$23 Cab—One of Napa’s Top Winemaking Teams!

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The Napa winery behind todays velvety, NDA-protected Cabernet wanted to see what they could do with grapes from the other side of the Mayacamas. To play around with some Sonoma County fruitjust for the hell of itand they had an in with one of the most coveted sites there. Why not?

After all, they have a legendary winemaking team: world-renowned crafters of too many 100-point wines to count. The kind of consultants that money cant buytheyll only work with you if they like what they see in terms of terroir, facilities, and, crucially, commitment.

Their Sonoma project started out great: Their starry winemaking team took the perfect grapes and turned them into magica bold wine that was packed with dark plum and chocolate-covered raspberry flavors, dense enough for steaks but elegant enough to dance across the palate. It was impressive stuff maybe a bit closer to their $175 Napa bottles than anyone involved would like to admit.

So it turned out that making exceptional Cabernet from a great Sonoma site was a great idea but selling those bottles for north of $150? Thats when they hit the big speed bump.

This winery is KNOWN for Napaspecifically for Rutherford and Oakville, where they own a few sites that most wineries would do unspeakable things for. How, exactly, were they gonna sell a wine with Sonoma on the label while retaining their extra-luxe branding?

Thats where we enter the story.

While munching on some slightly overcooked Italian sausage at a Napa Valley BBQ, we bumped into an old friend. He used to work in a cellar with a guy whose pal sells corks to a bunch of big money estates, and that guy heard about an assistant winemaker who might have been making some discreet inquiries on behalf of someone much better known.

Once we figured out how to follow the lead to sourceand realized the winemaking talent involvedwe didnt stop until wed secured four barrels exclusively for our members. This is a stunning deal: Its still hard to believe we got this down under $25.

Deep purple in appearance, with a concentrated core. Plentiful, lifted aromas of fresh cranberries, chocolate-covered raspberry, toast, vanilla bean, fresh mocha, dark plum, exotic spices, sagebrush, and cedar. Velvety and well-integrated on the palate, with ripe tannins and juicy acidity matched with flavors of ripe strawberries, cigar leather, blackberries, black and red currants, cherries, gravel, and a touch of cassis. The perfect weeknight Cab to go with a rich Bolognese, grilled Portobello mushrooms, or an aged Cheddar. Drink now2032.

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