2012 Farella Cabernet Sauvignon

A dark, sumptuous wine, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Farella Vineyard is radiant and super-expressive to the core. Dark red and purple fruit, violets, mint, graphite, bittersweet chocolate and lavender are all laced together nicely in the glass. This is a rich, layered Cabernet for Coombsville at the outset, but there is more than enough underlying acidity and minerality to suggest a few more years in bottle is optimal. The Farella has quite frankly been the most impressive wine in this range of 2012s over the last two years; it just keeps getting better and better.

The single-vineyard 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Farella Vineyard comes from a hillside, cool-climate site in the Coombsville AVA in the eastern Vaca Mountains. In the past, much of this fruit went into early vintages of Opus One. This is a tannic, opulent, backward, primary effort displaying an inky/purple color along with notes of incense, camphor, toast and abundant black fruits. Full-bodied, dramatic, slightly tannic and structured, this masculine-styled 2012 will benefit from several years in the cellar, and should drink well for two decades. A true first-growth vineyard is the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard, which is located in the heart of St. Helena just off Route 29. The vineyard is planted primarily with Cabernet Sauvignon and two small parcels of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. For whatever reason, anyone who gets fruit off this vineyard tends to make wines that hit every sweet spot on the palate.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Farella Vineyard is super-compact and dense. Black berry jam, graphite, crushed rocks, smoke and incense all emerge from the glass, but only with great reluctance. This is one of the most intense and powerful Cabernets I have ever tasted from Farella Vineyard in Coombsville. There isn't a whole lot of vintage 2012 sexiness here, at least not today. The finish is bright, crystalline and impeccable.