2018 Louis M. Martini 'Lot No. 1' Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

One bottle available. 96+ points, The Wine Advocate.

Louis M. Martini sold his first wine on 5 December 1933, the first legal day after Prohibition ended. He was Genoa-born, he had waited thirteen years, and the winery he built in St. Helena is still standing.

What Lot No. 1 actually is

In 1952 Martini started walking his cellar with a piece of chalk, tasting through barrels and marking the ones that stood out. Those marked barrels were bottled separately as Lot No. 1. Seventy-odd years later it is still the top of the house, and the name still means exactly what it meant then: the lot he pulled out first.

Where this bottle came from

Bottles at this level reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought on allocation and stored properly. Every one is inspected before we take it and stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.

In the glass

The Wine Advocate found it very deep purple-black, with vibrant black cherry, mulberry and redcurrant jelly over a core of crème de cassis, cedar chest and roses, plus hints of chocolate box and fragrant earth, finishing long with mineral sparks. Wine Spectator gave a toasty note over cassis, plum and boysenberry compote with liquorice root, loam and roasted mesquite. Decanter found a tisane-like perfume of rosemary and thyme against blackcurrant, over extremely fine-grained tannins.

Critic scores

• 96+ points · The Wine Advocate
• 94 points · Wine Spectator, drink 2023 to 2036
• 94 points · Decanter
• 91 points · James Suckling

The details

• Producer: Louis M. Martini Winery, St. Helena
• Appellation: Napa Valley, California
• Vintage: 2018
• Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
• Alcohol: 16.1%
• Production: 4,299 cases
• Format: 750ml
• Drinking window: 2023 to 2036, per Wine Spectator. In window now with years ahead.

A word on that 16.1%: this is a big, ripe, modern Napa Cabernet and it does not hide it. If you want restraint, this is not the bottle. If you want the full-throated version, it is one of the best-reviewed examples of the style from a genuinely great vintage.

The 2018 vintage

The easy one to write about. A mild spring, even flowering, no heat spikes, and an unusually long cool ripening that pushed harvest two to three weeks late into late October. Yields came back to normal after several short drought years. No caveats needed.

Serving and pairing

Decant two hours ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Dry-aged beef, short rib, or venison. It needs air and it needs food.

One bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. Browse more Cabernet.