The Napa Valley Vintners association has this to say about the 2017 vintage: “Mother Nature throws curve balls; winemakers catch them”. Winemaker Marcus Notaro considers 2017 the most challenging vintage of his career. The baked, aromatic-clay tannins of the SLV come through here, and there’s plenty of fruit, but like the other 2017s it’s not to be opened for at least 5 years and probably 10. It’s balanced and fresh with with that classic dark fruit and savoury tapenade notes but it might have just come out of the barrel (and this glass was poured 2 hours ago). Huge potential but there are many vintages to open before this