2012 Larkmead Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Solari Napa Valley 750 ml

Larkmead, as much as any wine in Napa Valley, is about time. The millennia have left the property with a layer of gravel more than 300 feet deep, and their Cabernet rarely makes it into the bottle until the vines have reached 10 to 15 years of age. 

The only thing that can make a Larkmead Cabernet even more majestic is time in the bottle.

That’s why we’re thrilled to bring you the regal 2012 Larkmead Vineyards Solari Cabernet Sauvignon. Handpicked by the winery to share with Wine Access members, this stands as one of the historic estate’s greatest bottles.  

This 100% Cabernet earned dual 99-point scores on release, and now—after almost a full decade in the cool Larkmead Cellars—it’s entering its plateau of perfect drinking, cranking up the fireworks show that makes this one of Napa Valley’s most collectible Cabernets. 

This mature beauty shows an elegant nose of graphite and spice, dark berries and Morello cherries, followed by a palate flowing with cocoa powder, tobacco, nutmeg, and tilled earth along with sandalwood and graphite. Perfectly structured, the 2012 makes a convincing argument that a decade is a good sweet-spot for Napa Cabs, but it clearly has plenty of life ahead. 

The name of the wine comes from Larry and Polli Solari—parents of current Larkmead proprietor Kate Solari Baker—who purchased the winery in 1948. Larry Solari is regarded as one of the giants of the California Wine Industry, and even Robert Mondavi considered him a mentor.

“Solari is named after the owners,” former winemaker Dan Petroski once told us, adding with a smile, “so it needs to be our best wine.”