2013 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon- A look back

I was recently able to taste the 2013 vintage of our Napa Valley Cabernet from the Oak Knoll District. Personally, I am finding that these wines really develop wonderfully within the bottle and enter a fabulous drinking window within about 5 years after release. The beauty of this fruit and its style, is that it offers ready drinkability upon release. However, with some patience in the cellar, the wine gets even more nuanced, interesting and delicious.

The 2013 vintage was year 2 of a drought series of years, which for wine-growing, was nearly ideal. We again received a bumper crop of fruit and this year provided us wines with more structure than the plushness of 2012, promising long term aging potential. James Suckling said of this vintage from Napa, “They exhibited perfect quality in perfect proportions like some of the greatest wines I have tasted in my 35 years as a wine critic regardless. Their terrific quality reminded me of such classic bottles as the legendary 1982 Mouton-Rothschild or even 1961 Latour.”

As of today, the aromas have an interesting interplay of light and dark. Bright red fruits are balanced by a darker, dusty note. Red and black currant, drying lavender, violet, plum and an iron/graphite note with a savory, umami edge. Dense and dark on the palate, it leads with cassis and plum, lifted on the mid-palate by red currant and pomegranate notes. Fine-grained tannins are somewhat reminiscent of “Rutherford dust” adding a nice minerality to the fruit. Elegant and finessed, it has plenty of power and structure to continue a nice ascent for a decade or more.

Only a handful of cases remain of this exceptional vintage. It is available in our library wines as well as within special verticals built for the Cab lover to experience three consecutive vintages side by side. Enjoy now, or continue to cellar until 2032 or beyond.