2022 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain

WSI98 DEC100The Lokoya Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced primarily from two estate-owned vineyards: the 10-hectare Yverdon Vineyard, perched at 640 meters, and the 18-hectare Wurtele Vineyard, located around 304 meters. These vineyards are planted on ancient, ocean-bottom sedimentary soils that lend a distinct mineral character to the wines. In 2022, this wine is exceptional. As a professional taster, you’d be hard-pressed to detect that the vintage was marked by heat challenges. The nose is fresh, bright, vivid—absolutely enticing—with remarkable layers of minerality running from graphite and underbrush to wet river stones and slate. Subtle incense notes weave through sun-soaked wild herbs, sagebrush, and a whisper of white pepper. On the palate, the wine is rich, full-bodied, and deeply layered, offering a cascade of dark black and red cherry fruit, spiced plums, and juicy yet firmly structured intensity. The tannins grip like an iron claw before resolving with aromatic lift, balance, and a sense of poise that anchors the finish. It’s polished, powerful, and clearly built for the long haul—yet astonishingly drinkable now, in all its youthful energy. A true reward for early drinkers and patient collectors alike. Winemaker Chris Carpenter notes that Spring Mountain sits within the warmest of Napa Valley’s mountain AVAs, where tannins are typically softer, pH levels slightly higher, and acidity more savoury. Lokoya, owned by the Jackson Family, focuses exclusively on single-appellation, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines from four mountain AVAs: Spring Mountain, Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain, and Mount Veeder. The winemaking is identical across all four wines—native yeast fermentations, hand pump-overs, malolactic fermentation in barrel, and ageing for 22 months in 82% new French oak. What distinguishes each wine is not style, but terroir. Carpenter believes Napa Valley Cabernet is defined not just by soil, but by the daily Pacific breezes that sweep the region—cooling from south to north in the evenings, and from north to south in the mornings. At high elevations, above the fog line, these mountain vineyards experience gentler diurnal shifts, offering a climatic equilibrium that allows for slow, even ripening. It’s this interplay of sun, soil, and wind that shapes the identity—and brilliance—of Lokoya’s mountain-grown Cabernets.
JS98 A beauty that’s muscular but elegant. So pure and focused in blackcurrants, creme de cassis, red cherries and dark chocolate. It comes from two vineyards, Wurtele and Yverdon, that go up to 580 meters in elevation. The wine opens with opulent fruit and a smooth entry, then the tannins engage and grip the palate while the flavors expand through the finish. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.
JD96 The 2022 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District is a beautiful wine, offering a complex array of blackcurrants, leather, graphite, and leafy herbs, along with some exotic floral notes and new leather. Medium to full-bodied and concentrated on the palate, it delivers impressive depth while maintaining poise and elegance, with ripe tannins that give it more structure than most in the vintage. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 22 months in 82% new French oak, is a compelling expression of Spring Mountain that will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and evolve gracefully over the following 15 years or so.
WA95+ Lokoya’s 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain combines fruit from the Wurtele Vineyard (at 800 feet above sea level) and the Yverdon Vineyard (at 1,900 feet above sea level). Scents of sage and bay laurel accent this wine’s more red-fruited core of ripe cherries. It’s full-bodied, like the other 2022s from Lokoya but not as lush or creamy. It’s concentrated, just slightly rougher-textured but still packed with aging potential, with a long, lingering finish.