Description
Long Meadow Ranch, Cabernet Sauvignon HALF BOTTLE
Although I’m not one to be demanding, I must call on all subscribers to take immediate advantage of today’s painfully limited and rare offering. Put simply, it doesn’t get any better than classic, 15+-year-old Napa Valley Cabernet stored to perfection. Just like gold dust, this is a hard category to find, and those that can be located typically repel a vast number of people due to exorbitant pricing. So, one of our goals for 2021 was to track down a singular bottle of traditional, substantially aged Napa Cab that everybody could afford. After five excruciating months, our treasure hunt ended on Long Meadow Ranch’s 2006.
It took an incalculable number of calls/emails, a personal visit to their mountain estate, an exhaustive vertical tasting from the cellar, and an impassioned bout of horse-trading. It was worth every moment. In spite of the half-bottle size, we consider this savory gem to be the finest back-vintage Napa Cab $39 can buy. Full transparency: LMR also had a small parcel of today’s 2006 in regular 750ml format. However, that would’ve run you well over $100, and we felt compelled to keep the offer affordable so everyone could have the opportunity to taste elegant, savory, mature Napa Cabernet at its peak. I cannot stress this enough: to miss this is to miss out on one of the greatest deals (and steals) in our seven years of selling wine. We can allow up to 12 half-bottles per person and, once again, I’m calling on everyone to take the full dozen!
[NOTE: To sweeten the deal even further, we’re dropping the price to $35 per bottle for anyone who buys a case. Please email [email protected] to lock-in that special pricing!]
Long Meadow Ranch is a fully functioning, self-sufficient farm on a mind-bending scale. Their origin story begins in the Reconstruction Era when President Ulysses S. Grant met with E.J. Church and signed over a 640-acre land grant in the foothills of Napa Valley’s Mayacamas Range. Thus, a sprawling farmstead consisting of orchards, vines, and fields of hay was born, and it thrived until Prohibition hit in the 1920s. Outlawing alcohol caused Long Meadow Ranch to suffer greatly, and before long, all farm work was brought to a screeching halt. Over the next half-century, the property was neglected and their once-cultivated acreage began succumbing to the wildness of nature.
That is until the Hall family acquired the property in 1989 and began their own “Reconstruction Era.” Today, the property encompasses over 2,000 acres of farmland, across three counties, that contain organically farmed crops and myriad livestock. An operation of this magnitude requires an extensive crew, one we witnessed firsthand: By way of a skinny, single-lane road, we visited Long Meadow Ranch’s original mountain estate on a late Thursday afternoon, and ended up hugging the shoulder the entire time as a long procession of farmworkers drove down the mountain.
Today’s 2006 library release comes from Long Meadow Ranch’s organic estate vines and matured in an equal blend of new and used French barrels. Once these splits were bottled in 2008, they were sent to rest in the cellar. As I write this, today’s parcel remains at its original location! In the glass, the wine reveals a hazy dark ruby core that moves out to a thin, brick orange band on the rim. Although we recommend a brief 15-minute decant, mostly to remove the wine off its sediment, there’s no harm if you forgo it—just give it a few minutes to open up on your glass. Once you do, you’ll discover evolving aromas of dried currant, dried plum, black raspberry, cassis, and licorice, as well as bay leaf (the property is loaded with evergreens), baking spice, loose tobacco, pencil lead, and cigar box. The palate, coming in at just 13.5% ABV, oozes elegance and pedigree, delivering fine-grained tannins, compact layers of dried fruit, and a savory core of herbs and crushed minerals. If you want to experience a classic, 15+-year-old Napa Cabernet, I truly cannot think of a greater value out there. For $39, this is a must-have for every subscriber, and should be required drinking, too. Enjoy this rare treat!
