1984 Napa Valley

At last, after a string of challenging vintages for Napa Valley, along comes dry, warm, and generous 1984. In fact, this was a growing season that would not have been out of place if shuffled into Napa’s recent string of great vintages (2013-2019). Harvest was early and took place over optimum conditions. The best Cabernets were concentrated with firm structures, promising excellent cellaring potential. The only minor setback was that many vineyards around the valley had been recently planted using the doomed AXR1 rootstock recommended by UC Davis and were starting to succumb to phylloxera. This meant some Napa Valley vineyards weren’t at their fittest during this period and struggled to fully ripen crops even in great vintages. Replanting in the late 1980s and early 1990s would eventually rectify this problem.