Napa Cabernet: A Dozen Excellent Ones

Twelve strong recommendations,
broken up into three categories.
All wines are Cabernet Sauvignon,
and all are Napa Valley.

Earthy Spicy & Fruity
Here are four Napa Cabs that marry spice and flavors of the earth with big Napa fruit with. Complex and food-friendly, these are the Cabs that particularly interest me.

KEENAN Spring Mountain District 2005 $36
First on the list I guess because it's the most recent wine I've tried. Long-time Spring Mountain winery every so often makes a wine more than "just good." Here's one. Good vintage on Spring Mountain, esp with a little time in bottle. Smell & taste black currants, dark chocolate, tobacco, red curry, cloves and tobacco. Boasts chewy and fine tannins. Bet this is really good with a sizzling steak. Order Keenan Cab here.

RAMIAN Napa Valley 2006 $29
Could be you've bought this wine from Back Room and enjoyed it very much. More than a few have. Owner/Winemaker Brian Graham makes wines of concentration and character while keeping the prices very fair. This Ramian Cab is a treat. Sweet spicy nose of cola, black pepper, fruitcake and rich cocoa. Taste dark mulberries and blueberries, allspice and tobacco. Could have fit in the Rich Juicy Luscious too, but there's so much fun flavor in here beyond the fruit, it belongs here. The grapes come from Mount Veeder & Rutherford. 500 cases made.
Order Ramian Cab here.

ROBERT CRAIG Mt. Veeder 2006 $65
No such thing as an inferior Robert Craig wine. It's just a matter of waiting for the particularly good ones. Well get off the couch and imbibe in the Mt Veeder Cab '06. We really like the fruit, spice, earth and overall complexity of this Mountain Cab. Smell dark berries, tobacco, coffee and sweet oak. Taste forward, rich fruits, black truffle and Moroccan spice. Fine tannins give a sturdy frame, yet it's supple and enjoyable now. To melt those tannins, drink with roast red meats (lamb, beef).
Order Robert Craig Cab Mt. Veeder here.

LE CHANCEUX "Belle Filles Vineyard" 2006 $39
First release, 250 case production Cab from Coombsville, where Napa Cabs lean more toward Bordeaux-style than the rest of the Valley. This 100% Cab Sauv boasts a nose of cocoa, tobacco, mulberries, meat and espresso. Taste the rich fruit, good acidity, peppery spice and very good concentration. Earth, black licorice and more fruit on the long finish. We love finding new, tiny-production high quality Cabs like this!
Order Le Chanceux Cab here.

Rich Fruity & Luscious
The very ripe, fruit-forward Napa Cabs are, by far, the most popular style in the shop. Can't help but love the berry/cherry liqueur flavors, sexy oak easy like-ability of these Napa Cabs.

BEAU VIGNE "Juliet" 2007 $55 Net priced
Beau Vigne "Juliet" had this entire stage two weeks ago. Reviews from customers so far have been outstanding. This stand-up-and-say "WOW" Cabernet comes from Beau Vigne's vineyard at the top of Atlas Peak. Nose of blueberry essence, mulberries, kiss of toasty oak, jam-packed with black berries & cherries. You'd think a Cabernet this concentrated and young would insist on bottle time. Wouldn't hurt, butI'm not sure how much benefit there is in waiting. There's so much pleasure in it now.
Order Beau Vigne "Juliet" Cab here.

LIPARITA Oakville 2006 $53

I last tasted this wine last week. Notes are consistent with my first time. The generous use of oak gives a toasty oak/blackened marshmallow nose, along with black currants and black.berry pie. Taste mocha, woodsmoke, black cherry liqueur, five spice & soy sauce. Has a very creamy mouthfeel and supple tannins. For a second you think it's a rich but boring Cab, then more flavors sneak out and please you. This is the type of Cabernet that makes Oakville famous! 500 cases made. Order Liparita Cab here.

O'SHAUGHNESSY Howell Mountain 2006 $75

Young Howell Mountain Cab in the Rich Fruity Luscious section. Yes. It's not the only fruit-driven Howell Mtn Cab I've had from 2006. As a whole they sure are tasty, and this is as good as it gets. Don't hesitate to try one this year then decide what do with the rest. Great sweetness of fruit in the nose and in the mouth. Blackberry pie, chocolate covered black cherries, cherries jubilee. Not as earthy, spicy or chewy as "classic" Howell Mountain Cab. It's only 78% Cab Sauv with 22% a blend of Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, St. Macaire & Cab Franc.
Order O'Shaughnessy Cab Howell Mountain here.

SEQUUM "Four Soil Melange" 2006 $42

Sequum was the toughest call as to what section to put it. The word "soil" alone makes one think it must be earth-driven. You sense the earth, even taste it a little, but the fruit and seductive barrel rules this roost. The four vineyards in this melange are in Stags Leap, Spring Mountain and Rutherford (of which there are two). Ripe, liqueur-ish fruit, sweet toasty oak, bittersweet chocolate, five spice, tobacco and balancing acidity. It's lush, rich, nicely oaked & drinking well now. Order Sequum Cab here.

MEYER VINEYARD 2005 $48

This spicy, robust, big-boned Cab is drinking dreamy these days. Virtues extolled last month in a story co-starring a grilled rack of lamb, the Meyer has been tried, enjoyed, and re-purchased by many. If you are one of the many, have good taste! Powerful, spicy, intense, BIG Napa Cabernet. Nose is espresso, cinnamon spice, black currant, dark chocolate, mulberry and vanilla bean. Taste blackberry pie, peppery spice, mocha. It's a sturdy Cab yet no drying tannins. Order Meyer Cab here.

Lay It Down
Sometimes you taste a wine, and feel a wine in the mouth, and you can tell it's REALLY GOOD WINE but needs time to show it. Here are three Napa Cabs that need a little time. Not a lot. I estimate how much time for each wine in its description.

LEWIS CELLARS 2007 $85
Tasting through the '07 Lewis wines with co-Owner Debbie Lewis last month, I felt really lucky to do what I do. What great wines! From Merlot to Syrah to their Red Blend "Alec's," they're running on all cylinders. Today I present to you their Napa Cab. Amazing extraction makes for a purple/black wine, thick mouthfeel, sweet berry fruits and a boatload of tannins. The tannins aren't savage, but there's an army of them, and a couple of years are needed to let them mellow out just a bit. A good collector's Caberrnet. Order Lewis Cab here.

T-VINE "T" 2005 (85% Cabernet) 2006 $40
The other 15% if Primitivo. If you know and like T-Vine "T" in years past, you may find it odd to see it in the "lay it down" section. Especially an '06. Well, I call 'em as I taste 'em! 30 minutes of air opens this big, chewy, sly red no doubt. But, 2-3 years of holding will reward the wait.
Smell cr�me brulee and cinnamon toast from the barrel, then big bold cherry (red & black), black raspberries and red/black currants. If you do wait a while to enjoy, don't worry about losing the fruit. There's enough in here to cure scurvy. Order T-Vine "T" Red here.

RELIC "Artefact" 2007 (96% Cabernet) 2007 $73
2% each Petit Verdot & Syrah complete the blend. Its youthfulness isn't so much about tannins as it is about fruit & oak needing time to come together. The dense fruit supports the ample, sweet, creamy oak (100% new French, 21 months), but it wasn't bottled that long ago, and all the components need time to come together. It's all there: black currants, blackberry liqueur, dark & smoky chocolate, touch of tobacco. Long finish of vanilla bean, chocolate and spicy dark berry/cherry. 170 cases made.
Order Relic "Artefact" 2007 here.
If you want to taste what a year of bottle age does to this wine, we still have three bottles of the 2006 "Artefact" $68/bottle.

Napa Cab Case
1 of each wine above: $575 (10% off all wines)

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