink 2020-2030

Martin Ray, Diamond Mountain 2014

In this often rather conformist region, it’s exciting to find wines that march to the beat of a different drum, yet still maintain a high level of quality. This shows off Cabernet’s wild side without sacrificing harmony: bravo! 94 Drink 2019-2027

Smith-Madrone, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley 2014

Green notes are a key part of Cabernet’s aroma, yet often suppressed in California. How refreshing, then, to find them lifting the juicy fruit of this wine to another level of complexity. 94 Drink 2020-2030

Stefan Neumann MS

Neumann is head sommelier at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, a two-star Michelin restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel in London. He has previously worked for restaurants The Fat Duck, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxford, Restaurant Hotel Obauer in Salzburg and Steirereck in Vienna. He became a Master Sommelier in 2017.

Mount Eden Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains 2014

Hedonistic superstar! Unrivalled focus and elegance with a drive and focus that outshone all others. I ordered some immediately after results were revealed. 95 Drink 2020-2030

Sequoia Grove, Rutherford, Napa Valley 2014

This took me by surprise for its beautiful intensity and for being so approachable in its youth. Winemaking director Mike Trujillo has said: ‘I love Cabernet that tastes like Cabernet’ and I do too! 94 Drink 2020-2030

Inglenook, Rubicon, Rutherford, Napa Valley 2014

A wine that has continued to surprise me from the 2012 vintage onwards. Nothing is greater than to taste the rebirth of a legend. This is great now, but will be even better if you can hold onto it for a few years. Bravo, Inglenook, and keep on pushing! 90 Drink 2019-2031

Californian Cabernet: the facts

Total Cabernet Sauvignon under vine: (2016) 34,230ha

Napa Valley: 7,914ha

Paso Robles/San Luis Obispo: 4,933ha

Sonoma County: 4,778ha

Livermore: 387ha

San Joaquin (Central Valley): 4,559ha

Californian Cabernet: know your vintages

2016 A near-perfect growing season progressed evenly with warm days and cool nights. The wines show every sign of being extraordinary

2015 After five years of drought, vines produced a small crop. An excellent vintage, marrying 2013’s concentration with 2014’s accessibility

2014 Below-average crop of open, generous wines with good depth and balancing acidity. More serious than 2012, more accessible than 2013

2013 Warm summer and below-average crop of small, thick-skinned grapes gave concentrated, firmly structured wines of fabulous quality

2012 After a delayed budbreak, the warm summer saw even temperatures, with cool nights. Wines have delicious fruit; the best show minerally verve

2011 A challenging year: cool with above-average rainfall. The resulting wines are complex, sleek, fresh, fascinating and highly regarded

Top 2014 California Cabernets from the panel tasting:

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California winemakers and grape growers crushed just over four million tonnes of grapes in the 2017 harvest, with increases for Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir and declines for Chardonnay and Zinfandel, show new figures.

California’s most common wine grape varieties based on 2017 crush figures:

• Chardonnay
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Zinfandel
• Pinot Noir
• Merlot
• Pinot Gris
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Syrah
• Petite Syrah
• Riesling

Based on 2017 grape crush data, published by California’s department of food and agriculture and analysed by Ciatti Company in February 2018.

What we know from the latest California 2017 harvest figures

California harvested around four million tonnes of grapes in 2017, with the red wine harvest down by 1.6% versus 2016 and the white wine harvest up by 0.7% against the previous year, according to preliminary figures released by wine broker Ciatti and based on California Department of Food & Agriculture figures.

Reds came in at just over 2.24 million tonnes and white grapes at around 1.76 million.

Wildfires impact 

Devastating wildfires claimed more than 40 lives across North California in October 2017, despite 10,000 firefighters doing their best to contain blazes.

Wine was understandably not the main concern with lives and homes at risk, but there was nevertheless discussion within the wine sector around how fires might affect the 2017 vintage.

Some wineries sustained damage – Signorello, for example, being one of the worst hit – although a Sonoma State University survey of North California wineries found that 950 our of 1,025 wineries contacted had no structural damage.

While it is too early to properly assess quality impact, the latest 2017 grape crush report underlines the view that fires had a minimal overall impact on harvest quantity – even though some producers in high risk areas were evacuated from their estates for several days.

‘The fire was awful,’ said Glenn Proctor, global wine and grape broker with Ciatti, ‘but from an industry point of view we feel it did not have an effect on production numbers.

‘Luckily most of the crop was harvested by the time the fires occurred in the second week of October. We feel the severe heat we had in early September had the biggest effect on production,’ he told Decanter.com.

Cabernet Sauvignon is king

Cabernet Sauvignon had a record harvest in California in 2017, up 6% on 2016, said Ciatti.

Californian growers crushed almost 600,000 tonnes of the world’s most planted grape variety last year with premium coastal regions seeing the biggest increase.

Cabernet harvests ‘will only continue to grow’, said Ciatti.

In contrast, Chardonnay saw 2017 harvest quantity dented by heat spikes, particularly in Lodi, where the total crush fell by 18%.

Zinfandel saw one of its smallest harvests in recent years, down by nearly 13% to just over 364,000 tonnes.

Other growers included Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, which rose by 3.3% and 3.5% in 2017.

See also: Plan to rebuild Signorello after California wildfires

Ridge Monte Bello has continued to shine brightly since its famous victory over Bordeaux at the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting. Below, William Kelley tastes and rates vintages to look out for, including the rather special 2013 wine. Copy by Chris Mercer and Stephen Brook, and tasting notes by William Kelley.

Ridge Monte Bello has been a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend since 1975, also including the classic Bordeaux varieties of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.

It was originally a pure Cabernet wine, and the name cemented its rank among California wine royalty when the 1971 vintage beat top Bordeaux in the now-famous 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting. Monte Bello is made high up in the Santa Cruz mountains at up to 850 metres above sea level.

Read more about Monte Bello history, winemaking and terroir below the wine reviews.

For premium members: Ridge Monte Bello wines to try

All tasting notes and scores by William Kelley. 

History

Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet was already beating a path in the 1960s.

It was the 1971 Monte Bello that won in Paris, two years after the now renowned Paul Draper joined as a philosophy graduate-turned winemaker.

Yet, Ridge Vineyards was born in 1885 when Italian immigrant doctor Osea Perrone bought 180 acres of land on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

He built a winery and in 1892 produced the first vintage of a wine named ‘Ridge Monte Bello’.

The property was later abandoned and Cabernet wasn’t planted there until after the Second World War, when a group of Stanford research engineers began producing Monte Bello Cabernet.

They replanted the Monte Bello terraces and were making 3,000 cases of Cab per year by the time Draper arrived in 1969.

Draper has since become one of the best known ambassadors for California wine and his non-interventionist and more ‘Old World’ oriented approach is interwoven with the Ridge Monte Bello style.

Ridge Monte Bello terroir

Words below by Stephen Brook, Decanter magazine, 2016.

With vines at between 400m and 800m, the Monte Bello vineyard is, according to Draper, one of the highest and coolest Cabernet Sauvignon sites in California.

The soil is decomposing Franciscan greenstone mixed with clay over a subsoil of 100-million-year old limestone, which is very rare in California. The average age of the vines is more than 30 years and yields do not exceed 30hl/ha.

Elevation keeps the site free of sea fogs, but the ocean is just 24km to the west so the vines still benefit from maritime influence.

The climate is as cool as Bordeaux, but much drier in summer, and its imprint on the Cabernet from here is relatively high acidity and a taut structure that requires bottle age to show at its best.

The wine

Draper finds a short maceration necessary to avoid over-extraction of tough tannins, which typically means racking off the skins at between 1% and 4% residual sugar. The fermentation then continues to dryness.

The blend is made up soon after the malolactic fermentation is completed and between 10% and 20% press wine is added.

Monte Bello differs from other prestigious Californian Cabernets in being aged primarily in new, air-dried American oak, as Draper has always wanted to avoid making a wine that could be regarded as an imitation claret [for all his traditional leanings].

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William Kelley looks back at the 1997 vintage in Napa, and picks out some of his top scoring wines...

In retrospect, it’s easy to interpret Napa Valley’s 1997 vintage as a stylistic turning point. It was a year characterised by balmy weather and an above-average crop. Yields were generous and maturity came slowly.

‘For a long time, the grapes just didn’t taste ripe – there was a green quality, with grippy tannins,’ recalls David Ramey, then winemaker at Dominus Estate: ‘So people waited. And waited.’ The result was record levels of sugar – and alcohol levels. ‘It was the dawn of a new era,’ Ramey concludes.

Many feared that the ensuing wines were fatally overripe. Yet the 1997s received rave reviews from writers awed by their impact. Wine Spectator’s James Laube dubbed 1997 ‘the vintage of the century’, admiring the ‘profound richness, depth, complexity, finesse and flavour’ of the wines. Robert Parker’s judgement was similarly laudatory. The valley breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Scroll down for William Kelley’s top-rated 1997 Napa Cabernets

By the beginning of the new millennium, the moral of the story was clear. More and more winemakers began picking later: some were relieved to be unshackled from convention, free to explore riper tannins and flavours; others simply followed the market. An accident had unleashed a revolution.

Perhaps that’s why 1997 is a rather controversial vintage today. On the one hand, admirers of opulent, plush Cabernet continue to celebrate it as Napa Valley’s answer to Bordeaux’s 1982 vintage.On the other, commentators critical of contemporary Napa have made the 1997s their whipping boy: writer W Blake Gray goes so far as to contend that the wines are now ‘mostly dead’.Revisiting the wines 20 years on immediately dispenses with any simplistic analysis. The best are dazzling, full of vitality; others are already tired and oxidative; some are simply rather dull.

Conclusions? Most obviously, deft winemaking and a great site remain critical to attaining balance. But the wines also underline how vital logistics can be at harvest time. The sheer abundance of the 1997 crop, 20% larger than the valley’s 10-year average, made the vintage an unremitting juggling act.

‘Fortunately for us, everything fitted together like a puzzle and we were able to get all the Cabernet picked at perfect ripeness,’ recalls Doug Shafer and Elias Fernandez, whose 1997 Hillside Select is still drinking superbly.

But not all producers were so lucky. Once wineries were full to capacity, many were forced to wait until tanks were empty again to harvest the remainder of their fruit – which was steadily ripening all the while. And that brought additional headaches. Today, handling super-ripe grapes is par for the course for Napa winemakers, but in 1997, such extremes were still unfamiliar territory.

High levels of sugar and low acidities posed problems. ‘This was the first vintage in my experience where wineries had to systematically add water to the must to bring it down to a reasonable sugar level,’ remembers David Ramey, adding that many wines finished with around 15%-16% alcohol.

So was the 1997 Napa vintage a catalyst for a stylistic shift, or did it merely encapsulate changes that were already under way? By 1997, many producers had already begun to pick later, realising that the ripe tannins that could be attained at comparatively low sugar levels in France simply didn’t materialise until later in Napa Valley. By the mid-1990s, moreover, winemakers such as Helen Turley had gone considerably further, making waves with new and provocatively ripe wines which owed little to French benchmarks, instead asserting an all-American aesthetic of their own.

Perhaps the true significance of the 1997 vintage is that it taught winemakers all over Napa Valley that they, too, could make wines like that if they wished. The irony is that, tasted today, the wines of this tipping point vintage often seem to hark back to an earlier era as much as they point to the future. More structurally rustic than the polished Cabernets of contemporary Napa, they did foreshadow a new direction; but they also remind us how far Napa has travelled.

What I’ve been drinking this month

The ageing potential of village red Burgundy from great producers is routinely underestimated. I recently enjoyed the Domaine Lafarge, Vendanges Sélectionnées, Volnay 1993 – a bottling from Lafarge’s best village Volnay parcels abutting the commune’s 1er crus. Even after 24 years it is still mesmerisingly good. Notes of griotte cherry, cocoa nib and panforte introduce a supple, silky wine with melted tannins.

William Kelley’s top 1997 Napa Cabernets:

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Duckhorn has acquired fellow California estate Calera, one of the most acclaimed producers of Pinot Noir in the region.

The deal between Napa’s Duckhorn and Calera includes the winery and the brand, as well as tasting room and 34 hectares (85 acres) of prime vineyards at 2,200 feet above sea level in the Mt Harlan AVA.

The price of the transaction has not been disclosed. It comes as the latest in a series of buyout deals in the US wine industry.

Founded in 1975 by Josh Jensen, Calera has played pivotal role in establishing the reputation of Pinot Noir in the US, and in California’s Central Coast specifically.

Alex Ryan, president and CEO of Duckhorn, said, ‘Like our own founders, Dan and Margaret Duckhorn, Josh is a visionary and pioneer who has spent more than four decades shaping the modern American palate for luxury wines. What he has achieved at Calera has been nothing short of remarkable.

‘Calera is one of the world’s great wineries, and we will ensure that Josh’s legacy of quality and excellence will continue to flourish for decades to come.’

There will be no changes to Calera’s functioning and personnel, said Duckhorn.

Mike Waller, Calera winemaker, will retain his position and Josh Jensen is set to join the Duckhorn board of directors.

Jensen said, ‘Calera is my life’s work. In this era of industry consolidation, it was vital to me that I choose a partner that not only shares the values that have always defined Calera, but that also has the market presence to provide our wines a continued strong and secure route to market.’

The deal between Duckhorn and Calera comes only a year after Duckhorn itself, and its 90 hectares of vineyards in Napa Valley, was sold to San Francisco-based TSG Consumer Partners.

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Sparkling wine producers in California's Napa Valley have started the 2017 wine harvest, giving thanks for a relatively untroubled growing season compared to many wineries in Europe.

Pickers have started on the Pinot Noir at Mumm Napa, and harvesting also began at Domaine Carneros, the California estates of Champagne houses Mumm and Taittinger respectively.

Mumm Napa harvested 17 tonnes of Pinot on Monday 7 August.

Winemaker Ludovic Dervin enjoys celebrating the first truckload of grapes at its Rutherford winery by sabering a bottle of sparkling wine.

The news comes as sparkling wine producers in central and southern Europe also get harvest underway, notably in Italy’s Franciacorta vineyards.

• SEE ALSO: Lucifer heatwave kick-starts Italy’s sparkling wine harvest

A classic but ‘frisky’ year

‘So far it is a classic Napa Valley vintage here,’ said Mumm’s Dervin.

See early footage of the Napa harvest by Bill Swindell of the Press Democrat 

It’s early days with many grape varieties across California still in the ripening stage.

Californians may be thankful to have avoided the kind of devastating frost and hail that has afflicted their European counterparts this year; albeit a ‘freak’ hailstorm did hit the Napa area on 11 June and there have been record-breaking heatwaves across the US west coast in recent weeks, similar to those in Europe.

Winter rain in Napa helped end several years of drought in Napa but also ‘led to a lot of vine vigour’, said trade body Napa Valley Vintners.

‘One vintner described his vines as being quite frisky this year.’

The ripening period in recent weeks has been marked consistently by cold nights and warm, sunny afternoons, Dervin said.

This high diurnal range helps to maintain acidity and primary fruit flavours in the grapes for sparkling wines, which are generally harvested earlier to retain good acidity and before sugar levels rise too high.

Ripening gathers pace

Napa vineyards in general have progressed at a more normal pace in 2017 compared to the last two years.

Mumm’s first grapes were picked around one week earlier in 2016 and more than two weeks earlier in 2015, when harvest began on 22 July.

More sparkling producers will begin picking in the next few days, predicted Napa Valley Vintners.

‘Sauvignon Blanc and other aromatic white wine grapes will start to hit crush pads in the next 14 – 20 days,’ it added.

Several other black and white varieties have come through veraison – changing colour at the beginning of ripening – in the past week, as shown by the Syrah at Lagier Meredith estate on Mt Veeder (pictured above).

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Hail stones the size of walnuts peppered north California over the weekend, causing bewilderment and consternation among Napa Valley winemakers.

Freak hail storms struck the Napa Valley on Sunday 11 June.

Thunderstorms brought lightning, wind, rain and hail—as well as snow in the Sierras—and temperatures fell by as much as 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Some observers in the Bay Area reported hail stones the size of walnuts.

Such weather is distinctly unusual for this time of year and it caught many winemakers by surprise.

‘This was the most intense hailstorm we have seen in our 31 years on this property’, said Carole Meredith, of Lagier Meredith, who grows varieties including Zinfandel, Mondeuse and Syrah on Mount Veeder.

Lagier Meredith survived with only torn leaves, and no damage to fruit or shoots, but not everybody was so fortunate.

Daniel Ricciato, who manages grower relations and quality control across Northern California for consultant winemaker Thomas Brown, said there had been ‘about 5% damage in Beckstoffer To Kalon’ — where grapes sell for as much as $35,000 per ton.

Turley Wine Cellars was among the hardest hit. Its winemaker and vineyard manager, Tegan Passalacqua, estimated losses as severe as 50-70 % in some parcels.

In Oakville, Graeme MacDonald cautiously estimated his losses at around 10%. ‘We’ll thin off any damaged fruit’, he said.

Others fared better.

‘It seems variable based on factors such as row direction and canopy coverage, but so far it seems like we have been quite lucky,’ Harlan Estate’s Cory Empting told Decanter.com.

Dunn Vineyards on Howell Mountain was also largely spared. ‘Leaves weren’t damaged, but some of our Cabernet Sauvignon hadn’t finished flowering, so we’ll see what the consequences are down the line,’ said Mike Dunn.

The story was the same at Kongsgaard on Atlas Peak, and at Spottswoode in St. Helena, where Aron Weinkauf saw damage to ‘neither leaves nor clusters, even on our most exposed Sauvignon Blanc’.

In Carneros, the hail storm was very brief and similarly did ‘no damage at all’, according to Stéphane Vivier, of Hyde de Villaine.

Editing by Chris Mercer.

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Read part two of William Kelley's tasting report on the California Cabernet 2013 vintage, in which he looks at wines rated 97-100 points in a vintage set to live long in the memory for the right reasons.

2013 California Cabernet Sauvignon

• Click here to read part 1

The vintage’s balmy conditions also offered almost unparalleled opportunities for intentional excess: winemakers could wait to harvest as long as they liked, exploring the extremes of ripeness in an attempt to tame the year’s intimidating tannins. After talk in the press about a movement to ‘rein in ripeness’—an idea inculcated by the limitations which the cool 2010 and 2011 vintages imposed on growers and winemakers—2012 and now 2013 are a resounding corrective; proof that the demise of high-octane Cabernet has been much exaggerated.

For now, the savoury complexity that distinguishes the 2013 vintage occludes many of the signatures of over-ripeness, but a surprising number of seemingly-successful wines began to reveal a pruney, raisined—even oxidative—character when they were re-tasted 36 hours after opening. This bodes ill for their evolution in bottle, and it is clear that the year’s extraordinary potential to create age-worthy wines which will gain nuance in the cellar was not universally realised.

Another potential pitfall lay in the vintage’s tannic concentration itself, a quality which required careful management in the winery: over-extraction was a very real danger, and—as with ripening—the real challenge in 2013 was knowing when to stop. ‘It would be easy to have taken things too far in 2013’, reflects Mike Dunn, whose vineyards high on Howell Mountain produce firm, amply structured wines even in lighter-styled vintages.

• Scroll down to see the wines scoring 97 – 100 points

Still more importantly, the disposition of the vintage to produce deep, tannic and savoury wines was fundamentally at odds with many producers’ desire to craft supple, immediately appealing wines of almost confectionary sweetness. Whereas the 2012 vintage lent itself to that style, 2013 did not.

There are ways, however, to force a square peg into a round hole, and the precipitous decline of several bottles of 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon a short time after opening may have something to do with winemaking practices (such as extended post-fermentation maceration and micro-oxygenation) intended to soften tannins, making wines more approachable in their youth.

So although the historic quality of the 2013 vintage is not in question, it is important to observe that the year was something of a high-wire act, at which not all producers enjoyed equal success; a fact that is in danger of being missed amidst the exuberant and unqualified enthusiasm with which this undeniably great year has already been received. A rising tide, in other words, did not lift all boats.

Most of the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignons, moreover, will be expensive. Producers across California, and above all in Napa Valley, have taken a widely-acclaimed vintage as the cue to increase already lofty prices. What’s more, keenly-priced, drinkable, everyday wines continue to be deplorably hard to find; for although plenty of Cabernet producers aspire to challenge the Bordeaux first growths, few attempt to rival the Crus Bourgeois.

The vintage’s many successes, however, will take a decade or more to unfold in the cellar and possess all the materials for extraordinary longevity and complexity. The best are truly wines for the ages, elevated to a rarefied level by their depth and savoury structure. And by and large, those who aspired to produce such wines enjoyed the greatest success.

Wines Scoring 97-100 Points

• Too see all William’s tasting notes for California 2013 click here

In Decanter magazine William Kelley reviewed the once in a life time 2013 vintage. All his reviews are now going online including some of the best scores given by Decanter magazine.

2013 California Cabernet Sauvignon

For many winemakers and vintners, California’s 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon vintage is quite simply the finest of their careers. ‘I can now die happy as a winemaker’, remarked Tod Mostero of Dominus Estate: ‘I’d love to see another year as good as this, but I can settle for just one’.

Up and down the state, the refrain is the same. Even veteran winemaker Ric Forman, who celebrates his fortieth vintage in the Napa Valley this year, contentedly acknowledges that 2013 ranks as ‘one of the good ones!’

• Scroll down to see the wines scoring 94 – 96 points

Across California, vines suffering through a second consecutive year of drought produced unusually small berries, with a high solids-to-juice ratio. A consistently warm summer and early fall, uninterrupted by heat spikes or rain, made for an early harvest in ideal conditions.

‘The raw material in 2013 was the best we’ve ever seen’, reflects Thomas Brown, one of the Napa Valley’s most celebrated consultants and winemaker for Schrader and Maybach. And Brown’s assessment is echoed by growers and winemakers in other appellations such as the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sonoma County.

The result? Wines of extraordinary depth and tannic concentration, built for the ages. As Eric Baugher of Ridge Vineyards reveals, 2013 is ‘undoubtedly the most tannic vintage of the new millennium’, but its structure is complemented by a remarkable wealth of fruit—so much so that Ridge forewent their customary egg white fining, a practice that can refine aggressive tannins but which they deemed unnecessary in 2013.

Unlike the rather facile and fruit-forward 2012 vintage, the 2013s possess, as Mostero puts it, ‘another dimension’ that makes them ‘very, very unique’. Indeed, comparisons with other vintages seem otiose.

‘The vintage amplified everything’, Thomas Brown explains: ‘elevated levels of acidity and tannin cut through the fruit, preserving balance’. The hallmark of 2013 is thus a marriage of ripe fruit with savoury qualities modern California Cabernet Sauvignon so frequently lacks. That makes for striking complexity and sophistication in the glass.

Even a vintage as propitious as 2013, however, can present challenges. For one, Cabernet reached optimum maturity hard on the heels of earlier-ripening varieties across California. Many winemakers accordingly struggled to process so much fruit in so short a time.

‘Never before’, Baugher told me in October 2013, ‘have I had to ferment so much Cabernet Sauvignon at the same time as Zinfandel, Syrah, Carignan, and Chardonnay’. Nick Gislason at Screaming Eagle remembers 2013 as a vintage where he was thankful to preside over such an over-resourced winery. But not all addresses were equipped to face these logistical pressures, so some were forced to harvest later than they might have wished.

To be continued…

Wines Scoring 94-96 Points

97-100 to follow

A torrential downpour and unrelenting rain in California has brought some relief to winemakers following five years of drought, despite flooding in several vineyards and problems with landslides.

California rainfall ‘is a blessing’

A series of winter storms caused the heaviest rainfall in the last decade, which has resulted in burst river banks, fallen trees and road blockages across California’s wine regions.

The meteorological phenomenon, caused by a polar jet stream that creates an atmospheric river known as ‘the pineapple express’, saw over 100mm of rain fall in less than 24 hours.

There has been significant flooding in poorly drained vineyards on the valley floor in Napa and Sonoma. However the timing has spared any negative impact.

‘Some parts of the vineyard are slow to drain, but the flooding hasn’t been a problem because the vines are dormant,’ explains Groth Vineyards Director of Winemaking, Cameron Parry.

‘Last year in some parts of the valley they had bud break starting in January because of a mild winter, but this year it has been cold enough that we are expecting a more normal bud break time in March.’

A more destructive consequence has been felt on the hillsides, where several mudslides have taken down vines in their path.

‘We have already recorded 72 inches of rain, and we aren’t done yet,’ said Ron Rosenbrand, Vineyard Manager at Spring Mountain Vineyard who were affected by landslides last week.

‘This year we have been inundated with heavy rainfall… 200% more than normal. The steeper you are, and if you have soils that are somewhat unstable, you are going to have [landslides]. It is happening all over the valley, and all over California in fact.

‘But it is a blessing. When you have been fighting the drought for many years, having more rain than you need is all of a sudden a nice luxury to have.’

As the spring arrives, and the rain subsides, most winemakers are grateful to see an end to the prolonged drought with refilled reservoirs in time for the 2017 season.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, only 17% of California is now in drought, compared to 95% this time last year.

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The university will no longer be required to dump thousands of litres of wine a year and could start selling bottles for up to $100.

UC Davis to sell wine made by students

California’s top winemaking school has previously been legally constrained to dispose of huge amounts of wine made from top Napa Valley vineyards.

But the recent implementation of the Senate Bill 683 law late last year means that the students’ finished product can now be to be sold to local producers, and served by the bottle at special occasions.

As the university sources grapes from key Napa Valley vineyards in Oakville, many of the bottles are expected to sell for $80 to $100 each.

The proceeds on up to 90,922 litres of wine annually will go to benefit the school’s wine programmes.

‘Given the cost of producing this wine for teaching and research, it is not financially sustainable [to pour the wine down the drain]’, said David Block, a professor and chair of the Department of Viticulture and Oenology at the University of California, Davis.

He added that it also wasn’t environmentally advisable, especially given the school’s stance on being proactive in conserving both water and energy.

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The new legislation, according to Block, has created a non-profit organisation with a special licence for wine sales, some of which could eventually appear under a UC Davis label.

Students, according to Block, are excited about the new decision, ‘especially knowing that proceeds will go back into the viticulture and oenology programme’.

Much of the wine may initially be used on campus for special events.

He concluded that because of the ruling the University will finally be ‘recouping some of the costs of producing the grapes and wine for research and teaching.’

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US wine exports earned a record US$1.62bn in winery revenues during 2016, boosted by gains in the UK and China despite a double-digit decline in shipment volumes.

US wine exports 2016

At 45.9 million cases, down 10.5% on 2015, shipments – 90% of them from California – dropped to their lowest level since 2012, but the strong dollar helped producers to increase their revenues by 1% on 2015.

Exports to the UK – California wine’s biggest overseas market – were up 18% by value and 5% by volume to $337 million and more than 13 million cases respectively.

This led the Californian Wine Institute UK trade director Justin Knock MW to claim that California was ‘on track’ to hit its target of achieving $400 million in UK sales by the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, shipments to China rose 46.6% by value and 11% by volume**, attributed to ‘meaningful growth in higher-value products’ by Christopher Beros, Wine Institute trade director for China and Pacific Rim.

While helping the value of shipments to grow during the year, the strong dollar poses a competitive challenge for producers and importers.

‘As the dollar moves towards parity with the euro, export volumes to Europe are down in most countries, mainly in the lower-priced segment,’ pointed out Paul Molleman, Wine Institute trade director for Continental Europe.

While exports to the EU as a whole rose 10.1% to $685 million, the value increase excluding the UK was just 2.7%, he added.

California’s main export markets experienced contrasting fortunes during 2016, with Canada, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland and Singapore all down in value terms.

However smaller markets, such as the Philippines, Dominican Republic and Taiwan, recorded strong gains.

There was particular disappointment in Japan at President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, since key competitors such as Chile and Australia already have free trade agreements with Japan, and thus lower duty tariffs.

** Source of data: Global Trade Information Services which bases their info on the US Dept of Commerce. DecanterChina reported the Chinese Customs import figures which differ – read more here.

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Film director and winemaker Francis Ford Coppola has unveiled two limited edition wines to be poured at the 89th Oscars ceremony later this month.

Oscars wine: What will the stars be drinking?

An extension of Coppola’s Director’s Cut collection, the two Cinema Premiere 89th Edition wines, a 2013 red blend and a 2015 Russian River Valley Chardonnay, will be poured at the Academy Awards and the Governors Ball post-show party.

Coppola, a 14-time Oscar nominee and six-time winner, said he had created the wines as ‘an expression of gratitude’ for his decades-long relationship with the Academy.

‘What seems logical to me is that if anyone’s going to provide wine to the Academy, it ought to be the Coppola family,’ Coppola said.

‘We were one of the earliest of the film people to get into the wine business; we have the most established, broad-based wine business of any film celebrity and, as a family, I imagine we have won as many nominations and wins as any.

‘I understand that the Antinori family has said that they have been making wine for 500 years – but the Coppola family has been drinking wine for 700 years, and our granddaughter Gia Coppola represents five generations in the film industry.’

As well as the Chardonnay and the red wine – a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot and Petite Sirah from the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys – Coppola’s Director’s Cut Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and 2013 Archimedes will also be poured on the night.

The winery expects to serve more than 2,112 bottles of wine in total – or more than 9,500 glasses.

The 2017 Oscars ceremony will be on 26th February.

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Jane Anson explores the new winery project of Bonny Doon founder Randall Grahm in California.

Call me shallow, but there is something pretty exciting about receiving one of only 150 bottles produced of a new wine. Even more so when it’s part of a bigger project whose destination nobody, frankly, exactly knows.

This is Popelouchum. A place where even the name wants you to stop and think. It’s pronounced if you were wondering (and of course you were) Pop-loh-shoom – a name settled on by the Ohlone native Americans who were the original caretakers of the land that the grapes are now grown on.

It was unveiled as the name of Randall Grahm’s new estate in San Juan Bautista, California in 2011. The project itself started a few years earlier, when Grahm decided to sell off his high profile brands Cardinal Zin, Pacific Rim and Big House to focus on the more terroir-driven Bonny Doon (saying ‘wines of place are the only ones that matter’).

With the proceeds of the sale, he bought a 113 hectare site in San Benito County and set about, with classic Grahm understatement, to create a New World Grand Cru, and to ‘outsmart climate change’ while he was at it.

The local Monterey newspaper at the time called the move ‘Grahm’s Gamble’ because he announced that the entire estate was to be dry-farmed (the location is warm but not overly hot due to the nearby Pacific, and is classified as Meditterean in the Koppen Climate Classification). In place of irrigation, he was using a charcoal substance called biochar that increases water retention and promotes soil fertility. Oh, and he was growing and crossing various hybrid grape varieties from seed, hoping to develop drought-resistant grapes on land that had not been farmed for at least 75 years – although it’s quite possible that there was a vineyard here once as the road leading up to it is called Mission Vineyard Road.

And as hard as it is to believe for someone with 30 years of winemaking under his belt, Popelouchum is Grahm’s only vineyard of his own, as he has sourced grapes for Bonny Doon since losing vines to disease in the 1990s. He is currently awaiting Demeter certification for biodynamic farming, a system that Grahm believes will help encourage site-specific flavours in the final wines (‘although my allegiance is to the site and not to any specific practise’). The aim eventually is to end up with 100% estate sourced grapes (and if not, any bought grapes from 100% organic or biodynamic growers).

This is a man who is pretty used to being described as ‘revolutionary’ and/or ‘eccentric’, and christening the winery with a ceremony performed by members of the Ohlone native Americans went some way to stoking up the headlines. But in fact Popelouchum is genuinely ground-breaking, and might prove hugely beneficial to wine growers across the State.

‘We have approximately 70 acres of plantable land for vines,’ explains Grahm. ‘We are planning to dedicate around 40 acres to conventional varieties like Rossese (Tibouren), Furmint, Ruche, Grenache Blanc/Gris, Syrah, and approximately 30 acres to mixed plantation which will be composed of vines grown from crosses. Each vine will be genetically distinctive from the other, but all grown from common parents. Among the varieties being considered for parenthood are Furmint, Picolit, Verduzzo, Ciliegiolo, Rossese, Pignolo, Vermentino. We are looking for one parent with strong drought tolerance characteristics, upright growth, and the other with the presence of certain biochemical characteristics that enable it to resist oxidation’.

‘My guiding principle as far as selection of new varieties to be planted,’ he adds, ‘is to find the ones that are the most self-contained, so requiring the minimal of intervention. In California, this tends to mean varieties that are more drought tolerant, and that generally translates to southern Rhône or southern Italian’.

The wine that I received this week was a Grenache, from vine cuttings rather than seedlings (although they are growing an acre of seedlings also obtained by self-crossings from the Rayas vines). And before you feel too disappointed, these were ungrafted cuttings from Chateau Rayas, harvested from a nursery row and dry-farmed in California. This first harvest saw spontaneous fermentation from natural yeasts, with no additions in terms of acid, sugar, bacteria, all finished off with very low sulphur.

It’s still early, and still a gamble, but if my tasting is anything to go on, this is a new arrival in Californian wine that is seriously worth tracking. Although for a man who started Bonny Doon off in the 1980s as, in his own words, ‘a foolish attempt to replicate Burgundy in California’, there is still one disappointment.

‘Of all of the grapes that we’ve observed,’ he says, ‘the biggest disappointment has been Pinot Noir, which I guess is some sort of poetic justice’.

The wine

Popelouchum Grenache 2015

Exceptional varietal character, this is recognisably great Grenache, pure, elegant, beautiful finesse, with light touches of liquorice root, crushed rasperry fruits, white pepper, extremely gentle oak influence from small 114 litre barrels, no new oak (he hopes in the future to change this to clay amphoras). Medium weight and colour, which might be surprising in California, but there is a huge persistency to the palate, and a sense of uplift that runs from the first moment to the last, keeping you on your toes and waiting for the next flavour to reveal itself. 13.9%abv.

 93/100, if fair to score in a wine’s first year.

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Wine journalist and author Jancis Robinson MW OBE has donated her archive – covering more than 40 years of wine writing – to the library of the University of California, Davis.

Robinson, who was one of the first people outside of the wine trade to pass the master of wine exams in the 1980s and who received the Decanter ‘Man of the Year’ prize in in 1999, will speak at UC Davis next month to mark the donation.

The records include tasting notes dating back to 1976, some 275 notebooks recording Robinson’s travels around the world, her published work from 1965, photographs and correspondence with people including fellow wine critic Robert Parker, food writer Elizabeth David and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

‘I feel extremely honoured that all my papers, notebooks, tasting notes and professional photographs have found a home in a part of the world that has been so important to me and my life’s work in wine,’ said Robinson.

‘It is a particular pleasure to be in the company of such towering figures in the world of wine as Hugh Johnson, Robert Mondavi and Maynard Amerine in the famous UC Davis Library.’

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Axel Borg, wine subject specialist at the library, added: ‘As the papers of one of the best-travelled and most observant chroniclers of the changing face of wine, this collection adds new perspective on how the world of wine is being written about and is an important complement to the papers of Hugh Johnson, which the UC Davis Library added to our collection a year ago.’

The library is currently cataloguing the Jancis Robinson Papers on Wine Writing and Criticism, which will become available for public use by April this year.

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California wine and balance

This article first appeared in Decanter magazine’s January issue. Subscribe here.

This ‘balance’ thing is going to run and run in California. We’ve had wine writer Jon Bonné and his book on The New California. And we’ve had sommelier Rajat Parr and Co with their ‘In Pursuit of Balance’ campaign, which was so successful it has now disbanded after its final tasting in November in San Francisco. Why this success? Because it touched a raw nerve.

And these balance advocates weren’t the first ones either. Cathy Corison has been practising balance at her Napa winery for nearly 30 years. Jim Clendenen at Au Bon Climat has been talking this language since the 1980s and is a bit miffed that the new flag-wavers are claiming the balance idea is all theirs, when he’s been banging the drum for 35 years.

But it’s only now that he and Corison can be increasingly confident of a mainstream audience when they say ‘I told you so’.

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But this isn’t some new truth. It’s more like an alternative view finally being given the oxygen to be heard. As yet the balance brigade has focused almost entirely on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, when you could argue that Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are more in need of a rethink.

Except that Cal Cab is the style most confident of its market, feeling the least need to change, while Pinot is the variety most beloved of sommeliers, hipsters and wine’s chattering classes. That’s a lot of oxygen.

And yet change is in the air on all sides in California, and on a recent visit it was this cheerful desire to talk about an alternative view, even in Napa, that was so refreshing.

Ah, refreshing. Yes. Cabernet producers are using the word ‘freshness’. I don’t remember much of that in the past 20 years. Trellising is being changed to protect the vines from the sun. The cooler mountain vineyards are being given much more respect.

And the word ‘green’ is reappearing. For red wines. Nate Weis of Silver Oak – famed for a lush interpretation of Cabernet – wasn’t alone when he said ‘a little greenness is a good thing’ in a Cal Cab.

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This state of mind will surely influence the styles of Cabernet being made, especially in Napa. And it’s also of enormous importance that the power of the über-critics is waning. They’re still rewarding the Big Beasts, but fewer people are listening.

As one Sonoma producer put it, ‘the chorus of sommeliers has proved hard to ignore’. And the frenzy of social media. And the consequent effect of peer pressure. And, finally, the delightful, liberating maturity of making up your own mind. Add to that the march of the millennials, and this change may be for real.

‘California is full of thrilling vineyards’

But it’s not only balance. This is just part of the movement. There are an increasing number of wines that thrill and inspire regardless of balance. They’re often low alcohol, but not always, and they’re wines of such unbridled perfume or tantalising flavour that tannins or acidity being a bit out of kilter scarcely seems to matter. The thrill’s the thing.

After all, technically you can manufacture balance, if you are so minded, in a laboratory. Thrilling flavours need a thrilling vineyard to come into being. Well, California is full of thrilling vineyards. It’s just that the definition of ‘thrilling’ is changing.

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We’ve all heard of perfect plots of land in Napa’s Oakville or Rutherford. But a lot of the rising stars are sites dismissed by the mainstream as being too difficult; sites abandoned by the large companies because they couldn’t regularly ripen their crop.

As radical producer Arnot-Roberts says: ‘We work with a lot of sites because the fruit can’t get past 13%. That’s exactly what we want.’

Arnot-Roberts and Wind Gap are truly the radical edge, eager to buy grape varieties no one used to want, braving the fog and wind along the Pacific Coast to find sites where it is natural to pick grapes bursting with flavour at not much more than 12% alcohol, and then daring to make wines in a simple a way as possible whose flavours reach the very core of your being.

They’re not necessarily balanced. They’ll probably always be rowdy outriders when it comes to the California style. But they’re here. And they’re staying.

Oz Clarke is a renowned wine expert, broadcaster and awarded writer and author.

• This column first appeared in Decanter magazine – subscribe to Decanter here. 

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The Tesseron family will honour the wine legacy of late Robin Williams after buying his former wine estate in Napa Valley - by keeping the vineyard name created by the actor nearly three decades ago. And it also wants to go biodynamic in California...

The Mount Veeder estate bought by the Tesseron family of Château Pontet-Canet in Bordeaux is to bottle its Napa wine under the name Pym-Rae.

This is the name given to the vineyard part of the Tesseron’s Villa Sorriso property by the previous owner, the late actor Robin Williams.

Williams planted the vineyard on the estate over 26 years ago, and chose the name by combining both middle names of his first two children.

The Tesserons revealed the name in a Christmas card sent out from Bordeaux, and noted that, ‘in keeping with the tradition of not changing the original name (of our estates), we are pleased to announce that our wine will therefore be called Pym-Rae’.

Justine Tesseron told Decanter.com this week that the family was ‘concentrating on getting to know the terroir’.

She added, ‘We hope to be certified in biodynamic in three years, and have already begun the process.’

The family is one of the main proponents of biodynamics in Bordeaux.

Villa Sorriso is located on the west side of the Napa Valley, in the Mayacamas mountains, with a total surface of 259 hectares and 7.3 hectares of vines planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Alfred and Melanie Tesseron, along with their technical director Jean-Michel Comme, are currently introducing biodynamic farming to the vineyard, following their long-term adaption of this approach in Bordeaux.

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