2013 Larkmead Vineyards LMV Salon Proprietary Red Napa Valley 750 ml

We don’t like to think about it, but it’s possible that one of Napa Valley’s greatest winemakers has made his last Napa red.

Since last July, our friend Dan Petroski—the San Francisco Chronicle 2017 Winemaker of the Year and longtime winemaker at Larkmead—has been fully dedicated to his white-wine-only Massican label. This means that, despite the fact that Dan is one of the great Bordeaux-style craftsmen in Napa Valley, there are no more Petroski-made reds in the hopper.

That’s lent SERIOUS urgency to our quest for some of Dan’s greatest red wines—and we landed an absolute jewel in the 2013 Larkmead LMV Salon Proprietary Red, which comes straight from the Larkmead cellars. 

Comprising 74% Cabernet Sauvignon and 26% Cabernet Franc, grown in the never-bested 2013 vintage, it’s a wine that Robert Parker called “stunning” in his 97-point review. Drinking beautifully now, it’s also built for the cellar—Parker predicted three decades at least.

Larkmead is situated in a unique spot in the narrow northern part of Napa Valley, where the two mountain ranges that define the valley—the Mayacamas to the west and the Vaca Range to the east—sit only a mile and a half apart.  

The LMV is one of the only Larkmead wines made from younger vines. “The grapes that go into that wine are exceptional. We’re talking about a total of six acres in a 100-acre vineyard, at the top of the pyramid. It’s rare that vines perform so well so early,” Dan told us.”These vines are LeBron James: all-stars, just a year out of high school.” 

We might have to quibble a bit with Dan’s analogy. The LMV is not merely an all-star—it’s performing like an MVP.