Description
Winery’s price is $160 a bottle. Our PRESALE price is $154.95 a bottle. Or order 3+/$149.95 ETA is the first week of November. No payment due until arrival.
It was a long time ago, back in 2003. I was visiting Sean Capiaux who was producing his eponymous Pinot Noir at Betty O’Shaughnessy’s new winery up on Howell Mountain. He was also responsible for producing Betty’s debut 2000 vintage of Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. We were tasting in the winery’s new caves and Sean introduced me to Betty who let me try a barrel sample of her wine. I was super impressed and asked her who was going to distribute her wines? She had not decided yet. So, I asked her if she would let me be the first to offer it to the market. There were only a few barrels produced from the young vines first planted in 1997, but I could see the tremendous potential. She gave me an allocation of about 25 cases and sold the rest to her fledgling mailing list.
Fast forward to the spectacular Napa Valley 2023 benchmark vintage. By this time Betty O’Shaughnessy’s Mt Veeder vineyard was well established in the rugged and steep volcanic and sand-limestone soils. Sean Capiaux’s decision to harvest only Cabernet Sauvignon has produced an extraordinary wine of power, complexity, nuance, and finesse. Sourced from “Betty’s Vineyard” and “Woolls Ranch” (Paul Woolls, Betty’s husband). Aged 23 months in 60% new French oak and 40% once-filled barrel. 1,106 cases produced. 14.3% alcohol.
Great reviews to date include 99 points by Lisa Perrotti-Brown “The Wine Palate” (former editor for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate), 99 points by Decanter magazine, and 97 points by Robert Parker’s former “right hand” critic and owner of Vinous, Antonio Galloni.
99 Points- Lisa Perrotti-Brown – The Wine Palate
“This is a spectacular wine in 2023, showcasing the remarkable freshness of Mount Veeder terroir through heady nuances of sagebrush, live oak, bay laurel and white pepper. The spice
notes are clean, pure and beautifully delineated, providing a fine dusting over ripe blackberry and black cherry fruit. The palate is tender and fleshy, its richness finely balanced by mountain-born tannins that are firm yet seamlessly interconnected. The finish carries tremendous length and profound ironstone minerality, layering in a distinct and palpable mineral tension that tightens and focuses the wine as it lingers. A masterfully crafted Cabernet Sauvignon and a true benchmark for Mount Veeder in 2023.”
To learn more about the O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery please click this LINK!