2013 Cabernet Sauvignon

Expectations were sky high when I arrived at Philip Togni's tiny winery on Spring Mountain a few weeks ago. The 2014s I tasted from barrel last spring were incredibly vivid, while the core blend of the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon was among the finest wines of that trip. Six months later, the pre-blend of 2014 is fabulous and the bottled 2013 reds are off the charts. In fact, the 2013s are the best young wines I have ever seen here. I also tasted two library re-releases, which, while terrific, also show just how much more finesse the wines are today. That much is clear. Congratulations to Philip, Birgitta and Lisa Togni for a truly stellar set of wines. No one is more deserving of this success than Philip Togni, who has made some of the all-time great Napa Valley Cabernets going back to the late 1960s. His daughter Lisa appears to be poised to do the same as she takes over the family estate from her parents.

Togni fans have a lot to look forward to, as both the 2012 and 2013 Cabernet Sauvignons are nothing less than exhilarating. The 2012 impresses for its raciness and overall balance - not an easy thing to achieve in 2012 - while the 2013 is a viscerally thrilling wine that sits right up there with the very best wines of the year. Simply put, these are some of the most beautiful wines being made in Napa Valley today. Time passes, but little appears to change at this small, family run winery perched atop Spring Mountain where Philip and Birgitta Togni, along with their daughter Lisa, continue to build on legacy first established with Togni's epic Cabernets of the 1960s and 1970s, wines that are still magnificent today.