2012 Amici Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, $45)
This one is grippy for these guys, but the combination of lush black fruits and
vibrant elegance is a textbook display of what works about Napa Cab. Lean in
close for the oak spices, which are a little more ninja in-and-out than they are
obtrusively obvious.
2012 Amici Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, $80)
This is such a wee lil’ babe of a wine right now. Spices, dried herbs, toast, coffee,
dark fruits… And while it’s rich, all that richness has depth. And while it’s deep,
much of the depth is wrapped up tightly in its tannic grip. Despite having “a lot of
Rutherford bench fruit, a little bit of Spring Mountain, Coombsville… a lot of
Oakville, too” according to the Amici folks, that potentially schizophrenic grape
parentage doesn’t deter this wine’s single-minded elegance. Quintessential (good) NV Cab here, folks.
2010 Amici Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, $85)
This is still powerful and the mouthfeel is surprisingly tight. But it gives the sense
that it is juuuuuust starting to settle in and relax in a contemplative mood now.
Dired herbs, tomato leaf, red and black currants, laced with savory and meaty
action… a pleasure to whiff. Ok, and to gulp.
2010 Amici Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley,
$130)
Now this is where things got decidedly more serious. The Spring Mountain
vineyard source for this wine went organic, and contains more terracing and
densely planted, goblet trained vines than you might expect for Napa Valley. It’s
also the site of Falcon Crest fame (yeah, I am just old enough to remember that,
by the way). When we visited the spot, Aiken mentioned to me that “you don’t want fat and happy
grapes; the berries here are like BBs.” The fruit does have significant aromatic depth in this Cab, and
after a moment or two offers earth, clay, truffle, and then spiciness. Savoriness, vibrancy, and tight grip
come later on the palate, and they march in lockstep, and in a formation that screams “long haul!”
2010 Amici Morisoli Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Rutherford, $140)
Morisoli is, as Joel Aiken told me, fifty acres of fourth-generation family vineyards
that have, by Napa standards, quite a respectable neighborhood address: “to the
west is Scarecrow; to the north is Inglenook.” All of Amici’s fruit comes from Clone
7 Cab (just nod as if you care), made up of early-1990s plantings on a loamy,
alluvial mix of soil. A slightly rounder and plummier Cab than its Spring Mountain
cousin, this wine has that Amici spice-and-complexity thing going on, for sure, and similar herbal/savory
action, too. But… the fruits are redder, the power is more palpable, the depth and grittiness more overt.
The finish is earthy and long enough to measure some short-haul airline fights by (not that we’re
advocating drinking and flying…).
Cheers!
http://www.1winedude.com/amici-recent-releases/