2014 Seavey Caravina Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

There’s a reason Robert Parker dubbed Seavey Vineyard’s Caravina Cabernet Sauvignon “perhaps the best second wine in all of Napa Valley.” An opulent mountainside Cabernet Sauvignon that benefits from a healthy 11% dose of aromatic Petit Verdot, the focused tension of the standout 2014 vintage seems especially magnified in this release. 

The ultimate insider’s Cabernet, Seavey Vineyard is where 100-point cellar wizard Philippe Melka cut his Napa Valley teeth upon arrival from Bordeaux. A testament to his commitment to Seavey’s soils—which Parker called, “one of the great, unheralded, under-the-radar terroirs in all of Napa Valley”—Melka remains with Seavey over 25 years later, crafting incredible wines like this Caravina at a fraction of the price of his $400+ cult labels.

Melka’s judicious addition of Petit Verdot adds gorgeous graphite, alpine flower, and cedar elements to the Cabernet’s classic cassis fruit character. Muscular, balanced, and supremely integrated, after six years of age this wine has picked up some impressive secondary nuances—a 30 minute decant yields savory herbs, black licorice, sweet tobacco, dark chocolate, and charcoal, which slowly unfurl on the long, chewy finish. 

Much to the delight of serious Cabernet value hunters, Seavey Vineyard has somehow managed to remain comparatively low-profile, in spite of its decorated winemaker and his pedigreed reds like this Caravina. Which is why Vinous critic Antonio Galloni has urged “savvy, price-conscious readers to pay attention to these Cabernets, which remain some of the most distinctive in Napa Valley,” while Parker seconded, “there is a strong argument to be made that this is the most underrated great Cabernet Sauvignon produced in Napa Valley.”

Tucked away in Conn Valley behind the famous Meadowood Resort in the Vaca foothills of eastern Napa Valley, we can only assume Seavey’s off-the-grid location is to blame (or to thank) for its relative obscurity given its famous winemaker and critical renown. The 100% estate wines come from a dry-farmed hillside vineyard that produces minuscule yields of rich, concentrated wines, a quarter of which are cellared for mature library releases like this 2014.

William & Mary Seavey purchased this property in 1979, hoping to restore the land to the former glory it held in the 1870s, when its “Claret of high repute” was judged by the St. Helena Star to be “as fine as one might find anywhere”—at least before Prohibition forced the winery to become a dairy farm for decades. The Seaveys soon planted these Conn Valley slopes with grapes and initially sold their fruit to Raymond Vineyards (another testament to its high quality early on). 

Bordeaux native and Food & Wine Winemaker of the Year Philippe Melka helped bring Seavey Vineyard’s winemaking home. He has helped oversee every vintage since 1995, making Seavy one of his first winemaking jobs in Napa Valley. 

Though Melka has gone on to achieve fame with his pricey bottles of Bryant Family, Vineyard 29, Brand, Hundred Acre, and Dalla Valle, he has continued to make “consistently brilliant” wines for Seavey for a small fraction of the price. 

Or as Galloni put it in his review of this 2014, “Caravina remains one of the very best values in Napa Valley Cabernet.” At more than 30% off this superlative example of winemaking pedigree meets proven mountain terroir, we might call it one of the best Cabernet values, full stop.