2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
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Tasting notes
Absolute perfection, but also an extremely tiny production of only 175 cases, the 2013 Proprietary Red is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot and Merlot. They fermented 45 days on the skins and the result is a profound opaque purple wine with beautiful notes of incense, charcoal embers, blackberry and cassis, coffee, a hint of chocolate and spring flowers. The perfect integration of acidity, tannin, wood and alcohol has resulted in a massive, super-intense, magnificent example of Napa viticulture that really requires a good 5-6 years of bottle age and then should age well for 50 or more years. To me it is the finest wine they have made to date. Kudos!
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Dark, powerful and explosive, the 2013 Red Wine is quite reticent and shut down, hardly a surprise for the year. There is impressive depth and concentration, along with massive hillside tannins, all of which need time to fully assimilate. The flavors are intense and dark, with plenty of texture from fermentation in barrel. Readers will have to be patient with the 2013.
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon has a dense purple color and rugged structural components of high tannin, massive extract and loads of blackberry, blueberry and cassis fruit along with some truffle and forest floor. It is “stacked and packed,” so to speak, full-bodied, and essentially requires any prospective purchaser to exercise some discipline and forget it for 5-10 years. It is probably a 30- to 50-year wine where well-stored, which is exactly what both of these non-compromising winemakers want to achieve. Kudos to them!
The 2013 Red Wine is a terrific example of the vintage. An exotic concoction of blueberry jam, cloves, lavender, mocha and bittersweet chocolate race across the palate as this explosive, powerful wine shows off its personality. Swaths of tannin leave a palate-staining impression of intensity. I tasted the 2013 from a preliminary blend. If this sample is any indication, the 2013 will turn out to be another brilliant effort from Bob Levy and Martha McClellan.