Description
A wine offering notes of grilled steak, steak tartare, beef blood, blueberries and blackberries galore is the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder. Everything here emerges from the Jackson-owned Veeder Peak Vineyard. Chris Carpenter agrees that this has to be one of the greatest vintages he’s ever had the pleasure to work with – and he has some serious experience under his belt. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine is utterly profound, and while the scoring system ends at 100, if I had to pick a single wine that may have been my favorite of all the tastings I did in Napa, this could have been my pick. Full-bodied, rich, with incredible integration of its component parts of acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood, the wine is lavishly built, has compelling purity, richness and density, and a finish, again, that rivals that of the Howell Mountain, being close to one minute in length. This wine will be certainly approachable young, but last 30-40+ years.
One of the superstars of the Kendall-Jackson portfolio, the Lokoya wines all come from four microclimates in Napa Valley, are made by the brilliant Chris Carpenter, and range in size (production-wise) from a low of 340 cases for the Diamond Mountain to 1,750 for the Mt. Veeder. All of these wines are 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from some of the best parcels of vines available, aged in 100% new oak and bottled unfiltered. They have been on an absolute qualitative tear for a number of years and seem to go from strength to strength. We’re dealing with possibly the greatest vintage I have tasted in 37 years of visits to Napa Valley – 2013. So, I suppose these reviews are not that unusual.