2013 Flora Springs St. Helena Rennie Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa

(95 points) "Another of their single-vineyard offerings that has a proven track record for long-term cellaring is the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Rennie Reserve, which comes from holdings in St. Helena. This shows the valley’s beautiful crème de cassis fruit, nice judicious touch of toasty oak and licorice, full-bodied mouthfeel, and no hard edges. Tannins are present, but round and well-integrated. This is a full-bodied wine made for drinking over the next 20-25 years, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see it last longer. This venerable Napa winery continues to turn out high-quality wines and certainly has an impressive track record." —Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

Winemaker Notes: Named for the founders of our historic 1885 winery, our Rennie Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon stems from thirty years of farming a small, three-acre block on the Flora Springs Estate in the far southwest corner of the St. Helena appellation. With the precise use of deficit irrigation, perfectly matched clone to soil selection and proper row orientation, this block is arguably the finest of our 650 acres of vineyard. We call it Block C, a percentage of which we use to create our Rennie Reserve Cabernet. The 2013 vintage exhibits a dense, dark chocolate character in the nose, followed by black currant and juniper berries. Crème de cassis explodes in the mouth, with hints of coffee, black pepper and sandalwood rounding out the mouthfeel. This is a larger-than-life Cabernet, finishing with notes of ground allspice that linger on the palate. The Rennie Reserve wine can be paired with any hearty dish including your favorite cut of beef.

All the Facts

Appellation: St. Helena, Napa Valley

Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Cases Produced: 650

Aging: 22 months in 95% French, 5% American oak (70% new)

On the Vine The stellar 2013 vintage in Napa Valley began with a warm spring that brought early bud break and created superb conditions for flowering and fruit set. With the exception of one heat spike, summer temperatures were consistently in the zone for optimal vine activity resulting in notably healthy vines as fruit went through veraison and ripening. Harvest was early, and continued dry weather extended these ideal ripening conditions until the last grapes were picked.