2013 Cabernet Sauvignon

“The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate has turned out beautifully. Exotic and compelling, even in just its bouquet, the 2013 is utterly captivating. Iron, smoke, blood and a host of ferrous notes open up first, followed by waves of dark fruit. The 2013 is powerful and intense to the core…The dense, explosive finish is nearly impossible to resist, but this vivid, ample Cabernet Sauvignon is going to require patience. The only question is how much.” -Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Oct. 2015) 97 points

Tasting Notes

This full-throttle, blockbuster wine is mouth filling, bursting with blackberries, ferrous notes, vanilla, smoky tobacco and very dark chocolate. During Harvest 2013, Winemaker Jim Duane reported that the tannins in this Olympian vintage are the most massive ever to be produced by our steep hillside blocks. Monumental and opulent, this wine is overflowing with raw power. Time will be its friend. Preview it now but provide it with patient cellaring so that its full majesty can be revealed.

Ratings

Stephen Tanzer, Vinous (Apr. 2017) 94+ points
“Amazingly primary aromas of blackberry, tar and espresso are lifted by a violet topnote. Utterly primary, even unformed, in the mouth, with an extremely dense, sappy flavor of crushed blueberry dominating today. But this remarkably backward, unyielding, hugely rich monolith of a Cabernet is still like an approximation of a great wine. With this hot vintage’s small berries and large quantity of seeds implying a wine with a huge structure, winemaker Jim Duane carried out a very gentle extraction. Still, this very deep, sweet wine has a lot of baby fat to burn off. I felt like the blind man in front of the elephant but it’s clear that this wine is potentially great. The major tannins coat the front teeth but do not come off as dry. Finishes classically dry and very long, with a lingering note of bitter chocolate torrefaction. Obviously, this wine may ultimately merit an even higher rating.”

Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Oct. 2015) 97 points
“The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate has turned out beautifully. Exotic and compelling, even in just its bouquet, the 2013 is utterly captivating. Iron, smoke, blood and a host of ferrous notes open up first, followed by waves of dark fruit. The 2013 is powerful and intense to the core, but full of personality that is only in need of more time in bottle to be fully expressive. The dense, explosive finish is nearly impossible to resist, but this vivid, ample Cabernet Sauvignon is going to require patience. The only question is how much.”

Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate (Oct. 2015) 95+ points
“[This wine is] typically young, backward and for serious connoisseurs to stow away for at least 5-8 years prior to consumption. The 2013 is typically coiled, deep purple in color, with notes of burning embers, créme de cassis, a touch of earth, spice and tobacco leaf. It is full-bodied, moderately tannic and needs to be respected in terms of it not providing a whole lot of pleasure for another 5-8 years.”

Vineyard Notes

Seavey’s 24th vintage of estate-produced Cabernet, the 2013, comes from grapes grown on steep hillside blocks of the vineyard. Following a winter with scant rain, a warm, dry spring allowed for vigorous vine growth. Extensive flowering and pollination created a strong fruit set, creating the potential for larger than average yields. Ideal summer conditions followed and mild harvest temperatures allowed us to patiently handpick each hillside block at its optimum ripeness. Each vineyard block was then separately vinified and aged.

Production Notes

Winemaking followed classic Bordeaux methods with whole-berry fermentation. In the cool of the early morning harvest, grapes were promptly de-stemmed and the uncrushed berries were gently transferred into fermentation tanks. In order to carefully manage the tannins and resulting wine texture, the grapes were neither crushed nor run through a pump. Following fermentation, the wine was aged in French oak barrels (70% new) for 20 months before bottling in June 2015.

100% ESTATE GROWN, PRODUCED & BOTTLED, NAPA VALLEY AVA