Winemaker Notes
This is a full-bodied and well balanced Cabernet Sauvignon with rich flavors of blackberries, black licorice and a hint of allspice with a long, seductive finish. Having the patience to cellar this wine will reward you in the glass years from now. Serve with simply roasted meat dishes orall by itself to fully enjoy the wine’s complex flavors.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville Old Vine has an opaque ruby/purple color and should prove really spectacular. Stunning richness, great color, loads of flavor and layers of intensity and richness balanced together in a full-bodied format make for quite a potentially special Cabernet Sauvignon.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 -
Wine Enthusiast
Tight-grained tannins lie beneath a sleek, sophisticated structure of ageworthy complexity in this old-vine wine made from grapes planted in 1959. Intensely layered, it shows wisps of currant, pencil shavings and anise—seasonings for a lush backdrop of brambly blackberry. Enjoy 2023–2033. Cellar Selection
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Wine & Spirits
Grgich Hills’s estate vineyard in Yountville includes a 25-acre block of cabernet planted in 1959. Those vines produced an intense wine in 2013, spicy, cool and bristling with tannins. The wine emphasizes structural elements, from cedar and mushroom notes of umami to bitter, vegetal scents surrounding the fruit. Oak remains a dominant influence in the flavors, the wine needing further age to resolve.
As a family-owned and operated winery, Grgich Hills Estate is committed to crafting wines of the highest standard and consistency. Their dedication to these principles has led to the achievement of Regenerative Organic Certification for all five of their estate vineyards in December 2022. This system prioritizes the long-term health and longevity of their vines, revitalizes the land, and allows for the creation of wines that are unmatched in their quality and expression of terroir.
It is with a spirit of curiosity, discovery, and excellence that Miljenko “Mike” Grgich and partner Austin Hills founded Grgich Hills Estate in 1977, after Mike’s Chateau Montelena Chardonnay won the famed 1976 Paris Tasting. These values propel Grgich Hills Estate forward as they continue to make exquisite wines, while pioneering a sustainable future for Napa Valley.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
One of Napa Valley's most historic sub-appellations, Yountville spreads through some of the valley's ideal cooler sites and enjoys success with a handful of different and significant grape varieties.
Syrah competes strongly with Cabernet Sauvignon here for optimal vineyard real estate followed by Pinot noir, Pinot blanc and Sauvignon blanc.
This sub-AVA of Napa Valley is rich in the history that makes Napa Valley what it is today, and not just for red wines. Moët & Chandon entered the California winemaking business via Yountville in 1973 with the establishment Domaine Chandon. Their goal has always been to produce top quality méthode champenoise sparkling wines.
Christian Moueix, originally responsible for managing Chateau Petrus and La Fleur-Petrus in Pomerol, arrived in Yountville in the early 1980s. He formed a partnership with Rohin Lail and Marcia Smith, inheritors of Napanook vineyard from their father John Daniel of Inglenook in Rutherford. In 1995 Moueix became sole owner of Napanook and chose the name Dominus, which today produces some of Napa’s highest scoring, age-worthy Bordeaux Blends.