Cristaldi: Napa Valley’s 2014 Cabernets 10 years on

Tracing the evolution of Napa Valley’s 2014 vintage from a year of drought and earthquake to a decade marked by power, freshness, and cellar-worthy complexity, Jonathan Cristaldi tastes 35 Cabernet Sauvignons for Decanter.

By Jonathan Cristaldi

published 4 November 2024

in Tastings

2014 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon — Napa Valley vineyard along Silverado Trail.

(Image credit: Charles O'Rear/Getty Images)

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.

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.

A toppled forklift sits under a pile of wine barrels that collapsed in a storage room at Kieu Hoang Winery on 25 August, 2014 in Napa, California. A day after a 6.0 earthquake rocked the Napa Valley, residents and wineries are continuing clean up operations.

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

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Jonathan Cristaldi is a wine writer and critic based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more than a decade, his articles on wine, spirits and beer have appeared in a host of print and digital platforms, including Decanter, Food & Wine, Departures, The SOMM Journal, Tasting Panel Magazine, Liquor.com, Seven Fifty Daily, Los Angeles Magazine, Thrillist, Tasting Table and Time Out LA among others. When not writing about wine, Cristaldi works as a scriptwriter on film and documentary projects with award-winning commercial photographer and director Rachid Dahnoun.

Scroll down for Jonathan’s pick of 2014 Napa Cabernets

Another drought year

Shaken not stirred

A throughline in 2014

Napa Valley 2014: A look back

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