2013 Clos du Val Three Graces Proprietary Red 750 ml

Stags Leap’s Clos du Val: Wine Advocate’s “Greatest Vintage in 37 Years”

It used to be that even in the most exceptional vintages, even the most revered estates in Napa Valley would craft special blends for 5-star hotel chains, hedging their bets against a down market. But with the high-end market never more robust, that strategy has largely gone by the wayside. Largely … but, as we learned at the Premiere Napa Valley auction, not entirely.

In the spring of 2013, one of the most recognizable 5-star hoteliers in the world called Clos du Val. The hotelier asked the winery it had long supported to do what it hasn’t done in years — produce a Cabernet blend that would be featured in several dozen hotels on three continents. Clos du Val, always one of the most reliable partners in the valley, made an exception and agreed.

As luck would have it for the hotelier, the 2013 growing season was nothing short of miraculous in Stags Leap. In the second straight drought year, little rain fell from winter to harvest. Still, temperatures remained mild, allowing small-berry Stags Leap clusters to shrug off potential hydric stress. In what Robert Parker would eventually call the “greatest vintage I’ve tasted in 37 years,” winemaker John Clews crafted several hundred cases of the chiseled Bordeaux blend, the 2013 Clos du Val “Three Graces.”

What happened? Why are we writing this morning about a deal that consummated three years ago between trusted partners of over two decades? While the luxury travel business is red-hot in the United States, the same cannot be said for Europe and the Far East. In the second week of January, the hotelier contacted Clos du Val. While not backing out of the agreement entirely, we were told, the buyer asked the winery to “lighten the load.” If another outlet could be found for half of the commitment, the hotelier would be “most appreciative.”

Clos du Val’s first call went to WineAccess. The winery wouldn’t have to make another.

The 2013 Clos du Val “Three Graces” is a magnificent example of the concentration, textural complexity, and age-worthy intensity of this extraordinary vintage. Purple-black. Intoxicating aromas of blackberry bramble, violets, dark chocolate, and tobacco, tinged with new-wood cedar. Rich and dense on the attack, filled with a briery core of crushed-black-fruit preserves, sweet crème de cassis, and black cherry, dense and almost chewy in texture, finishing with dusty tannins that argue gracefully for 10-15 years of cellar slumber.

$65/bottle on release. $110/bottle on the hotelier’s lists around the globe. Or just $24.99/bottle this morning ONLY on WineAccess. You make the call.