Wines, when given time, just get better with age. Flavors integrate, nuances emerge, and edges become softer and rounder. Within these new depths, stories of time and place unfold. Not all wines are built for this journey -  it also takes the right conditions as well as a lot of restraint and patience - but when those elements align, wineries can create extensive libraries, holding back bottles to age to perfection and release when they’re showing their best. 

Spring Mountain Vineyard is fortunate in this regard. Our carefully crafted wines, combined with our history and extensive caves, has allowed us to store decades of bottles dating back to the 1970s. Currently, we offer one of the largest wine libraries in Napa County, and it’s available for visitors to enjoy regularly. In addition, our Mountain Society members are given access to purchase from the full breadth of this extensive library.  

Our mountain climate, with east-facing slopes, naturally produces wines with high acids and complex structures perfect for aging. We have also had decades of winemakers committed to crafting wines capable of long-term cellaring. It began in the 1970s, when Knight Michael Robbins owned the property. Along with Winemaker Charles Orman, they developed a reputation for producing award-winning wines, showing balance, restraint, and focus, as well as remarkable longevity and aging potential.

In the 1990s, the property was sold to Jaqui Safra, a connoisseur and collector of first-growth Bordeauxs. With the purchase, he acquired a small collection of Spring Mountain Cabernet from the 1970s and 80s. His plan was to grow the library in order to showcase this unique location and the wine’s aging potential. To do that, he closed the winery to the public for almost a decade (1993 - 2003). He continued to make wines, however, laying down a whole collection of sizes ranging from 750ml to 6L bottles. Although the winery ultimately reopened, Safra sold the property in 2023, leaving behind a deep collection of incredible wines. 

Today, visitors can taste the history of Spring Mountain, told through our wines. We are able to open bottles that go back decades. Currently, our Forged by Founders experience features three Cabernet Sauvignons from 1979, 1988, and 1998. Layering different eras of the winery, this vertical is a story of our estate and a testament to how well our wines hold up.

The 1980s were a rather bumpy decade for most of the Napa Valley. While many estates followed trends, the ones that stayed true to their terroir fared better. We were one of the latter, and this wine is a testament to that commitment. Currently at its zenith, the 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon is still youthful and vibrant with an intensity surprising for its age. The bright acidity that Spring Mountain is known for has calmed down slightly, and darker fruits like blueberry and blackberry have emerged, joined by savory components of tobacco and forest floor. It has an impressive maturity, proving that with age, comes beauty.

For the nineties, we pulled out our 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is showing stunning complexity and finesse right now. Bright in color and aromas, the vintage delivers a lot of fruit character with dried cranberry, red currants, and deep earthy notes of cedar box and dried herbs. It still has excellent texture and balance that persist across the long finish. 

We invite you to visit us and taste these wines for yourself. Breathe in the mountain terrain, walk through property, and taste the history of our estate through all your senses.