Patria A. Price Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 (750ML)

The A. Price Vineyard takes its name from Alan Price, whose family once owned the St. Helena land that is now Spottswoode Estate and kept a 0.8-hectare parcel at the foot of Spring Mountain. Patria’s 2023 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from that parcel: clone 7 vines about 32 years old on St George rootstock, aged in French oak with a high proportion of new barrels. In its youth it shows red, black and blue fruit, with roasted coffee from the wood that should recede over time, plus pencil lead, wet stone, tobacco leaf and hints of smoke and leather. The palate is full and concentrated, ripe tannins gathering behind fresh fruit through a long finish. Critics expect it to keep improving into the late 2030s. Pour it with a dry-aged ribeye, braised short ribs or aged Gouda.