There are 400 cases of the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard, which is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot. This comes from the backstreets of St. Helena and the site basically looks like a quarry with its extreme gravelly soils. The wine is made from clone 337, which may be my favorite of the Cabernet clones. As I have said before, this is a Mission Haut-Brion on steroids – an incredibly fabulous wine with notes of scorched earth, charcoal embers, blackberry and blueberry fruit, an almost endless mouthfeel with powerful fruit, but elegance as well as purity. A thoroughly flawless and seamless full-bodied wine with 30 years of upside, this is pure perfection. If you have the patience, try to hold off for a couple of years, as this is one of the more structured of the 2014s.

Realm Cellars purchased the Stags Leap winery of Hartwell Estate Vineyards and is in the process of building new facilities and making that their future home. This is one of the stars of Napa Valley and has been since their debut in 2002. Their general philosophy is to find some of the finest vineyard sources in Napa, and not only fashion creative blends, but of course turn out some remarkable Cabernet Sauvignons. 2014 offers their normal lineup of wines, plus their newest estate wine from the Stags Leap AVA. But first, their less expensive offerings, which are phenomenal blends. Remarkably, the 2014s are close in quality to the 2013s! Like most of the 2014s, they are actually more charming and drinkable than the more massive, tannic and potentially longer-lived 2013s.

Score: 99 Robert Parker (RP), The Wine Advocate (WA), December 2016

An exquisitely complete wine reminiscent of a tightly wound ball of silk. Medium to full body and mind-blowing flavors of iodine, blackberries and blueberries. It seems to open up beautifully. Goes on for minutes.

Score: 98 James Suckling (JS), JamesSuckling.com, January 2017