Phil Coturri, the viticultural consultant to Napa's stars, is loathe to shine a spotlight on his achievements. Ask the bearded guy in the Grateful Dead t-shirt about his Cabernet accomplishments, and Coturri shifts gears, changing the subject, launching into a riff about Monet or Johnny B. Goode.
Phil Coturri, the viticultural consultant to Napa's stars, is loathe to shine a spotlight on his achievements. Ask the bearded guy in the Grateful Dead t-shirt about his Cabernet accomplishments, and Coturri shifts gears, changing the subject, launching into a riff about Monet or Johnny B. Goode.
But when we called Phil to ask him to explain the startling concentration and primary fruit extravagance of two vintage Mt. Veeder Cabernets, even Coturri couldn't hold back.
Set at 2200 feet, above the Mt. Veeder fog line, the estate is called Korbin Kameron. Remember the name. Coturri described the rare micro-climate -- the cool days, and most importantly, the warm nights -- comparing Korbin Kameron to Pride on Spring Mountain and Dunn, Outpost and O'Shaughnessy on Howell.
Bob Pepi's 2007 Korbin Kameron Cabernet Sauvignon is a stunning reminder of a vintage that may never be forgotten in the valley. Opaque purple to the edge with explosive aromas of boysenberry and mountain blueberry, the attack is deep, dark, dense and polished. Still completely primary, showing no sign whatsoever of its four years in bottle, the voluptuous 2007 finish is braced by fine mountain tannins.
Pepi's 2005 may well be a step above. Purple-black in color, with more compact black fruit aromas, touched with cedar, the attack is deep, dark and rich, a tad more condensed, seemingly younger than its older cousin. Drink now, if you're impatient. Better still, lay this one down until 2020.
Forty cases of each remain and have been assembled into 160 6-pack samplers (three bottles of each). $50 per bottle on release. Just $30 this morning. NOT to be missed by Coturri followers or collectors looking to get in on the ground floor with the most exciting young estate on the western face of Mt. Veeder.
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