2012 Smith-Madrone Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

A library release and a genuine gift — the 2012 Smith-Madrone Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is now in a glorious drinking window, with blackberry, dark cherry, graphite, mountain herbs, and cocoa seamlessly integrated after over a decade on volcanic Spring Mountain soils, its tannins silky and fully resolved. 2012 was Napa's most abundant and approachable vintage in years — warm, even, and generous, coming as a blessed reprieve after two difficult harvests — producing ripe, hedonistic wines that have aged beautifully for those who held on. Dry-farmed, estate-grown, 82% Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and Cabernet Franc, aged 21 months in French oak — this is what a Smith-Madrone with more than a decade of bottle age looks like, and the answer is magnificent. There will not be more of this.