2023 Chappellet 'Pritchard Hill' Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
The flagship wine of Chappellet, this limited-production Cabernet Sauvignon represents the pinnacle of Chappellet winemaking and embodies the elegant power and complexity of Pritchard Hill winegrowing. Magical stuff with aromatics of crème de cassis, violets, graphite, and blackberry. Double 100 points from Jeb Dunnuck and Jane Anson MW. This is a really beautiful wine with perfect balance and ultra-fine tannins. Get yours before our limited allocation runs out.
If you asked us for our list of Napa Valley wineries currently making the highest quality, most complete, most consistent, most interesting, most ageworthy wines for the money, Chappellet Winery would be at the top. Consider all the metrics: track record, intrinsic quality, taste of the soil, availability, quality-price rapport, freshness, and visceral excitement. Is this the finest winery, top-to-bottom, in the Napa Valley? Why are the wines so good? First, take a great terroir: volcanic terraces high on Pritchard Hill that were first planted in 1882. It’s no accident that Colgin, Continuum, and Bryant Family set up shop in the neighborhood. Then we have 47 years of accumulated knowledge from some of the best winemaking talent the valley has ever seen: Philip Togni, Joe Cafaro, Tony Soter, Cathy Corison and finally Philip Corallo-Titus, who has been at the winemaking helm since 1990. And finally there’s the huge Chappellet family, dedicated as a team to farm great grapes and make superb wines since 1968.
Jane Anson MW
The flagship wine of Chappellet, this is sleek, deep, powerful, extremely pure and vivid Cabernet hidden power, and again this cut tannic frame that shelters the fruit, a beautiful wine that has this enveloping violet fragrance, and showcases the brilliance of the 2023 vintage.
Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship release here, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill sports a saturated purple hue and absolutely heavenly aromatics of crème de cassis, liquid violets, graphite, crushed stone, and a Pauillac-like character that builds with time in the glass. Based on 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, it's full-bodied, has a deep, concentrated mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great, great finish. This is magical stuff that offers pleasure even today given its purity, balance, and finesse, but I'd be shocked if it didn't keep for 50 years or more. Drink 2025-2075.
Decanter
Now this is one beautiful, full-bodied, full-framed Napa Cabernet from an iconic producer. The wine opens with blue fruit and beautifully fine, expressive French oak notes – perfectly toasted and exuding espresso, dark chocolate, and molasses – before blackberry fruit builds with intensity and segues seamlessly into a ripe, pure-fruited palate. This powerful wine overflows with ripe fruit and lavish Indian and Asian spices, and candied violets, while powerful tannin is perfectly integrated – forming a seamless tapestry of dark berry fruit-and-brown-spice through the finish. Tasted over three days, it just gets better and better. One note of warning: The bottle itself is a little heavy, so instead of recycling it, consider adding it to your free weight collection.
Wine Advocate
Chappellet's 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill ended up being bottled as a 5,000-case blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. This stunning wine offers up a seamless amalgam of cherries, blueberries and cassis, joined by hints of cedar and vanilla and subtle nuances of dried herbs. Medium- to full-bodied, it's concentrated and rich, with ripe tannins lingering on the long, dusty finish. In 20 years, will this rating seem conservative?
James Suckling
Pure, focused, linear, elegant, muscular but sleek. Generous in blueberries, dried cherries, cocoa, graphite and cedar nuances. All in balance, offering a firm but velvety structure around deep, gorgeous spices. Delicious already but great for aging. Best from 2034. Drink now.
Vinous
The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill is bursting with the essence of blackberry jam, graphite, menthol, licorice, plum and espresso. Readers should expect a Cabernet that marries opulent fruit and textural density with mountain structure.