2012 Bond Melbury Napa Magnum

(95 points)   From a 7-acre hillside vineyard overlooking Lake Hennessey, the 2012 Melbury, like its siblings, is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 100% new oak for a minimum of 24 to 28 months, then bottled unfiltered. The wine displays beautiful blackberry fruit, some charcoal, loamy soil undertones, forest notes, lots of spice, a full-bodied, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, and a super finish of 45+ seconds. Even in a vintage like 2012, this wine ideally needs 3-5 years of bottle age and should keep for 30+ years. These exceptionally impressive wines from Bill Harlan are all majestic in 2012. There are between 500 and 600 cases of each of these essentially single vineyard wines from five separate micro-climates in Napa Valley, with the exception of the Matriarch, which comes from the barrels and lots culled from the different single vineyards that were considered slightly more forward and less profound than the individual wines. All of them have great singularity and are made with absolutely no compromises. In the great vintages, such as 2012 and no doubt 2013, these wines clearly have 25-35+ years of aging potential. I wouldn’t be surprised in certain years to see them go on for 50 or more years. (RP) (10/2015) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate