2009 Terra Valentine “Marriage” Proprietary Red Spring Mountain Napa Valley 750 ml

Last Shot at the Top of Spring Mountain

The winery told us in friendly but firm terms: This is it for the massively concentrated and pliant 96-point Terra Valentine “Marriage,” one of the top-rated estate-bottled Cabernets of the glorious 2009 vintage on Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain. The ‘09 “Marriage” was one of the Top 100 wines in the world according to Wine Enthusiast magazine, which raved: “Few wines in the world can boast this concentration of ripe, flashy fruit.” The winery initially released about half of its tiny production, then laid the rest down for their mailing list and restaurants—and we’ve been chipping away at the supply ever since. 

We first discovered Terra Valentine “Marriage” while dining at an old-school, wood-paneled chop house in New York City. The meal was amazing (of course), but nothing about it was more memorable than the massively proportioned yet wonderfully pliant Cabernet that accompanied our Tomahawk ribeye.

Years later, when we tasted with Terra Valentine winemaker Sam Baxter at the top of Spring Mountain Road, we told him about our night in Manhattan: how the somm said Sam’s wine would complement our massive 28-day dry-aged perfectly, then totally stole the show. Sam knew the place well, and was so grateful that the somm had chosen his wine—out of the 300+-Cabernet list—that he led us through a phenomenal tasting of back vintages.

The 2009 “Marriage” was the star, a Spring Mountain classic showing off both the ultra-concentrated black-fruit extravagance of the AVA and the wonderfully supple tannins of that mild growing season. But their supply is dwindling, we’ve had our share, so this is it—for good. Let’s just be grateful that we got this last allocation, the final opportunity for Wine Access members to enjoy this perfectly aged, Top 100 gem. It’s now, or never.