Napa's Legendary Dr. Crane Cabernet at a Remarkable Price!
Napa's Legendary Dr. Crane Cabernet at a Remarkable Price!
To all Wine Exchangers,
The story of Salvestrin is your classic Napa Valley tale. In 1932 Italian immigrants John and Emma Salvestrin settled in the Napa Valley and purchased an old estate along St. Helena Highway. Their farmhouse was originally built in 1860, by Dr. George Belden Crane (1806-1898) one of the first wine pioneers in Napa.
George Crane always insisted he got lucky with this sight; little did he know he had chosen one of the finest pieces of dirt for Cabernet Sauvignon in the new world. Ah well, better to be lucky than good, right?
Post-prohibition there wasn’t a whole lot going on with the farm, which was just as in tune with fruit growing than grape-growing. Prunes were a big deal in the valley back then, along with grapes. This was a farm in the truest sense of the word.
Things really got hopping when Rich Salvestrin, fresh off his viticulture degree from Fresno State in 1987, released the first vintage of Salvestrin Cabernet in 1994. Even at that time this just-Napa Cabernet and the whole Dr. Crane thing hadn’t ‘blown up’ yet, but we sold and enjoyed that wine.
The ‘blow-up’ would happen a few years later when the incredibly savvy Andy Beckstoffer purchased a chunk of the Dr. Crane Vineyard in 1997, replanting most of the old vines to Cabernet Sauvignon.
A few years later the vineyard shot to immediate prominence with a set of legend wines produced by Paul Hobbs and Behrens & Hitchcock, not to mention Salvestrin’s own 2002 Cabernet which grabbed a 94-point score itself! Now Dr. Crane was on the map, now the history began to be acquired, now the legend of Dr. Crane and its newfound track record of excellence began to filter through the valley.
Everyone wanted the fruit, there was a line out the door for Beckstoffer’s piece of Dr. Crane, prices for the fruit shot through the roof, the scores continued to climb.
But it seems in the rush for Napa’s best and brightest wineries to snag a piece of vineyard history, many folks had forgotten about the other, older owner of Dr. Crane’s historic ranch, so much so that Napa announced Salvestrin as one of its ‘undiscovered wineries’ just last year! How the heck does that happen?
Though I gotta say, the Salvestrins keeping a low profile has been a very good thing for you. Since they own the fruit, they don’t have to charge the same stratospheric prices that Napa’s top wineries have to charge based on Beckstoffer’s price for the fruit to them.
The Salvestrin Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Dr. Crane Vineyard 2015 certainly has to be one of the great steals in the Napa Valley.
How good a deal?
2016 Alpha Omega Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr Crane Vineyard $230
2016 B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard $250
2016 Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard $225
2016 Realm Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr Crane Vineyard $400+
2016 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr Crane Vineyard $300
2016 Salvestrin Cabernet Sauvignon Dr. Crane Vineyard $69.98
I think this list speaks for itself…eh?
The 2015 Salvestrin Dr. Crane opens with color that is dark, deep rich and opaque. It leads directly into the seductive aromas of berry, violets, crushed blueberries with a dusting of cocoa powder, leather and red licorice.
From there, those same aromatic notes meld into the flavor profile turning darker, opulent and delicious. The flavors add a dusting of cocoa powder, black currant, red licorice and sweet cedar to the mix, all pretty classic signatures of the good Dr.!
It’s 94+ points from Wine Advocate to boot!
Buy 3 bottles or more and we’ll shave an extra $5 a bottle off the retail price, making a great deal even greater.
A true Napa Grand Cru at an unbeatable price, kudos to the Salvestrin family for taking it easy on all our pocketbooks and delivering world-class Cab at a third the price of their next-door neighbor…
Salvestrin Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Dr. Crane Vineyard 2015
94+ Points! The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Dr. Crane Vineyard, made up of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot, is deep garnet-purple in color with a youthfully mute nose with notes of dusty earth, cinnamon stick, cedar chest and garrigue over a core of blackberries and kirsch. Medium to full-bodied with firm, grainy tannins, it has a good core of muscular fruit and a long, earthy finish. Give it 2-3 years in bottle and drink it over the next 15+. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com
