2012 Merryvale Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Napa 2012 Was Once A Vintage of Plenty. Today, It’s A Collector’s Game.

Rarity, value, and a historic vintage seldom go hand in hand like they do today. We go way back with this benchmark Merryvale Cabernet bottling—all the way back to the first moment we realized that 2012 would be one of the most collectible Napa vintages in a generation. Revisiting it again some seven years later brought home for us the memory of the original 2012 Napa Cab that left us swooning. 

When we reminded the folks at Merryvale about that memorable tasting years ago, they cut us a special rate, making it doubly incumbent on Napa collectors to sweep this treasure up.

Back in fall of 2012, we drove up Highway 29 from downtown Napa tingling with anticipation. Our stop at Merryvale Vineyards, a historic estate dating to the days of Prohibition’s repeal, would be one of our earliest chances to sample the vintage that wide-eyed winemakers and viticulturists around the valley were saying was a career-maker. Merryvale’s 2008 Profile Cabernet had blown us away, landing the #5 spot on Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Cellar Selections, and we couldn’t wait to find out how this 2012 Cabernet stacked up.

It was a bombshell from the moment it landed in our glasses: deep, dark magenta, yielding sumptuous, fresh aromas of blackberry, boysenberry, cinnamon, and chocolate. Ripe and open-knit on the palate, ultra-plush, with long, silky tannins and an undercurrent of vanilla and sweet oak. Classic Napa, made with fruit from blue-chip sources like the Stagecoach Vineyard.

Robert Parker agreed with us: “Elegant and savory, with plenty of finesse and complexity, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa shows all the friendly sides of this vintage. Beautiful brightness, purity, potential balance and equilibrium, power without excess and sweet tannin, this wine is a rather classic Cabernet Sauvignon.”

That assessment was written in 2014. Another five years in bottle has honed the tannins to gentle, velvety richness and begun extracting fine tertiary notes of wood smoke and leather. It’s a stunner, and it’s still got years to go if you can stand to wait.

2012 was deemed miraculous by Napa winemakers not only for its purity and ripeness, but for its volume, calling to mind other historically great, large-yield vintages like 2005 and 1986. There was so much that the immediate problem for many wineries was finding room in their tanks and cellars.

Suffice it to say, that is no longer a problem. Not much of the best of 2012 remains. When you do come across a bottle, expect to pay something like double the original price. Don’t take our word for it. Try to find this 2012 bottle from the other major wine retailers and you’ll see phrases like “Sold Out” or “Add to waiting list.”