Inglenook, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2023
Inglenook, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2023
- 75cl
- 14.1%
- Red Still
- Cabernet Sauvignon
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Optimal drinking window: 2028 - 2045
Est. delivery in 2027
Inglenook is one of those names that carries real weight in California — not just as a great estate, but as the place Francis Ford Coppola restored to its original ambitions after decades of corporate neglect. The Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon is the estate's flagship, grown on benchland soils at the heart of Napa Valley and made with a seriousness of purpose that puts it in conversation with the great structured reds of the world.
The 2023 vintage brought warm, even ripening to the valley, and this wine has the density and composure to show for it.
What the critics say:
"An elegant, well-balanced and fresh-tasting estate wine with great flavors, good acidity and silky tannins. Classic black cherry, black olive and savory bay leaf and earth aromas on a medium to full body. The tannins are moderate, smooth and fine-grained. Easy to drink now, but will surely age well. Best after 2030."
"Still in barrel in February 2025, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon boasts dark notes of cedar mulch, earth, black olives and black cherries. It's medium- to full-bodied, velvety and intensely flavored, with a long, earthy and savory finish. It shows excellent balance, along with unusually refined tannins for the Cabernet Sauvignon, which can sometimes be a bit coarse when compared to the Rubicon."
Inglenook's vineyards sit on the Rutherford Bench, a band of well-drained alluvial fans built up from the Mayacamas Mountains on Napa Valley's western flank. The benchland soils are gravelly loam over clay and volcanic subsoil, offering excellent drainage that stresses the vines productively and concentrates flavour without forcing over-ripeness. Rutherford's warm days and cool, bay-influenced nights are the source of what locals call 'Rutherford Dust' — that distinctive earthy, almost chalky quality that marks the finest Cabernets from this strip of valley floor.
Napa Valley AVA is California's most prestigious wine appellation, encompassing a 30-mile valley with remarkable climatic and soil diversity across its sub-appellations. Rutherford, where Inglenook sits, is one of the valley's most storied sub-AVAs, known for Cabernet Sauvignon of particular structure and longevity. Compared to Oakville to the south or Stags Leap to the east, Rutherford tends to produce wines with slightly more earth and grip — less overtly opulent, more architectural. The appellation requires at least 85% of grapes to come from within Napa Valley.
After the drought years that dominated much of the early 2020s, 2023 brought Napa something it had almost forgotten: a genuinely wet winter. Atmospheric rivers dumped substantial rainfall across California through the early months, replenishing reservoirs and pushing water tables up in ways the valley hadn't seen for years. The growing season that followed was cooler and more drawn out than recent vintages, with harvest arriving later than many growers had become accustomed to. That extra hang time matters — it tends to produce phenolic ripeness without the sugar accumulation that forces winemakers into picking decisions they'd rather not make.
The result across Napa is a vintage that feels more detailed and less obviously plush than the blockbuster heat years. Cabernet Sauvignon shows real structure — tannins that have something to say — alongside fruit that doesn't overwhelm the conversation. These are wines built for the medium to long term. The best examples from Oakville, Rutherford, and Stags Leap will reward patience; give the serious reds until at least 2028, and the top names considerably longer. If you're reaching for bottles now, give them air and time in the glass.
OUR GROWERS
Inglenook Winery
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