Chateau de Vie Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Vertical // 3 Bottles

Take a taste of the best Cabernet Sauvignons that Napa Valley has to offer. The first is a 2010 Chateau de Vie Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a deeply rich and satisfying Cabernet with aromas of blackberry, mocha, black fig, dark brown bread and rich vanilla and baking spice scents.

The summer was quite cold, which tempted some winemakers to de-leaf, a big mistake when an unexpectedly long and brutal heat wave arrived towards the end of the season. Where growers were more prudent, the wines are utterly brilliant, with deep colors, precise fruit, ripe tannins and expressive aromatics. Because the growing season was so long, the vines achieved full phenolic maturity, which gave the tannins a level of textural elegance that is unusual in such big wines. At the same time, there is plenty of California richness, something Napa Valley has no problem producing in abundance. In other words, the best 2010s also possess stunning harmony.

The second wine on offer is a 2011 Chateau de Vie Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. It's fleshy in texture and ripe on the palate, with an almost heady display of blueberry, black fig, vanilla, toast, caramel and bouillon.

What began with a wet winter and spring continued with rainfall into mid-June that delayed bloom and disrupted fruit set resulting in shatter in parts of the region and set the stage for a long, cooler-than-average growing season with a later-than-average harvest beset with autumn rain storms. The precipitation measuring season ending on June 30 found the region more than a third above normal in rainfall. While this is good news for water resources, the cloud cover and cool temperatures delayed vine development by several weeks at the onset of the growing season. Few high heat events occurred at any point this year, but growers managed more open vine canopies to ensure sunlight, warmth and good air circulation around the grape clusters. The shatter resulting from the rain events in June was variable by vineyard location hitting some locations harder with projected crop diminished by more than 30% while leaving other sites nearly untouched with near-normal crop.

Last is the 2012 Chateau de Vie Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The finish is long and sweetly ripe and this wine will serve as nicely with ripe cheeses and fruits as it will with dark roasts or sauced filet. It is essentially ready to drink and will grow softer and more aromatic over the next few years.

"Classic" and "perfect" are just two accolades being bestowed upon the 2012 Napa Valley growing season and harvest. Textbook conditions saw near-ideal spring bud break, steady flowering, even fruit set, and a lengthy stretch of warm days and cool and often foggy nights during the long summer months. Late and light rains held off until Napa Valley's treasured wine grapes found optimal ripeness, bringing exceptional quality to the crush pad and into the cellar.

The abundance of perfectly ripe grapes — with a smooth balance of acids and sugars--provided a broad sweep of opportunities for winemakers to cull only the most select fruit. The vineyards of Napa Valley are intentionally farmed at lower yields bringing only the very best grape to harvest. Growers here, year-in and year-out, bring an average of 4 tons per acre to crush overall, which is consistently half the California state-wide average. This is one of the many reasons that Napa Valley wines are so consistent vintage-to-vintage and acclaimed for their high quality in the bottle. This vintage, while as much as 30% higher than the past two years' smaller crops, is on par with near-normal quantity.