2014 Hertelendy Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

The 2014 Hertelendy Cabernet Sauvignon is an epic, gutsy Napa release crafted by a multiple 100-point winemaker, Phillip Corallo-Titus. Sleek, rich black fruit wrapped in leather and dark chocolate is funneled through a powerful mountain structure, making for a wine that astounds with its muscular elegance.

This is an “extra special” bottling says Robert Parker, worthy of an enthusiastic 96-point score—“a truly compelling example of Cabernet Sauvignon.” If you’re a fan or collector of iconic, bold Cabernets from Chappellet, Ramey, Silver Oak, and Insignia, welcome the Hertelendy name into your pantheon of favorites.

We first discovered Hertelendy on the wine list at The French Laundry, where we were wowed by its finesse and intensity. But our dinner wasn’t the first time founder Ralph Hertelendy’s wines upstaged longtime Napa classics: His debut 2013 vintage got a 95-point stamp of approval from Parker, who called it “a big-time, surprise sleeper.” Since then, the estate has never released a Cabernet that received less than 95 points in Wine Advocate.

It certainly doesn’t hurt to have the legendary winemaker Phillip Corallo-Titus on your payroll, a man who’s engineered a critically acclaimed three-decade run at Chappellet, achieving perfect scores and landing four bottles on the Wine Spectator Top 100 list seemingly with ease.

It’s a testament to Hertelendy’s passion and sense of mission that Corallo-Titus agreed to sign on to work with the young man when the estate was still just taking its baby steps. Year by year, the two men are carefully crafting a legacy for an estate with long-term ambitions, and this 2014 marked a new benchmark in quality, the first to incorporate grapes from Hertelendy’s Rockwell Ridge Estate.

The four-acre vineyard sits at around 1,400 feet in elevation, a prime location that’s a literal stone’s throw from the elevation required to label this Cabernet “Howell Mountain,” and neighbors on world-class Viader. In slopes layered with red clay, volcanic ash, and granite-like soil, vines struggle in low-fertility conditions, focusing their energy on producing small, intensely flavored clusters of grapes. The Petit Verdot, Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc in the blend hailed from coveted sites on Pritchard Hill, Atlas Peak, and the Silverado foothills.

Corallo-Titus and Hertelendy take painstaking care after harvest, double-sorting for quality and employing extended maceration to capture the Cabernet’s full tannic complexity. The wine sees just under two years in 90% new French oak, infusing all that bold, deep, juicy fruit with elegance and refined notes of roasted espresso and chocolate.  

This has Parker praise written all over it and drinks like a pure, guilty pleasure.