2012 Galland Clark Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

When a winemaker is clearing out an estate cellar—either to make room for a new vintage or due to a change in ownership—incredible deals can be unearthed that would otherwise NEVER be on the table.

Scoring one is unlikely without the right connections—and impossible without some luck. For instance, just the other week, a wine-industry friend who lives a couple doors down from our Master Sommelier, Sur Lucero, tipped him off that the last few bottles of an otherwise impossible-to-score library-vintage STEAL might be available. 

The crimson-garnet 2012 Galland Clark Cabernet Sauvignon is crafted by one of Napa’s top veterans and only became available after winemaker Stacey Clark decided to close up shop on the label in 2021. When we opened a bottle a few days ago, we were blown away by the full stature and fine tannic tapestry of its DECADE of cellar aging.

Rare doesn’t even do it justice. 250 cases were originally made—this is the last of it.

Clark got her start at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, working under the legendary Warren Winiarski, whose 1973 Cab took first prize at the epochal Judgment of Paris. From there, she went on to the benchmark Pine Ridge Winery, where she spent a quarter of a century and oversaw a rise in production from 7,000 cases to 75,000.

In 2009, she started her own project, Galland Clark. In 2012, she found barely enough grapes available to make a restaurant’s by-the-glass roster. Yet the quality was stunning, showing the classical structure and fine detail born of a Napa season for the ages. 

Ten years later, it’s a minor miracle we came across it.