Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 57

YEAR'S BEST US CABERNET & BLENDS
skins. Those tannins give it a youthful savor,
though they don't detract from its immediate drinkability, offering a delicious and
distinctly Santa Cruz Mountains cabernet.
(2,091 cases)

508492

92 | Addendum

449861
$95

2014 Rutherford Napa Valley Skellenger
Lane Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Ashley and Eli
Parker, the sister-and-brother team at Fess
Parker Winery in Santa Barbara, started this
project in Napa Valley, working with winemaker Blair Fox and two vineyards, Stagecoach, as well as the source for this wine, a
1.5-acre block on Skellenger Lane. It's densely
concentrated and sweetly ripe, yet, for all its
size, the wine remains cool and tightly structured, with a fragrant richness that brings to
mind rose-petal jam. (116 cases)
508363

92 | Alpha Omega

$210

2014 Oakville Napa Valley Beckstoffer To
Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This
goes for succulence and richness, a supple
heavyweight of a wine. The fruit is red and
floral, the tannins muscular when they're
not being driven by the chocolate intensity
of oak. There's substantial sweetness here, as
well as salty mineral savor-a contemporary
Napa Valley luxury wine.
507894

92 | Alta

$60

2013 Napa Valley Quatreaux ^ Fred Oliai, a
tech entrepreneur, grows ten acres of cabernet at his Alta vineyard on the eastern
slope of Atlas Peak. This is the first release
of Quatreaux, in which he blends that cabernet sauvignon (38 percent) with merlot (35
percent) from Stagecoach Vineyard, cabernet
franc from Sugarloaf Mountain and petit verdot from Greenwood in Calistoga. It shows
the potent extract of 2013 with purple fruit
and black tannins, their astringency adding
some herbal savor to the espresso notes from
oak. It's edgy with mountain tannins, warm
and savory, suited to a few years of aging and
enjoyable now if you decant it for a lean cut
of beef. (W&S 10/17; 450 cases)

92 | Better Half

$130

2014 Napa Valley ^ Jim Close blends this wine
from cabernet sauvignon grown in Oakville
and cabernet franc from Mt. Veeder. Silken
and rich, this is a sophisticated red that layers
supple black fruit with the toasted mustard
seed notes of oak tannins. It's big and ripe,
and carries itself well. (W&S 10/17; 112 cases)
507639

92 | Chateau Montelena

$58

2014 Calistoga Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This was Matt Crafton's first vintage
as winemaker at Chateau Montelena, having
joined as assistant winemaker in 2008. The
wine's fruit tastes of sweet red plums, while
its scent hints at violets and roses. The tannins ground it in Calistoga, with an iron-like
note under mint, and cocoa richness. Decant
it if you open the wine now, for seared duck
breast, or hold onto it for five or six years.
(W&S 10/17)
508486

92 | Diamond Creek

$225

2014 Diamond Mountain District Napa
Valley Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon ^ The gravel wash on the south bank of
Diamond Creek still sustains the estate's original vines, dating to 1968. (Phil Steinschriber
will begin to replant this vineyard after the
2017 harvest.) This is a dark and concentrated 2014, its red cherry and pomegranate
flavors sweetened by new oak. That youthful
sweetness may absorb into the wine, eventually asserting its foresty complexity. Cellar
this to gain access to its depths; if you open it
now, you'll be paying a high price for a simple, delicious cabernet. (501 cases)
508564

92 | Domaine Eden

$40

2014 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet
Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ Jeffrey Patterson
blends this wine from five Bordeaux varieties-mostly cabernet sauvignon-and from
five vineyard sites, including Mount Eden,
Domaine Eden and three other growers in
Saratoga. It's a silken 2014, with tannins
that are as dark and tight as wild blueberry

507736

92 | Duckhorn

$135

92 | Duckhorn

$95

92 | Far Niente

$160

2013 Napa Valley The Discussion ^ "2013
was a great year to be a cabernet grape in
California," said Josh Thomas of SF's Octavia
when he tasted this wine, a blend of 61 percent cabernet sauvignon, 25 percent merlot,
the balance cabernet franc and petit verdot.
It brings a Right Bank style to Napa Valley,
with merlot making the tannins approachable, providing impressive oak integration
and richness (after 18 months in mostly new
barrels, it spent another six months in neutral oak). The flavors are dark and juicy, completely savory in their supple, fruity-darkchocolate richness. (W&S 10/17; 1,830 cases)
448008
2012 Howell Mountain Napa Valley ^ This is
a high-octane mountain cabernet, its sweet
black fruit subdued by the richness of new
French oak (95 percent of the lot), which
works to tame its power and make it accessible in its youth. The flavors are dark in tone,
from pipe tobacco to walnuts and soy. Decant
it for an equally massive steak. (W&S 4/17;
2,353 cases)
508188
2014 Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This wine caught our San Francisco panelists' attention, as a cabernet that
"speaks of its pedigree." Francesca Maniace
of Commonwealth said, "This is Oakville. The
wine is cohesive, and everything goes where
it should go." Gianpaolo Paterlini of Acquerello and 1760 found it "structured, powerful
and young." That youthfulness shows up in
a mouthful of tannins, a little hard edged for
now, even as the wine itself is silky and rich
enough to encompass all of its plentiful black
fruit. Bold, juicy and intense, this will be at
its best in a decade. (W&S 10/17)
508870
WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2017

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2017