The Luxury of ‘23

Rich Salvestrin sampling Dr. Crane fruit, Harvest 2023. Captured by Digital Love.

There are years that ask us to endure, and then there are years that allow us to remember why we fell in love with this work in the first place.

Sumptuous is a word often reserved for the wines, the architecture, the table settings. But perhaps the most intimate look into true Napa Valley luxury is a perfect growing season.

After seasons of fire, drought, and a climate teetering toward unpredictability, 2023 brought a quiet reprieve. Napa Valley received over 50 inches of rain, nearly double our average. For the first time in a long while, the vines had exactly what they needed. And they responded in kind.

Early Spring brought an almost unruly proliferation of growth—lush canopies, emphatic bloom, the kind of verdant vitality that makes you pause mid-row and just look.

Bud break came late, as if it remembered what time used to feel like here. June was fogged in, cool and deliberate. Bloom stretched on. Fruit took its time. The crop came in just above average in our Dr. Crane Vineyard—a detail that feels both luxurious and earned.

To farm is to live in concert with things of a fleeting nature—the morning mist, the pop of bud break, the quiet gravity of fruit ripening just so. Seasons unfold beyond our control, shaped more by patience than by force. And maybe that’s the truest expression of Napa Valley luxury—not what we impose, but what we’re willing to wait for.

And now, your wait is finally over. It’s our great pleasure to release the 2023 vintage to you. A vintage oh so special.

And still more to come of it,

The Salvestrin Family