2009 Napa Valley Cabernet: The Chronicle recommends
Napa Cabernet is typically our biggest and most pivotal tasting of the year. Our panel considered some 60 wines from the 2009 vintage in a range of prices.
We found wines that exemplified the power of Napa and the freshness and aging potential of great Cabernet. In particular, there was a surge of quality from some of the valley’s most established names. That includes wines like the Robert Mondavi Cabernet, which you might say started it all in Napa’s modern era, and the estate bottle from J. Davies, which is Schramsberg’s line of red wines.
Below are top choices from the panel and other recent tastings, representing a cross-section of Napa’s best from a memorable vintage.
2009 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($70, 13.6% alcohol): Here was just the sort of vintage to play to Cathy Corison’s strengths – a year where you could make a taut, ripe wine without a drop of fat. Corison handled it beautifully. Full of mineral power, with pencil lead and chicory, and a tobacco-leaf freshness. Plummy, tight and a bit dusky, a subtly shaded wine with nuance and refinement.
2009 Tor Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($75, 14.4%): Jeff Ames’ efforts for Tor Kenward’s label again dialed in a hearty but complex style, this time in a blend of its three key vineyard sources: Howell Mountain’s Cimarossa, Yountville’s Mast and Oakville’s To Kalon. Ripe and full of cinnamon spice (a signature of Cimarossa), but the fruit is tense and raspberry-edged, matched by savory sandalwood, mustard seed and currant. A lot in the mix here.
2009 Larkmead Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($70, 14.5% alcohol): While the estate Cabernet from this wonderfully revived Calistoga property is hardly shy, it’s also a standout example from the vintage. Fresh, mineral-driven and full of dusty plum and mint leaf, the 2009 is classic and surprisingly racy, with a ton of structure but enough graphite and earth that it never feels driven by fruit. A sign of how the older and new Napa styles are being bridged.
2009 J. Davies Estate Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon ($80, 14.5%): Schramsberg’s Hugh Davies has been working for years toward a red wine that matches the quality of his sparkling, and in 2009 his Calistoga property, which encompasses some of Napa’s earlier hillside vineyard sites, was fully dialed in. It needs cellar time to shine, but here’s the full power of his site on display – a tightly-wound and savory mouthful: sagebrush, tobacco, mint and black coffee, with dark fruit brooding and a spectacular expression of that loamy Diamond Mountain character.
2009 Round Pond Estate Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon ($50, 14.5%): The MacDonnell family’s site in the core of Rutherford again yielded a terrific value of a wine (also true of their $30 bottle aged in old wood and using some bought fruit). 2009 was a tighter, more focused effort for Round Pond, but winemaker Brian Brown dialed back the evidence of oak to let clean black cherry, chicory and dust notes shine. It’s still a notably ripe creation, but with great savory touches – dried herb, pencil shaving.
2009 Hess Collection Allomi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($28, 14.4%): Hess’ mainline Cabernet is somewhat off-message for Napa these days – sourced from its site near the south end of Howell Mountain, aged in mostly older American oak. And so it’s all the more impressive: Pretty and slightly floral, with a dusky violet side amid the black fruit, plus a welcome cinnamon-candy bite. Its sweetness feels appropriate and just right for the nuanced flavors.
2009 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($28, 14.5%): The current state of Mondavi finds its strength in the basics, including this found-everywhere bottle that, impressively, includes more than 30 percent fruit from Robert Mondavi’s beloved To Kalon vineyard. A classic, loam-tinged profile, with cassis and black tea and a robust, chewy presence. It’s very much a sum of its parts, but the bones are impressively solid for the price.
2009 Louis M. Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($30, 14.5%): Full credit to Mike Martini, whose family’s winery now resides under the Gallo umbrella, for again delivering a classically styled, user-friendly Napa Cab at a level (65,200 cases) that leaves most counterparts foundering. It’s not purely classic – that 5 percent Petite Sirah nods at a different set of traditions – but it’s just rich enough, with sweet black cherry, plus espresso accents and a salty side, to show its roots without going to the jammy side.
2009 Napa Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($22, 14.1% alcohol): Score one for this long-established name, now part of the Trinchero family’s stable of properties. It’s evidence of how blending from a range of Napa sites can work at a reasonable price, without becoming generic. Full of fun and familiar Napa flavors: a smoky side, with a hint of dried red pepper, brambly fruit and a throat-lozenge glide to the texture.
2009 Terra Valentine Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon ($45, 14.9%): The Wurtele family’s Spring Mountain property certainly has shown its mettle in recent years, and in this vintage the dense mountain tannins are balanced with great mineral freshness and a warm kirsch-like side. Wonderful savory tones – a meatiness that should mellow with a couple years aging. Sam Baxter’s winemaking continues to frame the great potential of this site.
2009 Antica Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($55, 14%): Piero Antinori’s rebirth of his Atlas Peak project ( sfg.ly/Jy7278) is coming into its own with this classy, distinctive expression of 2009 that enjoyed an extra year bottle aging. A meaty, earthbound profile – wet clay, copper, cassis and rich raspberry, with clear mineral and tree-bark accents that certainly hint at a mind-set geared toward a more earth-driven style. Polished, but not at the cost of distinction.
2009 Stony Hill Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($60, 13.5%): An unexpected surprise from the McCrea family’s long-established winery, known far more for its white wines. You either take or leave the hard-edged style, with its exposed tannins, but its appealing floral side – sachet, raspberry, bright mineral – shows a different, and delicious, aspect of Napa.
2009 Buehler Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($36, 14.1%): The Buehler family, and winemaker David Cronin, again succeed in poking at Napa’s high-wire economics with wines that cost perhaps half the going rate, and in 2009 their estate effort, aged in more new French oak, marks a solid step up from the basic Napa bottle. It delivers a wallop of graphite and smoke – think dried cherry and a warm grass fire – and its meaty side is matched by a distinct freshness.
2009 Robert Craig Affinity Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($50, 14.5%): Craig has long been an expert in the Napa hillsides, but there’s something notably appealing about this blend (Petit Verdot and Merlot make cameos) from the foothills around Mount George in southeast Napa. An enthusiastic dose of oak can’t mask great dried-herb and graphite complexity, or its robust bramble fruit character. Big and dense, with a plushness and tea-like herbal side.
2009 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($135, 15.1%): Even in this cooler year, the Chappellets are unabashed in the style of their top wine. Once again the Pritchard Hill, perched above Lake Hennessey, is a grand snapshot of modern Napa at its best. Big, dense and polished – with a kirsch-like heat but also a lot of mineral power. Graphite, dried leaves, coriander and exotic spice amid deeply extracted black fruit. A classy expression of this site’s extraordinary potential, with a bit of Petit Verdot and Malbec in the mix.
2009 Cameron Hughes Lot 285 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon ($24, 14.5%): As always, Hughes’ efforts are catch as catch can, but this recent lot from Rutherford is both plentiful (10,400 cases) and reliable. A surprising lift to the flavors – more red fruit and cassis, with lower tones of ripe blackberry – is matched by a dusty presence and toasted coffee bean. Quintessential Rutherford.
2009 Tudal Estate St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon ($65, 14.5%): The Tudals’ small St. Helena vineyard yielded a mineral-edged, aromatic effort in this milder year, and winemaker Kirk Venge guided it to something that resembles the Napa Cabernets of 20 years ago, with focus and freshness even in its size. Full of dried thyme and bramble fruit, and densely knit darker flavors for balance.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/20/FD311OI9AC.DTL
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