Napa Cabernet with backbone

Old School Napa Cab

California Napa Valley Cabernet that hasn't lost its backbone is a rare treat wine lovers cherish.

By Patrick Comiskey | Thursday, 24 December 2009 | 12:36

Napa Cabernet Unless you've been drinking wine under a rock, you know that wine styles have changed dramatically in the past decade, especially for full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Ripeness is all; plush, abundant fruit is the norm now, at levels of richness and concentration more typical of Port. Textures are fatter, chunkier and more buxom across the board; and tannin, once the sturdy trunk of great Napa Cab, has softened into a pliant, bendy stripling.

So it is a relief to find a few Napa Cabernet producers who have, by and large, resisted the "call to plumpness." These stalwart brands craft wines that adhere to a winemaking tradition established 15 or 20 years ago, before a certain critic exerted his influence on style.

These are powerful Cabernets, driven by less by fruit than by structure. Their grippy tannins, augmented by long contact with oak barrels, give the wines both flavor and structure. There's not much give, but I think these winemakers would say that’s not the point. Cab means power to these brands, and oak contributes to it.

2006 Groth Oakville Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, $150
A posh, classic red that leads with sumptuous oak aromas in concert with black cherry scents. It feels at first a bit abrupt, but what starts out quite firm and polished softens after a day, the oak has integrated into an elegant component in the wine, textures more burnished and chocolatey, the finish still firm but slightly more pliant. Groth Vineyards, Oakville, Calif.

This Cabernet is:

	\|		\|		\|		\|
Licking an oak log in the desert		Crushed black cherries on a wooden spoon		The appeal of a warm, dark wood paneled library		Rich and thick as plum pudding		Cassis flavored glue on caramel ice cream

Far Niente Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $115
Here is a wine the expresses an oak imprint from start to finish – not an altogether bad thing. There are wisps of olive and earth, caramel and mocha; the flavors show little fruit at the moment, but there’s no mistaking the variety in its power and tannic drive. Not yet ready to drink, but will have a long cellar life. Far Niente Winery, Oakville, Calif.

This Cabernet is:

	\|		\|		\|		\|
Licking an oak log in the desert		Crushed black cherries on a wooden spoon		The appeal of a warm, dark wood paneled library		Rich and thick as plum pudding		Cassis flavored glue on caramel ice cream

Chappellet Napa Valley Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, $45
Intensely concentrated at the outset, this dark cab smells like ink and cassis fruit laced with minerals, with notes of tree bark and redwood frond. Its flavors are equally concentrated, with notes of cassis and black plum, the oak expressing itself with a dark olivey char. The drive of the wine comes from that oak treatment, which packs the wine’s finish with firm tannin. Chappellet Winery, St. Helena, Calif.

This Cabernet is:

	\|		\|		\|		\|
Licking an oak log in the desert		Crushed black cherries on a wooden spoon		The appeal of a warm, dark wood paneled library		Rich and thick as plum pudding		Cassis flavored glue on caramel ice cream

Photo by Patrick Comiskey

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Comments (1)

Who else uses this scale for evaluation...

...I like it a lot, except that I think there should be obvious overlap. My brother Tom's 2003 Napa Cab, for example, has lots of cassis and cherry, but not a lot of plum pudding to interfere with its paneled (balanced) and smoky library. Kudos for looking at a new scale, by the way!

geil11 , December 11, 2009