2015 Whitehall Lane Leonardini Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena 750 ml

The Wine Access history books are overflowing with phenomenal Napa Cabernets, but only one can claim the #1 best-seller title: Whitehall Lane. With that kind of track record, we were able to grab a few cases of the estate-direct 2015 Leonardini Vineyard Cab, the kind of gracefully aged, back-vintage prize Napa Cab you don’t find every day.

Whitehall Lane has several vineyards in coveted locations across St. Helena and Rutherford, yet this is the one—in the same neighborhood as Spottswoode, HALL, and Dana Estates—that the owners honored with their name. Grown on select rows of vines in the phenomenal 2015 vintage, it’s a robust Cab that’s used every bit of its six years in the cellar to develop intimate complexity, pulling us further into its dark-fruited depths with every sip.

Members raved about our last back-vintage Leonardini Vineyard Cabernet, giving it a 4.5 out of 5 rating—not too surprising for a winery with a stop-and-stare trophy case. Whitehall Lane has made several appearances on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list—including three in the top five—and won a Wine & Spirits Winery of the Year award. Their back-vintage Cabernets are incredibly elusive, but our members’ enthusiasm for previous offers (and a little negotiating with our friend, Whitehall Lane’s Tom Leonardini II) secured us a tiny share of this single-vineyard sensation. 

In 2015, Napa enjoyed “a classic Napa Valley vintage built on opulence, texture and voluptuousness,” according to Antonio Galloni. The fourth in a streak of drought years, the hot, dry growing season imbued Whitehall’s Cabernet with intense concentration. It’s a sumptuous and satisfying Napa Cabernet.