2012 Cask 23, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Napa Valley

One year following the triumphant 1973 vintage, celebrated winemaker André Tchelistcheff was tasting through the various lots of new wines from the latest vintage when he found himself particularly taken by the distinctive richness and depth of fruit in the eponymous barrel. The label was soon born. Today, it is a blend of similar distinctiveness from both the SLV and FAY vineyards and remains as one of the world’s most collected wines.
And with 2012 still lauded as one of the all-time great vintages in Napa, for not only were winemakers elated by the quality and quantity of the harvest, but some even achieved a level of excellence that superseded past vintages, going back decades. This bodes supremely for what’s inside the 2012 Cask 23, these eleven years on. It’s just where the Napa drinker wants to be.
“The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Cask 23 reveals more oak on the nose, but is a much deeper, richer, fuller wine than the S.L.V. Dense ruby/purple to the rim, beautiful blackberry and cassis fruit, cedar wood, toast and earth jump from the glass. Full-bodied and layered, but with nothing out of balance, this is probably the strongest Cask 23 since the glory years of the mid-80s. Look for this wine to drink well young, yet age effortlessly for 25 years.” Drink 2015-2040. 96 pts., Robert Parker