By Laurie Daniel, San Luis Obispo Tribune

The drought has led to all sorts of agricultural challenges, but it doesn’t appear to have hurt the quality of California’s wines. The warm, dry growing conditions have led to a string of high-quality vintages.

That certainly was the case with cabernet sauvignon in 2013. There were excellent wines made all over the state, but you can’t really talk about California cabernet without taking a look at the Napa Valley.

A tasting at the recent Premiere Napa Valley trade event offered the opportunity to sample 17 of the valley’s 2013 cabs alongside the same wines from the 2011 and 2012 vintages. I’ve also tasted a number of 2013s in other settings, including blind tastings at home. Many of the top wines haven’t been released yet, but more and more bottlings are starting to make an appearance.

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