2014 Rockledge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon "The Rocks" Napa Valley 750 ml

“The King,” “The Rocks,” and the “Game Changer”

On Bordeaux’s Left Bank, most of the challenges châteaux face come in the cooler “off years,” where late-maturing Cabernet Sauvignon struggles to reach full phenolic maturity. On the Silverado Trail, the challenges are much the opposite. In all but the most exceptional Napa Valley vintages, summers are punctuated by torrid heat spikes that blister berries, leading to desiccation and uneven ripeness. As Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate reported, the 2014 growing season was the third consecutive extraordinary outlier.

A warm, dry winter and spring led to early bud break in the foothills above St. Helena. Flowering went off without a hitch under perfect conditions. While the sun shined brightly during the summer months, temperatures remained mild, making for a large, uniform set of small-berry clusters.

To Parker, the most influential critic the wine world has ever seen, Napa’s 2014 was nothing less than a “Game Changer.” Like the two vintages preceding it, 2014 impressed Parker with its ideal temperatures and drought conditions. The critic some call “The King” pronounced that 2014 extended a streak of possibly the best back-to-back-to-back vintages the Valley has ever experienced.

Just as vines began to show the first signs of hydric stress in September, several well-timed showers refreshed the Cabernet Sauvignon vines. The call to harvest came early. Sugars were sky-high at harvest, the equivalent of 2012, while acids were firm and tannins nearly as sturdy as the fabulously age-worthy 2013s.

Over the years, Parker has showered Rockledge’s “The Rocks” with 91+ point scores and the kind of praise reserved for Cabernet Sauvignons with MUCH higher price tags, calling it “dense,” “rich,” and “beautifully balanced.” It’s been almost a decade since our first offer of “The Rocks”; Parker’s stunning 91- to 93-point 2007 actually reminds us of today’s 2014, though it doesn't have 2014’s ultra-concentrated mid-palate attack.

This December, “The King” is set to weigh in on a bevy of Napa’s stunning 2014s. When he gets around to the 2014 “The Rocks,” expect it to take flight — this is far and away the most explosive Cabernet Sauvignon ever crafted by Rockledge.

Opaque purple-black. Lavish aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry, licorice, and graphite, lightly touched with new-wood cedar. Densely concentrated, silken in texture, the core is packed with blackberry and mountain blueberry preserves, all the opulence of the vintage buttressed by dusty tannins that argue for a long rest in a cool cellar.

As compared to $60. Buy every bottle you can fit in the cellar today at $25 — NO MISPRINT. Shipping included on 4.