2013 Vineyard 7 & 8 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Correlation Spring Mountain District 750 ml

Martha McClellan’s Perfectionist Talents

For years, Robert Parker has praised Martha McClellan’s “limitless talent” and “perfectionist, nearly obsessive attitude toward making world-class wines,” and he scored this offering 90-92 points: “pure, ripe, medium to fullbodied, powerful and masculine.” Blending fruit from the Vineyard 7 & 8 Spring Mountain estate, the neighboring Atchley Family vineyard, and the Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard in Oakville, the 2013 “Correlation” Cabernet was hand-picked, double-hand-sorted, and aged 26 months in new French oak before bottling.

Napa’s much-praised 2013 vintage was early, even, and extraordinary; many call it the valley’s vintage of the century. Drought brought warm, dry spring weather and early budbreak and fruit set. Summer conditions stayed near-constant with few heat spikes, and let the fruit ripen evenly throughout the year. Spring Mountain’s inversion layer brought grapes to full ripeness in early October — earlier than usual, but with exceptional depth and concentration.

This stellar Cabernet Sauvignon from Spring Mountain was crafted by superstar Martha McClellan (Harlan, Sloan, Blankiet) and her former mentee at Harlan, Wesley Steffens. Wine Access clients have a shot at 32% off the release price. Given the vintage, this is a Cab-lovers dream scenario.