Kelley’s picks: balance and ripeness in California Cabernet
Maybach, Materium 2013 97 £450-£488 Fine & Rare, Hedonism Arresting aromas of wild plum, blackberry, cassis and rich spice are followed by a wine of striking volume and symmetry on the palate. From a site in east Oakville which retains amazing acidity, even at very high sugars, Materium is texturally broad and seamless, but also unusually pure and delineated. Drink 2018-2040 Alcohol 14.5% Dunn Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain 1997 96 £ 168 Wilkinson Vintners At the peak of its powers, now bursting with black fruit, graphite, woodsmoke and hints of tar and truffle. On the palate the wine is rich, plush and generous, but well balanced, with great length and depth; a certain suppleness nods to the vintage’s warmth, but it’s by no means unwelcome in this typically firm-framed cuvée. Drink 2017-2040 Alc 13% Forman, Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 96 £91 Fine & Rare Fragrant black cherry and blackcurrant, wet rocks, pencil shavings, cigar smoke and floral top notes are the prelude to a savoury, beautifully structured wine framed around chalky, ripe tannins and fresh acidity. Ric Forman sums up the 2013 vintage as emphatically ‘one of the good ones!’. His wines represent some of the best value to be found in Napa Valley at this level. Drink 2020-2045 Alc 14.9%
Philip Togni Vineyard, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District 2012 95 £97 Farr Vinters, Fine & Rare, R&B Wines While the 2012 vintage tended to produce open-knit, fruit-driven wines, this is something more serious: bouquet of sweet cassis, black cherry, bay laurel and rich soil, judicious new oak, followed by a structured, three-dimensional wine, with a beautifully savoury core of fruit and refined tannin. A dependably classic wine. Drink 2022-2050 Alc 14.5% Spottswoode Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena 2012 95 £ 175-£ 177 Four Walls, Handford, Hedonism, L’Assemblage The 2012 Spottswoode is properly primary for a wine of its young age, with a creamy nose of black fruit framed by oak spice (clove) and vanillin. Throughout Napa Valley, 2012 yielded a large, ripe crop, and some wines are rather diffuse and easygoing; but this is nicely concentrated, with a solid core of fine, savoury tannin and fresh acidity. Will really unfurl with bottle age. Drink 2022-2040 Alc 14.1% Corison, Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 94 £ 160 (magnum) Roberson Aromas of juicy cassis, plum and tobacco marry with notes of dark chocolate, pot pourri and a judicious framing of new oak. On the palate, the wine is juicy, supple and elegant, complemented by bright acids and fine tannins. Drink 2020-2050 Alc 13.6%
Heitz Wine Cellars, Trailside Vineyard
2010 94 £65 Justerini & Brooks From a vineyard in east Rutherford, this is bursting with notes of deep black fruit, burning embers, singed plum and bitter chocolate – or is that the famed ‘ Rutherford dust’? Richly savoury, structured around velvety tannins and bright acidity. Should cruise along in the cellar. Drink 2018-2038 Alc 14.5% Ramey Wine Cellars, Pedregal Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville 2009 94 £ 171 Hedonism, WoodWinters Notes of cassis, tar, dark chocolate and a rich but nicely integrated framing of new oak. A full-bodied, ample wine with a chassis of fine, savoury tannins enrobed in layers of ripe fruit. Quintessential Napa Cabernet. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 14.5% Cain Vineyard & Winery, Cain Five, Spring Mountain District 2012 93 £90 Justerini & Brooks Richer, riper than its 2011 counterpart, but it too is a savoury, classically proportioned wine that eschews the fruit-forward superficiality this vintage so frequently yielded. Deep bouquet of juicy black fruit, rich soil tones, mountain herbs and floral top-notes introduce a sappy, intense wine structured around a firm core of refined tannin and acidity. Drink 2020-2040 Alc 13.9% Frog’s Leap, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford 2014 92 £40-£ 50.30 AG Wines, Hedonism, Fields Morris & Verdin, WoodWinters Notes of red plum, black cherry, cocoa powder and espresso mingle in a complex bouquet, introducing a juicy, medium-full wine with supple, fine tannins, primary fruit and nice depth and balance. Drink 2018-2038 Alc 13.6%
For full details of UK stockists, see p106