Scarecrow is one of the rarest wines in the world, in 2013 only 1,000 cases were produced. The 2013 has already been awarded 100 points from Robert Parker, equaling the magnificent 2007, which trades at over £2,000 per case of three bottles. The lowest price advertised for the 2013 in Europe is £1,900 per case of three bottles, with the market moving quickly towards £2,000. Demand for this epic wine is globally extremely strong, making Scarecrow 2013 a very attractive position to hold and not to be missed.
Aside from being highly allocated and hugely desirable, Scarecrow is mentioned in the same breath as cult California Cabernets such as Screaming Eagle, yet it remains about 1/3 of the price. This perfect scoring 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine is truly incredible, its ripe, balanced and elegant fruit profile means it can be enjoyed immediately, yet will improve in bottle for 30 years. Scarecrow 2013 is wine for the ages, offered today at a big discount to the European market. Moreover, its history is as rich and layered as the wine itself.
What makes Scarecrow special?
Although the Scarecrow winery was founded in 2002, the vines date back to the 1940s. In 1943, Joseph Judson Cohn, the famous MGM executive producer of The Wizard of Oz and Ben Hur, purchased a 79 ha property in Rutherford, adjacent to the Inglenook Winery. Soon after, his friend John Daniels, who had convinced Cohn to buy the land in the first place, agreed to manage the estate. Together they planted grapes and the vineyard soon became known as one of the leading terroirs in Napa Valley. As a result the fruit has been used by Inglenook, Opus One and Phelps Insignia.
Today Scarecrow is recognised as having some of the oldest vines in the Napa Valley. When the prevalent thinking in Napa was to replant vineyards with European rootstock, John Daniels kept the original rootstock. This was considered risky at the time, but paid off when phylloxera destroyed the replanted rootstocks. As such Scarecrow’s vines boast some of the only vines from 1945 in the world. In 2009 these old vines poetically led to the creation of the most expensive bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon ever sold, with an auction lot of five cases of Scarecrow selling for $80,000. Two years later, five cases sold for $125,000, firmly establishing it as one of Napa’s cult Cabernets.
In 1996, Cohn died at the age of 100 and his heirs put the property up for sale to help resolve an inheritance dispute. From 1996 to 2002 the value of the property rose from an estimated $4 million dollars to $33.6 million, when Francis Ford Coppola of the Rubicon Estate Winery bought the estate in a packaged deal with Cohn’s grandson, Bret Lopez. Coppola received 140 acres, while Lopez and his partner Mimi DeBlasio received the property’s buildings, 25 acres of planted vineyards and 2 acres of the original Cabernet vines planted in 1945. Lopez immediately employed the revered winemaker Celia Welch to create Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon. The name Scarecrow pays homage to one of the most popular characters in the Wizard of Oz.
Robert Parker, Wine Advcoate 100 Pts
The prodigious 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, including fruit from some of the oldest Cabernet vines still in existence in Napa. This full-bodied classic displays notes of forest floor, earth, crème de cassis, blackberry liqueur, licorice and some pen ink. It is dense, full-bodied, prodigiously rich, massive in intensity, yet relatively light on its feet. This great ballerina of a wine has extraordinary ripeness but pulls back from the edge before going over the top. There are 1,000 cases of this classic, which should age effortlessly for 30+ years.
Scarecrow 2013, 100 Pts Parker 3×75 – £1,400 IB £1,694.76 incl duty and VAT
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