Top Napa Cabernet wines for the cellar
See new tasting notes and ratings on a selection of the most coveted Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Napa Valley, tasted by Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn.
Ronan Sayburn MS has selected must-have bottles of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for your cellar, including 100% Cabernet wines and Cabernet-dominant, Bordeaux-style blends.
This is far from a definitive, all-time list, but all the wines below were selected from the Collectible California tasting on 20 September, held by the California Wine Institute at the US Embassy in London.
Scroll down for Sayburn’s top Napa Cabernets
Sayburn’s top-scoring Cabernet from the tasting is Cain, Five 2004, rated at 96/100 points, closely followed by Diamond Creek, Gravelly Meadow 2016 at 95 points.
The collection also includes big hitters like Joseph Phelps’ Insignia, a Decanter wine legend, as well as historic Napa names such as Beringer, which was founded in 1876 and survived the Prohibition.
Other entries come from the winemakers who helped build the Napa Valley’s global reputation as a premium wine region, including Paul Hobbs, Cathy Corison and David Abreu.
Other wines at the tasting included Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, the winery made famous by the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting.
The collection spans older vintages from 1989 and 1993, as well as newer releases from 2016. However, although these wines will continue to evolve for years to come, many have entered their drinking window as of 2018.
Introduction copy by Laura Seal.
Top Napa Cabernet wines for the cellar:
Ronan Sayburn is a Master Sommelier and head of wine at 67 Pall Mall in London, he is also COO for the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe.
