2012 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Collection 750 ml

Robert Parker’s “Abundance of Riches” — 2012 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Collection

You have to go all the way back to 2007 to find a Napa Valley vintage that was received with as much enthusiasm as the monumental 2012 harvest. Seasoned veterans like Chuck Wagner at Caymus pronounced this a “watershed vintage,” one that combined copious quantity with extraordinary natural concentration. Celia Welch at 100-point Scarecrow followed Wagner’s lead, offering high praise for the vintage with just one caveat: Where were wineries going to put all the juice?

Not only was 2012 superb in term of quality, yields were so high that many producers quickly found themselves running out of space. Used barrels — normally all but worthless — were fetching $125, as winemakers scrambled for vessels to house these extravagant, black-fruit, powerhouse Cabernets.

With another bumper crop hanging on the vines in the late summer of 2013, a four-year shortage had become a glut! It led Wine Spectator to ask if it could be too much of a good thing? The answer is a resounding “NO.”

For those of you who missed out on the phenomenal black fruit intensity of Napa’s 2012 vintage, this a last chance to lay in three small production Cabernets, drawn three distinct spots in the valley.  

Britt Nichols’ Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon shows off both the immense concentration and structure age-worthiness of the top mountain AVAs. The Fiancetto “Sobrante Loam,” drawn from the rocky soils above St. Helena, on the way up to Pritchard, is sleek and polished, so typical of the 2012s drawn from perches 600-800 feet in elevation.  As to winemaker Ry Richard’s blockbuster 2012 Sueno Profundo Reserve, this one comes from just south of the Stags Leap line.  Deep, dark and supple, absolutely silken in texture, don’t be fooled by how well this powerhouse is showing in its youth.  It will continue to age gracefully in a cool cellar well into the last 2020s.

Offered ONLY in convenient 6-packs comprised of two bottles of each wine.  Regularly $420, just $180 for less than an hour this afternoon.  Just 80 collections are up for grabs.