#1 on Hi-Time's Top North American Cabs of 2025
If a wine is going to be our Top Domestic Cabernet of the year, it truly and surely has to make us pause and take notice while we are tasting it. It should be singular, complex and with an abundance of flavors. Here before you is that wine-- and it is profound Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon! One of Napa Valley's original Cabernet Sauvignon houses with a legacy dating back to 1886 (they were the 16th bonded winery in the valley), Freemark Abbey helped pioneer the California wine industry and has become a beacon of enduring quality and tradition. In fact, the winery has built one of the largest library collections of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons dating back to the mid-1960s and was the only California winery to have both a white and red wine in the Judgement of Paris Tasting in 1976.
With the appointment of Kristy Melton in 2020, she becomes the first female winemaker for Freemark Abbey since their founding by Josephine Tychson. With nearly two decades of winemaking experience, Kristy has built a reputation for crafting wines of structure, finesse and age-worthiness. This lot was chosen by Kristy as "The Tribute" to Josephine in honor of her legacy in St. Helena. The grapes come from a dry-farmed, sustainably grown St. Helena vineyard that is more than 30 years old. Kristy then bottled just 5 cases of this wine for the prestigious Premiere Napa Valley Auction, and Hi-Time acquired them all. That's it... just 5 cases of this wine were bottled for the world!
This Cabernet has a beautiful ruby color that appears to stain the glass. On the nose, notes of blackberries, mint, black raspberry, chocolate covered cherries, pencil shavings and a kiss of vanilla draw you in repeatedly. Rich and inviting, flavors of red and black currants, black cherry, raspberry, red licorice and baker's chocolate intermix with bay leaf, tobacco leaf, cedar and espresso. This wine has good structure and an amazing level of fruit, yet has wonderful lift and a certain grace to its power. With this wine, Freemark Abbey honors Josephine and all the hard work she put in over a century ago that helped lead Napa to where it is today!
If a wine is going to be our Top Domestic Cabernet of the year, it truly and surely has to make us pause and take notice while we are tasting it. It should be singular, complex and with an abundance of flavors. Here before you is that wine-- and it is profound Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon! One of Napa Valley's original Cabernet Sauvignon houses with a legacy dating back to 1886 (they were the 16th bonded winery in the valley), Freemark Abbey helped pioneer the California wine industry and has become a beacon of enduring quality and tradition. In fact, the winery has built one of the largest library collections of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons dating back to the mid-1960s and was the only California winery to have both a white and red wine in the Judgement of Paris Tasting in 1976.
With the appointment of Kristy Melton in 2020, she becomes the first female winemaker for Freemark Abbey since their founding by Josephine Tychson. With nearly two decades of winemaking experience, Kristy has built a reputation for crafting wines of structure, finesse and age-worthiness. This lot was chosen by Kristy as "The Tribute" to Josephine in honor of her legacy in St. Helena. The grapes come from a dry-farmed, sustainably grown St. Helena vineyard that is more than 30 years old. Kristy then bottled just 5 cases of this wine for the prestigious Premiere Napa Valley Auction, and Hi-Time acquired them all. That's it... just 5 cases of this wine were bottled for the world!
This Cabernet has a beautiful ruby color that appears to stain the glass. On the nose, notes of blackberries, mint, black raspberry, chocolate covered cherries, pencil shavings and a kiss of vanilla draw you in repeatedly. Rich and inviting, flavors of red and black currants, black cherry, raspberry, red licorice and baker's chocolate intermix with bay leaf, tobacco leaf, cedar and espresso. This wine has good structure and an amazing level of fruit, yet has wonderful lift and a certain grace to its power. With this wine, Freemark Abbey honors Josephine and all the hard work she put in over a century ago that helped lead Napa to where it is today!
