A Rising Tide for Napa’s Superb Reds: Weekly Tasting Report

Our latest Weekly Tasting Report of 349 wines from five countries offers further proof that a rising tide raises all boats. In this case the tide was the unusually steady, cool, long growing season in Napa Valley in 2023. The boats that rose the highest include four perfect-scoring cabernet sauvignons.

The tide was broad and strong, enabling amazingly high-quality wines from south to north. The 100-pointers came from the districts of Coombsville, Stags Leap, Oakville and St. Helena, two produced by Realm Cellars and one each by Grace Family and To Kalon Wine Co.

Editor-at-Large Jim Gordon in his long career as a taster had never before given that many 100-point scores in such a short period.

Realm Cellars made two fantastic wines, noticeably different in character but equally flavorful, balanced and tempting.

The Realm Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville Farella Vineyard 2023 is amazingly poised, calm, almost delicate, with soothing blueberry and dark chocolate flavors, while the Realm Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District Hartwell XX 2023 tastes pure, singular, energized and fresh, wrapped in firm, fine-grained tannins.

“In 2023 nobody was rushed,” said Realm director of winegrowing Chris Cooney. “You could pick any time you wanted to because there was no pressure.” A lack of major heat waves led to a cool, extended harvest season when most winemakers reported harvesting a month later than average.

The longer hang-time enabled thorough phenolic ripeness – basically, mature grape skins and seeds – without overdoing the sugar development. Almost all of the top wines have great balance and a cool, elegant character with somewhat lower alcohol than is typical.

Grace Family Vineyards earned a perfect score for one of their three red wines. It’s the original Grace Family cab, from the small vineyard north of St. Helena on an east-facing slope, and still the home of founders Dick and Ann Grace. Now under the ownership of Kathryn Green, with Helen Keplinger as winemaker, this Grace classic is as good as ever.

The Grace Family Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2023 captures your imagination with flavors of blackcurrant, bay laurel, black olive, lilac and mineral. It’s layered, plush and comfortable in its skin despite a firm structure. The Grace Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley St. Helena Cornelius Grove 2023 (98 points) is also worth seeking out for its vivrancy, firm and fine-grained tannins and ripe berry, violet and iron flavors.

Keplinger, who is a top-tier consulting winemaker and has a wine company of her own, has seen a lot of harvests in Napa Valley. 2023 was her 10th with Grace. “We usually harvest around Sept. 3 to 7, and in ’23 we didn’t start until Oct. 7 and finished Oct. 3,” she said.

“But there were no worries because the canopies were healthy and functioning,” she added. “We were waiting for poly phenolic ripeness. It was an incredible vintage to witness. The fruit was so beautiful and there was no time pressure to bring in.”

Rounding out the perfect foursome is the To Kalon Vineyard Co. Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville To Kalon Vineyard HWC 2023. That’s a mouthful of a wine name and a potent, structured, memorable offering made by Tony Biagi from Robert Mondavi Winery’s To Kalon property on the winery site.

The grapes came from cabernet sauvignon clone 31 vines, known as the Mondavi heritage clone. This clone produces tiny clusters, low yields and is notorious for stiff tannins that can make young wines from these grapes very tight. But Biagi has polished this vintage with care, enabling it to be enjoyed while young and still having great potential for aging.

Perfection is great, but this report also offers about two dozen other Napa Valley reds scoring 95 points or higher so there are plenty to choose from.

Outside of all the great top-scoring Napa reds in this report, the two highest-scoring bottles come from Spain and New Zealand. The 4 Kilos Vinícola Terra de Mallorca 4 Kilos 2023 (96), from Spain’s Islas Baleares wine region, is an earthy,  bright pure callet wine grown in iron-rich clay soils in the north and south of Mallorca, while the precise and layered Pyramid Valley Vineyards Chardonnay Central Otago Low Burn 2024 (95) is a well-driven New Zealand bottling whose bright acidity and long, delicious finish is well representative of the crisp and fresh chards that are consistently coming out of the world’s most southerly commercial wine region.

– Jim Gordon contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

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