NAPA CABERNET 2015: Ten Years After

While shy of a classic rating, the vintage offers plenty of solid Cabernets still packed with fruit

- BY JAMES MOLESWORTH

The run of drought vintages from 2012 through 2016 will be remembered as a historic inflection point for Napa Valley Cabernet. Following the cool 2010 and wet 2011 vintages, many producers had a lightbulb go off. Forced to deal with less phenolic material, winemakers recognized the need for detailed canopy management, hands-on sorting, lighter extraction and less oak-influenced élevage. Because of these changes, the drought run marked the beginning of a stylistic shift among Napa vintners toward Cabernets of freshness and delineation, rather than sheer power.

The trend didn't take hold overnight—in many cases it took another decade to come to fruition—but winemakers learned that they could handle warm, dry growing seasons in a different manner than they had in the past, after being forced to deal with a rare set of cool, wet vintages beforehand. Being the fourth of the five vintages in the run, 2015 provides an interesting look at the development of this shift in style, offering a glimpse of the experience winemakers were gaining through the valley.