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Cabernet Bounty on Maple Lane
Finally, Brad Smith thought he could take a deep breath, put up his feet a little, and let Napa Valley behave as it's supposed to behave. The 2007 growing season on these 14 manicured acres at Maple Lane had been a Godsend. That marvelous turquoise sky summer had it all: Healthy crop levels, superb maturity and the Wine Spectator press to push cases out the cellar door. Winemaker Smith and partners Richard and Lucy Parks were on easy street. Or so they thought before the frost of 2008.
Napa Valley's Cabernet crop was devastated on a single spring night, with yields at Maple Lane trimmed by 30%. But as is so often the case in these stories of grape growing drama, and as Robert Parker so aptly reported, the short crop of 2008 became a sensational recipe for a gorgeously concentrated Maple Lane Cabernet of great density and class.
We first visited Smith at Maple Lane in April 2009. Planted in 2000 by Jim Barbour's vineyard management team (Grace Family, Martha's Vineyard, etc.), the Cabernet blueprint couldn't have been more exacting. We walked the tightly spaced 4 x 6 rows, saw the Diamond Mountain backdrop that would protect the Cabernet from often scorching late afternoon summer heat. It was no surprise that word had traveled so quickly after this spot was planted, with the Parks' blue chip Cabernet Sauvignon fetching top dollar from the likes of Pahlmeyer and Newton.
Back then, we tasted Smith's luscious 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. A few months later, that wine was offered on WineAccess. Buyers went wild with 58 rating it a solid 5 stars. We went back for the 2007, but with Smith making just two hundred cases, we were shut out, and told to call back next year. Last month we did just that and came away with a bounty we never saw coming.
The summer of 2008 would be mild and perfectly dry. At harvest, the Maple Lane vines barely carried two tons per acre of small berry fruit with high skin-to-juice ratio. The extended growing season led to small clusters of even ripeness, with densely concentrated berries and fine acid structure. Smith cherry-picked the property, bringing in just 10 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon for the estate production.
Opaque purple to the edge, with chiseled currant/blackberry aromatics, tinged with new wood cedar, the core is just packed with crème-de-cassis, dark chocolate and wild berry jam. Despite all the concentration, this is the rare Napa Cabernet that manages to remain perfectly light on its feet, keeping with the classical refinement of this brilliant harvest.
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Tasting Notes
2008 Maple Lane Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
"Opaque purple to the edge. Beautiful aromas of currant and blackberry tinged with new wood cedar. Rich and powerful on the attack, though somehow light on its feet, with a luscious crème-de-cassis core, laced with dark chocolate and wild berry jam. Fine acid balance and excellent persistence. Rich, powerful, yet elegant. Kudos to Smith. Drink now for its primary fruit juiciness or age for 5-7 years in a cool cellar."
-- WineAccess Travel Log
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