2015 Clos Du Val Cabernet Sauvignon Hirondelle Vineyard Stags Leap District 750 ml

There is only one winery whose very first vintage helped to change the wine world and catapult California from obscurity to the forefront of the international wine map: Clos Du Val. 

Thanks to our close connections at the winery, we’re thrilled to offer the 2015 Hirondelle Estate Cabernet—a brilliant wine that lives up to the legend of its storied predecessors.
 
Robert Parker himself called this release “one of the best wines to emerge from this property in the last 40 years,” and we heartily agree. Multidimensional and dense, with brambly blackberry, black cherry, and black currant notes all laced together with complex secondary tones of mocha, toast, baking spices, mature tobacco, and balsam—this wine still poses a fierce challenge to First Growth Bordeaux and top reds around the world. 

Clos Du Val was one of the first to popularize Bordeaux-style winemaking in Napa Valley, at a time when Cabernet Sauvignon was an afterthought in California. At the time of the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting, very little Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in California, and Clos Du Val—with its very first vintage—helped make Cabernet Sauvignon Napa’s king of grapes.

The estate has been one of Napa’s Grandes Dames ever since, but we’ve been keeping a close eye on Clos Du Val in recent years, ever since the estate made a massive commitment to re-focus exclusively on their estate vineyards—dramatically reducing production from 90,000 to 35,000 cases. 

Viticulturist and Clos Du Val President Jon-Mark Chappellet, of Napa Valley’s pioneering Chappellet Winery family, remains the brains behind Clos Du Val’s signature estate vineyard—Hirondelle Estate in Stags Leap. Still predominantly dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon, it remains the favorite annual destination each spring of the famous swallows that mysteriously eschew famous neighbors Chimney Rock, Stag’s Leap, and every other adjacent vineyard, to settle exclusively in Hirondelle (hirondelle is actually French for swallow). There they stay, making life easy for Jon-Mark by feasting on all the bugs and pests, before inexplicably taking off in July—just as the fruit starts to come in.

Together with new winemaker Ted Henry, the winery has returned to its roots, focusing on perfecting their estate Cabernet. The local buzz around this decision has been steadily growing to a fever pitch in recent years, and based on our tasting of the 2015 Hirondelle, we’re all in.
 
The critics clearly agree. Beyond Parker’s superlative review, Antonio Galloni dubbed the 2015 Hirondelle a “dark, voluptuous beauty,” and Jeb Dunnuck called it “fabulous,” declaring that it boasts “serious potential and should last for two decades.” 

We believe the muscular palate structure on this 2015, which gives way to satiny, polished tannins and a long, lingering finish, could outlast even the ’72. We’re cellaring our own stash of this liquid history, and suggest you do too.