2011 Coho Cabernet Sauvignon SummitVine Ranch Diamond Mountain District

Premiere Napa Valley and the #1 Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon at the NYC Marathon

Each February at Premiere Napa Valley, an auction is held to support the efforts of the non-profit Napa Valley Vintners trade association. Collectors and retailers flock to Yountville and St. Helena in droves to get a sneak peek at a couple hundred of Napa’s greatest wines, each crafted by the top winemakers in the valley.

The auction last year featured 225 lots, assembled exclusively for the event — some as small as 60 bottles, and never more than 240. Each bottle is hand-numbered, identified by AVA, single-vineyard site, and often the block within that site. The average wholesale price per bottle was $286. By the time the gavel fell for the last time, the auction had raised a jaw-dropping $5.9M.

Brooks Painter, one of the most revered winemakers in the valley, authors one Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon that has an uncanny knack for finding its way to the auction block. Drawn entirely off of the hand-picked rows of Michael and Susan Klopka’s meticulously tended SummitVine Vineyard, Painter’s finely chiseled powerhouse has earned raves at Premiere Napa Valley, finishing neck and neck with the likes of O’Shaughnessy and Joseph Phelps’ “Backus.”

A few months ago in N.Y.C., we conducted a marathon tasting of Napa Valley 2011s. There were 125 wines in all, more than half of which were underwhelming. Seven were truly extraordinary, including Philippe Melka’s “Parallel” and Ray Coursen’s estate-grown “Elyse.” The #1 mountain Cabernet Sauvignon of the day, however, was no contest: Painter and the Klopkas’ SummitVine Ranch left the rest of the field in the dust.

Saturated purple in color, infused with finely restrained, elegant aromas of black currant, cherry, dark plum, and violets, tinged with sweet spice. Remarkably rich and concentrated for the vintage, filled with a luscious core of blackberry, black raspberry, and a splash of sweet crème de cassis, finishing with sneaky, polished tannins that argue gracefully for a decade of rest in the coolest of cellars.

$62 on release. Just $27 this morning, as we do what we’ve been told to do and clean up the bits and pieces. Shipping included on 4.

• ABV 14.30%
• Enjoy right away
• % Cabernet Sauvignon