Lest you think we only drink Cru Beaujolais around here, we recently spent a fascinating afternoon tasting a broad range of luxury Napa Valley Cabernets. This group included some big names (and price tags), as well as some lesser-known labels that made a big impression. Of the latter, the clear standout was today’s Ilaria Cabernet Sauvignon, crafted by rising-star winemaker Anna Monticelli.
This wine stood tall alongside boutique wines costing twice and three times as much—and, in fact, eclipsed many of them. It’s one of the best price-to-quality Napa Cabernets I have ever tasted. Ilaria is a personal passion project for Monticelli, whose full-time winemaking gig is at Piña Napa Valley, and her lengthy resume in the region has exposed her to plenty of first-rate raw material. Using fruit from the Atlas Peak, Howell Mountain, and St. Helena subzones, Monticelli’s 2015 Ilaria has all the concentration one could ask for in a modern Napa Valley red, but also terrific focus and real mineral character. There’s real Cabernet Sauvignon character, too, not just an inky mass of super-ripe fruit. I can’t overstate what a superb value this is, especially given what Cabernet lovers are willing to lay out for some cult labels. It says a lot about Napa that small-production gems like this are lying in wait around every corner!
Don’t get me wrong: This 2015 is a full-bodied wine that floods all the pleasure centers, but it has a very compact, focused feel to it and great balancing freshness. In the glass, it’s an opaque ruby-black with garnet reflections, combining scents of crushed blackberries, cassis, and huckleberry with lots of textbook graphite, tobacco, and cedar notes. There’s also a deep mineral component here—notes of crushed gravel and potting soil—that offers a counterpoint to the abundant fruit. And as I noted above, it didn’t just ‘hang in there’ with some of the elite, high-triple-digit Napa reds it shared our table with—it blew some of them away. Again, I don’t think we’ve offered a more impressive Napa Cabernet all year, and there’s no doubt this wine will age 10-15 years with ease. If you’d like to sneak a bottle or two now, decant it a good hour before service in large Bordeaux stems at 60-65 degrees. The wine has plenty of savor for something grilled or roasted, and more than enough power to handle whatever you throw at it: Given Anna and Mario Monticelli’s Italian leanings, check it out alongside a beef braciole. “In vino felicitas,” indeed—enjoy!