Three Sticks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 | Every Cabernet lover’s collection should include this!

The Three Sticks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 is deep ruby red. Pronounced aromas of red cherries and blackberries, unfolding in black fruit and wild strawberry notes on the palate. Firm tannic structure and moderate acidity frame a complex finish redolent of oolong tea, cassis, and wild herbs. A really stunning Cabernet built to last by Winemaker Don Van Staaveren. Bracketed by Atlas Peak mountain tannin and fabulously concentrated Rutherford fruit.  Enjoy now until 2025.

Red Wine Gems under $35

The last remaining bottles of this Three Sticks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 are up for grabs. It was only offered to Three Sticks’ wine club and poured at private wine dinners. We have the last 50 cases in existence, available at 47% off its normal library price — a once in a lifetime purchase.

Last vintage by Legendary Winemaker Don Van Staaveren

There are good reasons you might not have heard of this remarkably powerful, pedigreed Three Sticks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012.  Culled from the elevated Atlas Peak vines of Elkington Setty Ranch and Ithaca Vineyards’ 10-acre Rutherford Bench plot.  Don Van Staaveren’s stellar reputation derives from among others crafting the Wine Spectator’s 1999 Wine of the Year.  That was the 1996 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cépages.

Upon the 2014 retirement of legendary winemaker Don Van Staaveren, Three Sticks opted to abandon Cabernet Sauvignon almost entirely. That left this under-the-radar gem from Napa’s heralded 2012 vintage to fall between the cracks.  Hence, the wine remains in perfect condition and provenance but forgotten in the cellar until we found out.   As a result, we took all the remaining cases.

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We’re thankful that what Van Staaveren did, just before retiring.  His legacy crafting an elegant, classically firm Cabernet Sauvignon, a bottle every Cabernet lover’s collection should include.

Parker on 2012 – “Extraordinary” for Cabernet Sauvignon

Napa wineries will always remember 2012 as the “watershed” year.  Righting their balance sheets, with a bountiful harvest of sensational concentration and juiciness that sent prices soaring. But wine lovers and critics like Robert Parker, who deemed 2012’s Napa harvest “extraordinary” for Cabernet Sauvignon, will always savor the landmark vintage’s stunning consistency.

Parker famously wrote that it was almost impossible to find an unimpressive 2012.   A year when “Napa’s Cup Runneth Over.” With Cabernets showcasing “exuberant, boisterous, even flamboyant personalities, sweet, well-integrated tannins, [and] intense fruit extract.

The 2012 growing season was exceptionally dry, but also quite mild.  In addition, absent the heat spikes that often blister Napa Valley clusters during the summer months.

Proving to be the perfect conditions for a master like Don to do his thing with this Three Sticks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012.   Three Sticks owner Bill Price proclaimed “Don has such a deft touch making and blending Cabernet Sauvignon.   It seemed like a crime not to find some of the best grapes in Napa and see what he could do with them.”