Napa Valley in retrospect

Do the wines of Napa share the characteristic of so many of the world's greatest wines, namely the ability to improve over the decades? And if they do, is this equally true for contemporary releases as it is for historical bottlings?

Over the course of two days last week, in the company of Anthony Dias Blue, Karen MacNeil, and Sotheby's wine specialist Nicholas Jackson, I had the good fortune and great pleasure to guide 35 interested wine lovers through a truly historic tasting of wines from California's Napa Valley. The premise was as simple...