(94-96) Two cuvées I didn’t taste in 2012 include the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Stag’s Leap – a wine that tastes like Château Margaux on steroids. It is flowery, beautifully elegant, but very concentrated, with sweet, sweet fruit, ripe tannin and a long, long finish. This is finesse at its most intense, but there’s no doubting its graciousness and overall harmony.

This is a blockbuster of a wine, powerfully built grape by grape, with just a handful of Merlot. Cherry vanilla, leathery cedar and juicy plum combine around a lush, voluptuous mouthfeel of tension and tannin. Incredibly satisfying, it shows a length of spicy clove on the finish that appears to go on for days. This is a beauty too hard to sock away, though it should do well in the cellar another decade or two.

Offers explosive, dense fruit, with blackberry, wild berry, black licorice, savory herb and underbrush flavors, showing touches of cigar box and tobacco leaf. Ends with a sustained burst of flavor. Drink now through 2028. 1,077 cases made. –JL