2017 Kapcsandy 'Grand Vin - State Lane Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
This Latour lookalike has similar density, structure and a regal presentation that makes you want to bow before the throne. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon for the first time, this could use a little time to shed its tannic heft but it promises several decades of pleasure in return for your patience. Full-bodied and seamless with all the elegance we expect from Kapcsandy, revel in the blackcurrant, graphite, leather and crushed rock power.
Lou Kapcsándy has seen it all in his 80 years. He was a freedom fighter in the Hungarian revolution of 1956, a refugee from the Soviets, served proudly in the US Army, and had a highly successful career as a chemical engineer before starting his own Bordeaux import company with his son Louis Jr. in 1999. Lou first came to the Napa Valley in the early 1960s, so when in 2000 Yountville’s State Lane Vineyard—the core of so many great Beringer Private Reserve wines—became available, he pounced. He replanted the vineyard to tighter spacing, hired the late Denis Malbec of Château Latour as a consultant, and one of the great wines of the Napa Valley was born.
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vin is another Bordeaux look-alike (Latour?) with its density, structure, and regal style. It offers blackcurrant, graphite, crushed rock, and lead pencil shaving aromas and flavors and is full-bodied, supple, and seamless on the palate, with building yet perfectly polished tannins. Showing the polished, elegant style of the estate, flawless balance, and a great, great finish, it's going to keep for 30-40 years.