Erskine Gallant

9.2

Remarkably mellow for only thirteen years old. Edges pushing mahogany with a dense ruby center. Asian spice, sandalwood, leather, damson plum. After decanting act two begins. Cassis comes to the fore and it gains power. Much more full bodied than at first pour. Where at first we thought it had peaked now it’s added several more years. Two sips left and see there’s still a youthfulness to its fruit. Just needed a breath of air. Holy cow! Sexy wine. Luscious. Mouth-filling. Shoulda bought the magnum. — 6 years ago

Howard Greenfield

9.4

Bard is always good- tough act behind 08 Scarecrow but held its own — 7 years ago

Thomas Brenner

9.7

Despite being the kind of guy that watches NASCAR for the 🔥 auto crashes, this wine was worth it's praise. As you could tell by the label design, this Cab blend was made in concert with Mr. Harlan for people that have been rumored to pay $100,000 to get their name on this unique blend. A benevolent act of kindness to gift me a bottle of a wine that has been said to beat out Scarecrow in '06. It really really was a great wine — 7 years ago

Phillip Hart

9.5

Terrific, following 2 great champagnes a tough act to follow, but it did it. — 7 years ago

Dan Hess

9.0

Thanks Steve! — 8 years ago

M. Christopher Roebuck

9.0

Tough act to follow from last taste of the night--see last wine. This is a youthful, decent cab. Great pizza/pasta wine. Nothing alluring about it though.

90 points — 8 years ago

Sam Coturri

Winery Sixteen 600, Enterprise Vineyards and the Moon Mountain District

9.5

Beautiful opening act to a special night at Torc. — 8 years ago

Sean Trapani

Founder/Educator Wine Fluent, Consultant ABC Fine Wines & Spirits

8.9

Graphite, cocoa, roasted citrus peel, and red fruits. Pleasant for its price point. Quick finish. One act. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Usually have the best wine of the week at Sunday lunch. The 86 Latour is this weeks wine of the week. Hi Tannic year in Bordeaux and many experts think that Latour lost the plot in 86 with most thinking that Mouton was the wine of the vintage. This wine had lots of leather savouriness with no fruit character but still a class act. A good wine but not at the usual superlative Latour standard. — 10 years ago

Kondo Yoshifumi

9.0

Australia 旨い白だ！ — 10 years ago

Lyle Coffield

Sommelier Kokkari, Evvia Estatorios

9.2

Under the radar California class act. But BEWARE!!! She's a bug'un! Like a female bodybuilder muscle and grace. — 10 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Notes of blueberries and touch of camphor developing savoury flavours. Could easily be Left Bank Bordeaux. Good wine but a hard act to follow after their brilliant 1997 which awakened me to how good Napa Cabernet could be. 18- — 10 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.7

The nose reveals; dark currants, blackberries, heavy black plum, black raspberries, dark cherries and some blueberries. Black tea, expresso roast, anise, crushed dry rocks, big vanilla, clove, a little nutmeg, dry underbrush, sweet tarry notes, leather, woody notes with dark fresh & withering flower bouquet.

The body is big and lush. The tannins are big, meaty and tarry. Very dark currants. Blackberries, heavy black plum, black raspberries, dark cherries and some blueberries & strawberries as they open up. Black tea, expresso roast, steeped fruit tea, anise, crushed dry rocks, dry clay, big graphite, big vanilla, dark spice, clove, light dry herbs, a little nutmeg, dry underbrush, sweet tarry notes, leather, cedar with violets dark fresh & withering flower bouquet. The acidity is round, fresh and beautiful. The big, long, well balanced finish is excellent and look forward to having this in 15-20 years. This one will be a stunner!

Photos of, the barn where they make wine and hosts tastings, our private tasting area inside William’s old office. William desk and their outside terrace area.

Producer history & notes...Seavey Vineyard is located along Conn Valley Road in the eastern hills of Napa Valley, about 15 minutes from the valley floor.

This historical property was originally a cattle ranch. However, records indicate grapes were planted on some of the hillsides as early as the 1870’s. The stone dairy barn, still in existence, was built in 1881.

William & Mary Seavey purchased this property in 1979. The estate was originally founded by the Franco-Swiss Farming Company in 1881 which, closed down when Phylloxera destroyed their grape vines and the Volstead Act (Prohibition) went into effect. At the time of their purchase, they were a horse and cattle ranch. They quickly planted the slopes with grapes and initially sold their fruit to Raymond Vineyards. They have never purchased grapes, all their wine is made from estate grapes. Their vineyards are separated into 20 plus individual blocks.

Today, the property is about 200 total acres of which, 40 acres are planted to vine. Their hillside vineyards produce low yields of rich concentrated fruit. A small block of Chardonnay grows in a cooler lower part of their property. Besides grapes, they also raise cattle which are used to graze the hillsides. They feed the vineyard with the cattle cuttings. In 2003, they were one of the first Napa wineries to install solar.

Mary passed away in 2008 and William died in 2016. There daughter Dorie returned to the family business and now oversees the winery operations. Her brother Arthur also handles national and some small international sales, primarily to restaurants. However, most of their wine is sold direct to consumers.

Seavey’s first commercial vintage was released in 1990 a year after they renovated the stone dairy barn into a working winery. Today this stone building is the centerpiece of the property and is where tastings are hosted.

Since 2011, Jim Duane has been their day to day Winemaker. He’s worked at Robert Mondavi and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. It should also be noted that Philippe Melka Winemaker/Consultant has been with Seavey since 1995...one of Philippe’s two initial wine making jobs in the Napa Valley were with Seavey and Lail Vineyards.

Seavy makes about 3,200 cases annually depending on what mother nature brings. They make around two hundred cases of Chardonnay, slightly more Merlot and the rest is of the production is comprised of their Caravina and Estate Cabernets.
— 7 years ago

Robert Evans Jr

9.2

Getting better with age. Like more & more when I pop these — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

From a warmer year, a little closed for aromatics but more voluminous than normal on the palate. Trade off of fragrance for body one could say. Always a class act from Clonakilla. Next in a year or two. — 8 years ago

Alan Doughty

9.0

Noticable coconut aromas along with balsamic notes.. Ripe blackberry and currant fruit wuth initial new oak notes that subside to more skightly charred savory notes and spicy black cherry flavors. — 8 years ago

Gae Saccoccio - NdC

9.6

Really complicated on these so suspect days, expose themselves with concepts such as: tradition, terroir, identity without falling into the most sinister rhetoric if not sounds just trite and hypocritical as the counterfeit currency with which even large-scale industries - supported by marketing - pays back its inattentive mass audience riding the wave of the country of origin or protected typicality. A diabolical mechanism this one for which even the most noble ideas probably the right practices and good experiences completed in the scale of centuries to human measure and not on massive industrial scale, are trivialized by sleazy slogan, emptied of meaning to be more or less surreptitious thanks to barbaric persuasion techniques and brain-washing propaganda.
Yet with the Valentini's Trebbiano you may not groped to summarize in words if not by drawing on terms so appropriate to express it. Now concerning this iconic label we've got behind it a local grape variety, a real family and a great wine that collect in a bottle the past and present story of a side of Abruzzo who claims to defeats victories and sacrifices to dominate the abuses (on and of) nature, miseries and splendours of agricultural seasons. Places, people, vision, wines such as Valentini are here to remind us how each bottle stay so proudly standing as non-reproducible beauty and fermented goodness expressing all its artisanal uniqueness and authenticity which are just that suspect to industrial wine production in manufacturing chains on standardized quantities; wines that are all equal to themselves even though wine itself is not much left at the end of the day/cycle. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Valentini 1998 is what we have to rate right now: rusticity with class; style, purity and glory of a local grape recognized by many admirers from all over the world: act local think global this is another slogan-cliché which in this specific Valentini's wine exemple could sounds a little less false and more effective. — 9 years ago

with Alberto and Giovanni

Pavle Milić

9.5

Ravenau went out on a date with Kermit Lynch and had this baby...helluva value for all the wine you get. Elegant, delicate, nuanced and transparent. Great balancing act between creamy and zippy texture. Right on! — 10 years ago

Benjamin Hickey

9.0

Very citrusy and slightly sweet on the noise. Riesling with some Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gri added in, 10g residual sugar. Citrus, rose petal and a tiny touch of spice. — 10 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

A classic Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir showing a lot of whole bunch fermentation with stalky stemmy notes. A class act. — 7 years ago

Dmitri

9.3

The funk had increased and so did the honey and the wild flowers and salt. All playing a tighter composition with the symphony pulling each act together. #astor — 7 years ago

Paul Ashley

9.6

A class act. Cherry and plum. A wine with real intensity and class and only a year in French oak. Terrific — 7 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.1

It's officially Spring in New England, as witnessed by the 4-6" of snow still covering our property. 🤨
This means it's chimnea time again 🔥 and I've collected some snow into a sizeable mound to act as our outdoor chill station for hopefully the next 6 weeks or so 🤞.
Today's theme is wines we can drink slightly colder and still have some appreciating quality.

Light red fruits with a steely finish, nice acidity. Not overly complicated, but simple, quaff-able and easy on our budget at just over $10/bottle. This will be wonderful once the (real) warm weather arrives. — 7 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Notes of dusty mulberries and blackberries - also olive. A beautiful balancing act of 60%Cabernet Sauvignon and 31%Merlot and 9% Shiraz. Very different to the 1996 Moss Wood had recently because of the Merlot in the blend. Good density and concentration. A class act. — 8 years ago

Eman Domboski

9.2

Lovingly soft up front. Full and clean. A bit dry and bitter to finish but well worth the journey. — 8 years ago

Lisa McCosker

9.0

Really beautiful, light but full of flavour — 8 years ago

James Carter

9.3

Class act. Reflects all the qualities of a great Côte-Rôtie. Does have length, stays with its taste through the mouth. Very good balance. — 9 years ago

LM Segal

9.5

An ode to 2 amazing women who look and act far younger than this '66 BV with whom they share a birthday. Still fresh and gaining weight in the glass for an hour, the nose was classic Napa. It showed neither bricking or shading of the cassis and black cherry fruit, with acidity and tannins on the downside but fading gracefully. What a pleasant surprise - thanks to @benchmark and sommelier Brian @farm at carneros inn, who cracked a cork I would've destroyed! — 10 years ago

with Melissa

Bernard Rethore

Owner, Fion Wines

9.2

Typical Realm style which I quite like. At one point I got a hint of bacon and buttered popcorn. 🍷 how come there is no bacon or popcorn emoji with the new Apple iOS update? Mr fish would use it all the time as it goes with everything. Drink this wine up it is in the last act of the play, and worthy of your applause. — 10 years ago

with Susan

John Skupny - Lang & Reed Wine Company

9.2

Always a class act - brushy - great fruit impact - lovely svelte lengthy - an under appreciated Napa first growth. — 10 years ago

with Jamie