2010 Larkmead Vineyards Solari Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Larkmead, as much as any wine in Napa Valley, is about time. The millennia have left the property with a layer of gravel more than 300 feet deep, and their Cabernet rarely makes it into the bottle until the vines have reached 10 to 15 years of age. 

The only thing that can make a Larkmead Cabernet even more majestic is time in the bottle, which is why we’re thrilled to bring you the regal 2010 Larkmead Vineyards Solari Cabernet Sauvignon. Hand-picked by winemaker Dan Petroski to share with Wine Access members, this stands as one of the historic estate’s greatest bottles.  

“The 2010 is probably the best Solari Larkmead ever put under cork,” Dan told us, about the dual-98-point wine that was made in the incredible 2010 vintage by his mentor Andy Smith, while Dan was an assistant winemaker. “It has been the North Star, the wine we’re trying to replicate. In any good vintage, my goal is to make a Solari that reminds me of the 2010.” 

He’s not the only one who thinks of it as historic. The 100% Cabernet earned dual 98-point scores on release, and now—after a full decade in the cool Larkmead Cellars—it’s showing the characteristics and delivering the pleasure that make this one of Napa Valley’s most collectible Cabernets. 

“The 2010 is a wine for the exceedingly patient. I only hope to taste it when it is mature,” said Antonio Galloni of Vinous, back when he tasted it young. Other critics added more praise than we can print, and they all pegged it as a cellar keeper: James Suckling said it’s “Like Mouton 1982 on the nose,” but implored readers to wait nearly a decade to drink it. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate told collectors to look forward to 25+ fantastic years from the wine. 

Showing a beautifully deep brick-garnet color, it’s wonderfully alive on the nose, with dried and fresh blackberry and currants, mocha, allspice, toasted vanilla, and hints of tertiary leather, mature tobacco, and black truffle complexity. Perfectly structured, it makes a convincing argument that a decade is a good sweet spot for Napa Cabs, but clearly has plenty of life ahead. 

Dan distinctly remembers the excitement that Andy Smith displayed about the 2010 vintage, which featured the cool and long growing season that can allow a wine from Larkmead—which is situated in the hot and dry northern reaches of Napa Valley—to reach its full potential, and give the complexity and nuance that comes with hangtime. 

The name of the wine comes from that of proprietor Kate Solari Baker, whose parents Larry and Polli purchased Larkmead in 1948. Larry eventually became President and CEO of United Vintners, which owned Italian Swiss Colony, Inglenook, and Beaulieu Vineyard, and he later was named Chairman of the Wine Institute. He’s regarded as one of the “giants” of the California Wine Industry, and even Robert Mondavi considered him a mentor.

“Solari is named after the owners,” Dan said, adding with a smile: “So it needs to be our best wine.” It’s grown on a spectacular five-acre block, where the ancient gravel meets the clay that falls into the Napa River. “It’s got the wonderful, powerful, chiseled structure you get from gravel, and the clay soils bring the density, girth, width, body. It’s this rolling freight train of momentum on the palate. It’s got a beautiful texture and rumbles like a train.”

An all-time great from the moment it went into bottle, the 2010 shows no signs of slowing down. This is a historic wine, hand-picked by one of Napa’s great winemakers, that any California collector will be glad they added to the cellar.