Abreu'Madrona Ranch' Red 2012- Library 1.5L Bottle

This is one of the best wines currently coming out of California—and among the rarest in 1.5L format—sourced directly from the winery’s cellar thanks to our friends at Abreu. As David Abreu’s original vineyard, it remains one of our favorite California Cabernets. Given the longevity of wines from this west St. Helena site, time in bottle is essential. The vintage was considered ideal, and winemaker Brad Grimes captured both the season and the strength of the site beautifully.

Easily considered one of the top vineyards for Cabernet Sauvignon, Madrona Ranch is the first vineyard that David Abreu developed, Just west of Main Street, tucked into the bench of the Mayacamas, this 23-acre property is truly a working ranch, with roughly 15 acres dedicated to vineyard. As winemaker Brad Grimes explained, “An elongated harvest was welcome in 2019. We carefully selected fruit over three weeks that combined into six different tanks. Most of the Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc came in on October 2— earlier than in years past. The final three picks were all blends of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, the last being the oldest vines from 1980.” These wines evolve for decades in the bottle, tasting as fresh as the day they were bottled. I recently tried a 2001 Madrona Ranch and was blown away by how intact and gorgeous it showed after a solid decant.