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 focusing 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. Entry criteria: producers and UK importers were invitd to submit their 2014 Californian Cabernet Sauvignons (minimum 75% of the variety)
‘While a deservedly world-class category of wine, it’s not guaranteed fireworks’ Alex Hunt MW