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2017 Larkmead Vineyards LMV Salon

Removed from a temperature and humidity controlled wine cellar; Purchased direct from winery; Consignor is original owner

Ends Sunday, 7pm Pacific

RATINGS

96James Suckling

Extremely perfumed with lavender, blue flowers and blackcurrants. Stones, too. Medium-to full-bodied with a beautiful palate that builds up. Lovely finesse and length. Super refined and soulful.

95Wine Enthusiast

This celebrates the coming together of 52% Cabernet Franc and 48% Cabernet Sauvignon—a delightfully herbaceous, classically structured and deeply elegant experience on the palate that offers balanced power and grace...

92The Wine Advocate

...scented of chocolate-covered cherries, fresh blackcurrants, kirsch and black raspberries with touches of bouquet garni, forest floor, charcoal and black olive. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is filled with ripe red and black fruits and a firm, rugged texture, possessing just enough freshness to deliver a long, earth-laced finish.

92Wine Spectator

Focused, with a strong tobacco leaf edge framing a core of lightly steeped red and black currant fruit. The streamlined finish reveals a light savory echo. Sneakily long.

92+ Vinous / IWC

Cabernet Franc, with its bright, high-toned aromatics, takes the lead in the 2017 LMV Salon. Sweet dried red cherry, mint, tobacco and wild flowers are all nicely lifted throughout. Supple and racy with tons of immediacy, the 2017 is already inviting, although it will develop more nuance with time in bottle. Even just a bit of air brings out an attractive fleshiness. (January 2020)

REGION

United States, California, Napa Valley

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,