2018 Juslyn Vineyards Perry's Blend Spring Mountain District Napa 750 ml

Ever since we had our first Spring Mountain wine decades ago, we’ve been fascinated and enamored with the area.

The tiny appellation, perched high up in the hills above St. Helena, puts out some of the most burly, ageworthy, and exquisite Cabernets in Napa Valley—and over the past two decades, no Spring Mountain winery has thrilled more Wine Access members than Juslyn.

The 2018 Perry's Blend is a lush, tiny-production Cabernet-dominated red grown on Juslyn’s hallowed terroir in a vintage that Wine Spectator awarded 99 points—one of the greatest seasons Napa Valley has ever seen. 

Perry Butler founded Juslyn with his wife Carolyn in 1997. As Perry tells it, after searching up and down the Valley for vineyard properties, a realtor drove him up Highway 29, turning off on Spring Mountain Road. Hundreds of feet above the Valley, they pulled into a dirt driveway that would lead to a steep 42-acre hillside estate. They’d found what they were looking for.

By 2002, the young hillside planting was beginning to turn out a tiny crop of extravagantly concentrated small-berry Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc, and Merlot. Since 2002, Juslyn wines have garnered a staggering TWENTY-THREE 93+ scores from Wine Advocate, a performance that places them in the rarefied mountain air of blue-chips like Keenan, Lokoya, O'Shaughnessy, and CADE.

The winemaker here is Brian Kosi, an alum of Atalon Winery, Kendall-Jackson, and currently the winemaker at KT winery. Kosi crafted the 2018 from 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot.  It's such a gorgeous bargain, with aromas of dark fruit with cassis, violets, and cocoa spice, plus a hint of cedar and licorice.