| Score: |
100 RP.
"The perfect 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vin State Lane Vineyard is 99% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Merlot aged 20 months in 100% new French oak. I think this is the third perfect score I’ve given to this wine, which is the essence of their vineyard, representing about 13% of the total production, or a mere 320 cases. The wine has a gorgeously opaque purple color and a beautiful nose of camphor, charcoal, blackberry and cr?me de cassis with licorice and truffle. It has unbelievable richness, great texture, tremendous finesse, precision and delineation. Very intense, full-bodied and super-pure, the length of the wine must be at least 50+ seconds. This is a gorgeous wine and one of the great superstars of this fabulous vintage. This winery certainly burst onto the qualitative scene in Napa in a dramatic way, and in just over ten years of experience have done an absolutely amazing job with what was once the Beringer-owned State Lane Vineyard in Yountville. In 2012 they produced five cuvées of Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux varietal-based wines, and that will probably drop to four as they were entertaining the idea of dropping the Endre from the portfolio (and I didn’t taste that in either 2013 or 2014)." eRobertParker.com #221, Oct 2015 |