2012 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Bryant Estate is one of the few wineries that elicits agreement among wine collectors around the world: The name evokes the absolute pinnacle of Napa Valley winemaking, and a single bottle will sparkle as the crown jewel of any cellar. And today, we’re thrilled to bring you a library release from the Bryant Estate Cellars on Pritchard Hill.

Bryant Estate’s unimpeachable quality isn’t the only reason we’re as excited about this offer as any we’ve had the privilege to send. It’s also because of the rarity and exclusivity—you don’t just stroll down to the local wine shop and pick up a bottle of Bryant, let alone a perfectly aged bottle from an outstanding vintage. But because of our relationship with Bryant, we’ve secured a small allocations of the 2012 Bryant Estate Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon for Wine Access members. 

Bryant makes what Robert Parker calls one of Napa Valley’s “flagship Cabernet Sauvignons,” and this jewel from the exquisite 2012 vintage will cost up to $2,000 on the auction block, if you can find it. Today on Wine Access, these bottles can be yours for a quarter of that, with perfect provenance guaranteed, as always. 

The 2012 Bryant Estate wines come from the 21st vintage of a winery that turned heads from the beginning: Robert Parker advised Cabernet lovers to get on the mailing list of this “reference point” Cabernet after tasting just the second vintage, and wrote (in his perfect 100-point review of the ‘97) that Bryant “might well be one of the wines that redefines greatness in Cabernet Sauvignon.”

From Parker’s pen to fruition. Bryant is now one of the most revered estates in Napa Valley, and it’s not hard to see why: Their talent is the wine world’s answer to USA Basketball’s 1992 Dream Team. They’ve been advised from the beginning by Michel Rolland, the masterful consultant whose name has become shorthand for world-class Bordeaux style wines, and world-renowned viticulturist David Abreu (Colgin, Staglin, Araujo, Screaming Eagle, among many others) who has been ushering their fruit from the vineyard for two decades. 

Hailing from the estate’s site on the western slope of Pritchard Hill, the 2012 Bryant Estate Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet earned 99 points from James Suckling and 98 from Parker’s Wine Advocate, which called it a “majestic Cabernet” that is “gorgeously pure as well as impeccably well-balanced.” With its opulent deep cocoa, cassis, and graphite character, plus the elegance imbued by seven years in the cellar, this is an exquisite introduction to Bryant Estate’s standard-setting Cabernet.

This wine is not just the product of peerless skill, but priceless terroir. Situated at 900 feet of elevation, the steep and undulating Bryant Family Estate Vineyard that produces the Cabernet enjoys pitch-perfect sun exposure and cooling breezes that make it one of the ideal spots in the Valley for the grape. The incredibly complex soil is composed of sandstone and shale and boasts a heavy volcanic influence (many volcanic boulders had to be moved to plant the vines) that results in an intensely mineral-rich wine noted for its power and grace. 

The estate vineyards are exemplars of conscientious farming: there is a diverse cover crop, chemicals are never used to coordinate vegetative growth, and decidedly low-tech methods—vineyard chickens—are employed for pest control and fertilizer.

One powerhouse Cabernet from the summit of Napa Valley winemaking. We’re thrilled to bring this to you, and even more excited for you to enjoy this incomparable wines.