Wine & Spirits - December 2017 - 58

YEAR'S BEST US CABERNET & BLENDS
92 | Idle

$32

2014 Sonoma Valley Los Chamizal Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ From
a terraced vineyard in the hills just north of
the town of Sonoma, this cabernet has the
mixed-berry fruitiness of a cool-climate zinfandel, that floral fruit held firm by mineraltinged tannins. It's refreshing cabernet with
briskness and energy to direct at roast duck.
(288 cases)
448247

92 | Keenan

$98

92 | Lancaster Estate

$75

2013 Napa Valley Mernet Reserve ^ This is
a rich, sleek 50-50 blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon, most of it from Michael
Keenan's vineyards high up Spring Mountain (this year, half of the merlot is purchased
from Carneros). It's red-fruited in 2013, clean
and plummy, with enough fat in its tannins
to complement seared duck breast. There's
a slightly reductive note, complicit with its
savory character, suggesting this needs bottle
age to show its best. (W&S 6/17; 300 cases)
508113
2014 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This 53-acre estate, in the hills at the
southeastern corner of the Alexander Valley,
consistently produces exceptional cabernet,
including this exceptionally mineral 2014.
The fruit is present, in the juicy texture and
blackberry tones, but it's the fruit tannins
that give the wine its depth, as if mining for
minerals, from iron ore to obsidian. Built for
long aging, this needs decanting and a blackened steak if you open it now. (4,075 cases)
509035

92 | Mi Sueño

$138

2013 Napa Valley Seleccion Rebecca Herrera Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Rolando Herrera
moved to Napa Valley as a teenager, leaving
his family in the Michoacán state of Mexico
to go to high school, supporting himself in
various jobs, including a summer breaking up rocks at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars to
build a stone wall. Warren Winiarski offered
him a job to work crush at night during his
senior year, and he stayed on for the next
ten years, eventually becoming the winery's
cellar master. He started making wine under
his Mi Sueño label in 1997, before founding
Herrera Vineyard Management in 2003. He
and his wife, Lorena, now farm 40 acres of
estate vineyards. This wine is from Herrera's Carpignano Vineyard in Coombsville,
and though it aged in new French oak for
22 months, the wood is not a primary component in the flavors. Instead, it shows the
purple-fruited amplitude of the 2013 vintage,
with scents of violets and bay laurel. It's complex and savory, lasting on chewy tannins
58

WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2017

that have the feel of iron filings, providing an
edge to all the fruit. He made only 100 cases,
sold exclusively through his mailing list.
447532

92 | Raymond

$125

2013 Napa Valley Generations Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ Most of the fruit for this wine
comes from two vineyards in western St. Helena, blended with a portion from the cooler
reaches of southeastern Napa. It combines
the alcohol drive and power of a ripe up-valley cabernet with the cool freshness of 2013
tannins. Firm and generous in its blue fruit,
the finish seems to emphasize the espressoroast flavor of oak tannins along with the
black- and blueberry edge of grape skins.
Cellar it. (W&S 4/17; 2,110 cases)

509093

92 | Salvestrin

$64

2014 St. Helena Napa Valley Salvestrin
Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ John
and Emma Salvestrin purchased part of the
Crane Ranch in St. Helena in 1932, the vineyard now farmed by third-generation Rich
Salvestrin. This tastes like an old-school Napa
Valley wine, savory and skinny, with fresh
blackberry flavors and tannins that fall somewhere between iron filings and black-cherry
skins. It has focus and form, the kind of wine
that should age with grace. (1,400 cases)
447097

92 | Stags' Leap Winery

$90

2013 Stags Leap District Napa Valley The
Leap Cabernet Sauvignon ^ The volcanic
soils at the base of the Stags Leap escarpment produced a 2013 with the meatiness of
steak tartare. It's a wine of cool intensity, the
boldness of flavor based on lasting root-like
spice and high notes of red fruit. Those flavors buzz over a firm base of tannins, infusing the wine with freshness and setting it up
to age well for the next five years. (W&S 2/17;
4,964 cases)
449265

92 | Storybook Mountain

$60

2013 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^
With all the richness and intensity of 2013,
this wine has a contrasting dynamic that
brings scents of clover and flowers, pome-

granate and peach in waves of ripeness. The
tannins are refined, warm and smoky, and
even though the fruit has some superripe
aspects, the tannins feel energized, creating
a harmonic layering of flavor. Some of our
tasters found this clumsy, one describing
it as "a skinny kid in huge running shoes."
I could understand the challenges but still
found it to be a fascinating play on the vintage. (W&S 6/17)
507300

92 | von Strasser

$50

92 | von Strasser

$80

92 | von Strasser

$80

91 | Alpha Omega

$210

2014 Diamond Mountain District Napa
Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^ The deep richness of oak aging comes first, though the
succulence of the wine comes through without a lot of coaxing. This is a sleek Diamond
Mountain cabernet with lasting strawberryand-plum-fruit sweetness, a bright ping of
red fruit without a trace of hyperripeness.
Gentle and fresh, this is a cabernet that won't
overpower roast duck, and will add depth to
roast venison. (W&S 10/17; 1,700 cases)
507305
2014 Diamond Mountain District Napa
Valley Diamond Terrace Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Diamond Terrace is a steep,
terraced, north-facing vineyard neighboring the vines von Strasser farms at Post. Oak
adds to the monolithic power of this wine,
burying the red fruit in layers of cacao nibs
and coffee scents. But the fruit keeps pushing
through, highlighted in notes of cassis that
rise above the potent tannins. This is rich and
completely savory, with a gamey note that
predicts the complexity it will develop over
time. (W&S 10/17; 234 cases)
507307
2014 Diamond Mountain District Napa
Valley Agira Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This is from an east-facing slope, where
exposure to the cool morning sun seems to
gentle some of the mountain-grown power
of the wine without diminishing its density,
lending the tannins silkiness and allowing
the fruit to open up toward violet tones. The
richness of the oak (50 percent of the barrels
were new) covers some of the fruit distinction
for now; this wine needs time to fully reveal
its complexity. (W&S 10/17; 200 cases)
508719
2014 Atlas Peak Napa Valley Stagecoach
Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ A savory,
mountain-grown cabernet, this ties its brisk
and powerful fruit directly into its tannins,
so it tastes like chewing on cherry skins.
Those tannins also carry a cumin-like spice
and a dry bitter-chocolate edge. It's an aus-

https://www.salvestrinwinery.com/

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