In this article we’ll take a look back at one of our favorite wines, one that earned the coveted #1 Wine of the Year in our Best Wines of 2016 list. It was great then, and now it is ten years old. So it seemed appropriate to pull a bottle from the wine fridge and see what time had wrought. Based on our previous experience we were expecting something pretty exceptional. More on that later.
Seamus Wines is a father and son enterprise. Jim Foley Sr. works the business side and Jim Foley Jr. works his magic with Northern California grapes and makes the wines. The results are pretty impressive. You can read some of our earlier reviews of Seamus wines here and here. Their 2012 Atwood Ranch Reserve Cabernet blew us away, and you can see it in our Top 25 list from 2016 here.
I recently had a chance to catch up with Jim Jr. Unfortunately the last few years have been challenging for many in the food and beverage industry. COVID drove many restaurants out of business, and smaller distributors felt the pinch. Some of them also didn’t make it. Throw in wildfires and a few other challenges and production at Seamus was very limited across 2019, 2020 and 2021. Jim Jr. did make some small batch Merlot, Zinfandel and a Rosé last year. Their 2018 Cabernets, the Atwood Ranch Reserve and the 100% Cabernet 100, have been released to their wine club members.
The future is bright however, and Jim Jr. is planning to ramp production back up across several varietals in 2022. Their tasting room, located in Kenwood, California, is up and running on all cylinders. The restaurant side, so important to many smaller producers, is also coming back. In a bright spot for wine lovers, you can still get some of their older vintage wines. You can check those out at their website here. Let’s look at one of those wines now.
2012 Seamus Atwood Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve – the blend here is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. In our previous review it was all about the cherry and berry fruit and the mocha/chocolate flavors in a then young wine. It was big and bold, rich and luscious. Now it is a decade old, a medium ruby color and it has exploded in complexity. The nose is full of red and black berries, leather, tobacco, baking spices, oak, vanilla and floral notes. I could go on but you get the point. Still full bodied and rich, it is now more elegant, softer on the palate and pretty much at its peak. Hard to imagine it can get any better. This was one of our favorite wines back in 2016, and it still is today. It is very different but just as great.
We love older wines and the complexity and elegance they develop. This wine is a perfect example of that, and one which you can still buy. That makes it even better.
The news that production will be ramping back up at Seamus is very good to hear. We’re looking forward to trying what Jim Jr. comes up with next. Until then we’ll rely on the older vintages. More of that 2012 Reserve Cabernet just arrived at our house, and we are very happy about that.
A votre santé!
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