About a month ago, we released a library selection from California’s Ahlgren Vineyard, one of the great ‘heritage’ producers of mountain-grown Cabernet Sauvignon. We’re back with another, longer-aged Cabernet plucked directly from Ahlgren’s cold cellars—which we’re able to share only with our top subscribers.

As I type this I’m staring at some pristine cases of Ahlgren’s 1983 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which is something of an outlier in the Ahlgren family’s portfolio: Known as some of the earliest wine pioneers in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Val and Dexter Ahlgren also looked further afield for choice Cabernet, and it doesn’t get much ‘choicer’ than the York Creek Vineyard, which crests Spring Mountain up north in the Napa Valley. The Ahlgrens made York Creek-designate wines for many years, and this 1983 vintage performs like many early-80s wines from Bordeaux—which is to say, admirably. Although it is ready to drink now, it still has a decade or more left in it. It is also a window into the soul of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, to an era when the wines weren’t overwhelmed by syrupy fruit extract but instead presented a balanced mix of sweet and savory flavors in a powerful, but elegant, way.

In the glass the 1983 Ahlgren Napa Valley Cabernet is showing its age, although there’s still a fairly dark core that has moved from ruby/garnet red with some “bricking” at the rim. Most important is that the wine’s appearance, like its nose, is healthy and vibrant—reflecting its perfect storage conditions in Ahlgren’s cellars. Aromatically I was first transported to Pauillac in Bordeaux as I reveled in savory aromas of tobacco, tar, leather, pencil lead and forest floor, then reminded that I was still in Northern California as black plum, black currant, and cassis notes sprung up with still-youthful vibrancy. On the palate this wine is round, medium-plus in body, and still displaying a grainy tannic backbone classic to Spring Mountain. For all of its seductiveness at this moment, I can see this wine aging a good 10 years more; I’d put it right up alongside other iconic Napa Cabs of the ‘70s and ‘80s—be they from Ridge, Heitz, Château Montelena, etc.—and yet it will cost you much less. I encourage you to grab your three-bottle limit and open one soon with these Braised Beef Cheeks. The theme? “Try a little tenderness.”