California’s cabernet wines have weathered drought well

The drought has led to all sorts of agricultural challenges, but it doesn’t appear to have hurt the quality of California’s wines. The warm, dry growing conditions have led to a string of high-quality vintages.

That certainly was the case with cabernet sauvignon in 2013. There were excellent wines made all over the state, but you can’t really talk about California cabernet without taking a look at the Napa Valley.

A tasting at the recent Premiere Napa Valley trade event offered the opportunity to sample 17 of the valley’s 2013 cabs alongside the same wines from the 2011 and 2012 vintages. I’ve also tasted a number of 2013s in other settings, including blind tastings at home. Many of the top wines haven’t been released yet, but more and more bottlings are starting to make an appearance.

After the difficult 2011 vintage, critics, vintners and consumers raved about the riper 2012 wines. It’s true that some of the 2012s are excellent, but I’ve found that many of the wines lack liveliness and border on being downright overripe. The best 2013s, however, pair the opulent fleshiness that a lot of wine drinkers love in Napa cabs with a freshness that keeps the wines from being too heavy. Some have an appealing savory note. The wines also have firm tannic structure that should help them age — although some are so tannic that they’re a little brutal at this young age.

The wines from some of the bigger wineries were released last fall, like the 2013 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon ($28), a bright wine with black cherry, cassis, hints of anise and baking spices and firm but approachable tannins, and the more structured, tannic 2013 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon ($28). More recent is the 2013 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon ($38), which is dark and dense, with lively black fruit, baking spice and firm tannins. (Martini has several cabs; this is the Napa Valley bottling.)

An excellent buy is the 2013 Cameron Hughes Lot 600 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon ($29), which offers lively, dark fruit and big, drying tannins. It’s available at some Costcos and at www.chwine.com.

On the more expensive side of things, there’s the 2013 Grgich Hills Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($69), which is fresh and structured, with bright black fruit, notes of anise and pencil lead and firm tannins. The 2013 Robert Craig Affinity Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($70) is ripe, dark, a little savory and more approachable than many. And I like the 2013 O’Shaughnessy Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($75), with its ripe black fruit, notes of black olive, anise and dark chocolate, and approachable tannins.

As I mentioned earlier, 2013 was good for cabernet in much of the state. From Paso Robles, for example, I’ve tasted excellent 2013 cabs from Halter Ranch, Justin and Ecluse; Halter Ranch and Ecluse also made good cab-based blends. Those wines are a little pricey; for more affordable ($20 or less) 2013 cabs, look to Wild Horse, Edna Valley Vineyard and the J. Lohr “Seven Oaks.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 1:32 PM with the headline "California’s cabernet wines have weathered drought well."