($60): This wine shows you can’t rely on vintage charts.  The 2011 vintage in Napa was terrible for Cabernet Sauvignon, the valley’s signature grape.  Unusually cool wet weather made it a struggle for Cabernet vines to fully ripen their fruit during the growing season.  What a surprise, then, to taste this 2011 Napa Cabernet from Grgich (though I suppose it really shouldn’t be a surprise — knowing the talents of the Grgich Hills team).  This is great Napa Valley Cabernet, delivering plenty of dark fruit flavors, but more importantly, herbal and earthy elements.  The interplay of these diverse elements and the way each sip brings out new flavors is a welcome contrast to the broad shouldered, super ripe, one-note style of Cabernet.  Grgich Hills realizes that sheer power is not the measure of a great wine.  Enrobed in plush tannins, this is easy to enjoy now, but its balance — as well as Grgich Hills’ track record — suggest that it will develop just fine with a decade of bottle age.
93 Michael Apstein Sep 2, 2014