We share some delicious reasons to rediscover the Louis M Martini winery and its benchmark-setting Napa Valley cabernets
As more opportunities to sample a wider variety of world-class pours present themselves, wine lovers here are discovering more reasons to fall for a benchmark-setting Napa Valley winery and its winning wines. The acclaimed Louis M Martini winery has garnered quite a number of fans over the years. Recently, it has been winning over its fair share of aficionados at key events here, such as Robert Parker Wine Advocate’s Matter Of Taste Singapore and the Cold Storage International Wine Fair.
Parker himself has praised Louis M Martini's cabernet sauvignons, describing them as among the finest produced in California. He affirmed this view by awarding 100 points to the Lot 1 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, the pinnacle of the winery's portfolio. He singled it out in 2016 alongside three other prized vintages, which included the 2014 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which scored 97 points—one of highest marks Parker has ever scored a cabernet from Sonoma County. Parker also scored Louis M Martini's 2014 Napa Valley Cabernet between 93 and 95 points, praising its “sensational richness and length”, and called its 90-point Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon “one of the best values in cabernet sauvignon anywhere in the world”.
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But this shouldn’t surprise fans of the stalwart winery. Louis M Martini is not only one of the Napa Valley's historic cornerstones, but also a founding winery of the now-celebrated region, which came into prominence after America’s Prohibition—a period during which the sale of alcohol was banned—ended in 1933. Founder Louis M Martini was pivotal in bringing global acclaim to Napa Valley, helping to establish it as one of the world’s premier wine regions not only as a resident winemaker but also as one of the founders of the Napa Valley Vintners association.
MOVING FORWARD
Throughout its 85-year legacy, the Louis M Martini winery has been a font of innovation and a home for internationally acclaimed winemaking, with a singular focus on producing world-class cabernet sauvignon. Today, that legacy rests in the hands of Michael Eddy, who is only the fourth winemaker in the establishment's long history.
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“It’s really important to me to be connected to our tradition and history,” Eddy says. “It adds even more of a sense of purpose and of being rooted in something meaningful.
“Every step matters—when we harvest, how we harvest, how we crush, what yeasts we use, what barrels we use, how and when we blend the lots, and, of course, where we grow the grapes.”
