Premiere Napa Valley - Previewing 2018 Napa Cabs

Well we just completed another Premiere Napa Valley and this year John and I took turns walking the floor to taste. It was great to see Roy again and I am sure he will be sharing his thoughts on the vintage and especially 2018 cabs.

IMO 2018 will be another great vintage after a spotty 2017. If you took the power of 2013 and matched it with the aromatics, fruit and balance of 2016 - waived a magic wand and voila you have 2018! As I walked the floor, I was challenged to find something I did not like (no formal notes but asterisked the ones I thought stood out vs their peers).

• Hundred Acre*
• Continuum
• Schrader
• Pahlmeyer*
• To Kalon Wine Company
• Duckhorn (3 Palms merlot)
• Paradigm
• Ancien* (their lot was a 19 pinot - outstanding)
• Staglin
• OneHope
• Gallica
• Alpha Omega
• Nickel & Nickel
• Krupp Brothers*
• Frank Family*
• Paul Hobbs*
• Ghost Block
• Amici
• Inglenook
• O’Shaughnessy
• Pride

Our own lot was 100% cab from three vineyards that we bottle separately each vintage. The lot was 50% Yates (Mt. Veeder), 30% Stagecoach (Pritchard Hill) and 20% Rutherford (G3). And top bidder (for the second year in a row) was Gary’s Wine (NJ and Napa).

Karen

Thanks for the feedback. 2018 Napa cab releases will definitely be a monster buy from me.

Are you thinking the 18 vintage will be better than the 16?

I love the 2016 vintage - and at this early stage I am placing 2018 slightly above it for Napa Cab (especially mountain fruit). Of course it is very early as these wines are not yet bottled. Our cabs won’t be bottled until early August and then we bottle age about a year before release (which is kind of old school but works for us).

That’s high praise for a vintage, keeping in mind that it is super early. Thanks for your thoughts!

So when will the other Gary possess his purchase?

Another “vintage of the decade”!!!

So Napa has had how many of those this decade? 6 out of the 9 so far (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018)? Isn’t 2019 predicted to be yet another superkalifragelistic vintage also?

Our PNV lot will be bottled in early August. After the label is approved by the TTB, it will be printed, hand numbered and signed. The wine will then be delivered to consolidation for packaging (label is applied, waxing, tissue wrapped and boxed). Every PNV lot is packaged the same. Gary should have the wine early Fall.

Karen, thanks for posting .

Thanks for the input!

I heard the Rudd estates lot fetched the highest price? Quite surprising to me or what do I miss here?

Yes it did - $120K for 5 case lot. It was a tribute lot to Leslie Rudd. Only one bid placed at $120K and then bidding was closed to a standing ovation. It was quite a moment. i believe the lot went to a Swedish friend of the Rudd family.

" superkalifragelistic", WAY underused in the wine world.
Gotta make a point of working on that…

Yes, that would be very expialudoscious of you to work that in to more tasting notes.

Thanks for the input. Ah, that make sense. Rather a fantasie/tribute bid than a bidding war. What a nice gesture!

This was also done for a Shafer lot in tribute to John Shafer. Nice gesture.

As an aside, I have wondered about Rudd wines since I used to buy them back in the day. They are so close to SE, with essentially the same exposition, underlying geology, same elevation. They have seemed to be an underachiever compared to the Eagle wines. Know they went through extensive replanting in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Anyone care to speculate why they have not seemed to reach the heights of their very close neighbor? ( i mean you could hit a tee shot and it would land in the SE vines)

I’ve recently took a closer look into Rudd’s more recent release at a tasting through there lineup. Below my comment on the Rudd Estate Flagship wine. Maybe that can give some perspective.

Comprehensive tasting of the Rudd Estates lineup (Sauvignon Blanc, Edge Hill Chardonnay, Samatha’s, Estate Red). The Samantha’s and the Rudd Estate are both marked by their cool profile, the dark and blue fruit. These wines are to Napa Valley what St. Julien is to the left bank: hardly ever early charmers but with a great purity, intense terroir expression and a sense of classicism. I find that style difference quite appealing, and not only intellectually. Young, these Rudds probably don’t reach the heights of other superstar Napa wines but a comparative tasting at 20 years of age might have a different outcome. Anyway, it’s great to have some variety in the cellar that’s why I buy St. Julien and that’s why I should probably start buying some Rudd Estates Red (which clearly outshines Samantha’s in terms of depth and precision). What is missing to the most prestigious Napa Cabs? The weightlessness the very best wines (think Harlan) show.