2012 Bettina

Bettina Bryant has taken on a more prominent role at Bryant Family, which will hopefully translate to a little more organizational stability in the coming years. Don Bryant is passionate, driven and uncompromisingly demanding when it comes to quality, attributes shared by many, if not most, of the world's most successful estate owners. Unfortunately, that has also translated to a revolving door of winemakers. Marc Gagnon, previously the assistant winemaker at Screaming Eagle, is now at the helm. Based on what I tasted of the 2014s here, Gagnon seems to have a bit of a lighter touch than some of his predecessors. We will see. One thing I know for sure - every time I leave a tasting at Bryant, I leave thinking this site should really be producing one of the top 5-10 Cabernets in Napa Valley. In recent years, Bryant has added a second flagship, Bettina, which is made from David Abreu's vineyards, along with a DB, a true second wine that draws from both estate and Abreu fruit, but it is really the flagship Estate Cabernet Sauvignon that should define Bryant Family Vineyards.

Winemaker Todd Alexander took over the reins for Don and Bettina Bryant in the middle of the 2012 harvest, no easy task. Alexander blended the 2011s, which were started by Helen Keplinger, and has been solely responsible for the 2012s and 2013s. The 2011s are a bit closed today, so it will be interesting to see where they go with a little more bottle age. I also had a chance to taste the 2012s, but readers should be aware those wines are preliminary blends that had not been assembled at the time of my visit in October 2013. The 2013s I tasted from tank were all super-impressive and point to a vintage that is going to be a fascinating to follow. Today, the best 2013s are dazzling. My tasting concluded with 1996 and 1997, two of the very finest wines ever made from this world-class Pritchard Hill estate. Today, it looks like the 1996 has pulled ahead of the 1997, but both wines remain gorgeous. Over the last few vintages, Bryant has introduced two new wines; the Bettina, which is made from sites farmed by David Abreu, while the entry-level DB4 is one of the absolute best values in top-flight Napa Valley reds. Readers who haven't tasted those wines owe it to themselves to do so. For more on Bryant, readers might enjoy this short video shot in the spring 2013.