2013 Kelly Fleming Wines Big Pour Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

A Napa Dream Team’s Crowning Achievement

It was a cold and rainy morning. (We know, we know, but stay with us here!) Our own Eduardo Dingler, who may as well be the Mayor of Napa, was sound asleep after a night of Premier Napa Valley pre-parties when he was jolted awake by his cell phone.

“Eduardo!” his friend Laura began, perhaps a bit too energetic for the morning after the night before. “I’ll be at your house in 15 minutes, get dressed.”  

“Wait,” he grumbled, fumbling for his watch on the night table, “Are you serious? I need food, maybe some water…”

“We’re going to Kelly Fleming’s winery. There’s apparently this new wine that we have to taste and, I mean…it’s Kelly Fleming!”

Fleming is the kind of winemaker worth braving bitterly cold rains and a splitting headache to visit. Back when he wrote for Wine Advocate, Antonio Galloni proclaimed “Kelly Fleming makes my favorite wines under $100.” Together, winemaker Rebecca George and 100-point veteran consulting winemaker Françoise Peschon (of Château Haut Brion, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and Vinehill Ranch)  have worked their magic and taken the property to even greater heights.

Today, this dream team joined together to craft something truly memorable. Every time Eduardo comes across it, in fact, he’s reminded of why he loved it so much in the first place…despite the fact that it only shows up on the market sporadically. 

Half an hour later, Eduardo and Laura found themselves at the entrance being handed glasses of wine by Kelly herself to wake up their weary palates—it’s the wine-country breakfast of champions—before being approached by 100-point consulting winemaker Peschon, a mischievous smile on her face. “Are you guys ready?”

She splashed the 2013 Kelly Fleming Big Pour Red Wine into their glasses. The liquid glimmered mysteriously in the lights; it was a perfect counterpoint to the dreary sky outside. Eduardo gave it a gentle swirl and began to lift it to his nose when he stopped halfway there.

“Are you serious?” he asked. He took another deep inhale of the wine and then tilted it toward his lips. A smile instantly spread across his face.

“Thought so,” Kelly Fleming said, clearly pleased.

As well she should have been. This Cab-dominant blend, from both the Kelly Fleming Estate Vineyard and Farella Vineyard in Coombsville, was explosively delicious, the rich cherry and mixed berry fruit framed with an impeccable application of new and neutral French oak. In the years since, it has grown into something even more impressive: A wine whose youthful exuberance and power have matured into haunting notes of rose petals and violets, cherries, plums, and an anchoring hint of espresso. It’s polished and long on the palate, supremely elegant right now and with plenty of time left to go.

The 2013 Kelly Fleming Big Pour Red Wine is that rarest of bottlings: Already aged to perfection in the winery’s own cellars, produced by a who’s who of America’s most famous winemaking region, Napa Valley exclusivity like this rarely comes along, and when it does, it’s almost never available at under $100. But here it is, perfectly mature and ready to be enjoyed.

Thank goodness Eduardo answered his phone that cold, rainy morning.