Our friend, a 100-point star who spent 20 years at Robert Mondavi Winery, had it all: a mid-Valley winery whose triple-digit wines sell like clockwork to a loyal mailing list, a bustling tasting room packed with tourists and locals alike, and a network of vineyards that supplied him with the finest fruit from the top vineyards and appellations in the Valley.

But he wanted to fly higher.

Happy with his success but harboring a deep desire to craft wines hed raised on his own soil, he turned his focus to his own estate winesand 2019 was the year his gorgeously manicured home vineyards came online. All of a sudden, he wasnt just dealing with tightly lawyered contracts and loads of grapes weighed down to the ounce. He was managing a huge variable: What kind of bounty would Mother Nature deliver to him?

In 2019, she was feeling quite generous, a vintage that no less than Thomas Rivers Brown believes tops the phenomenal 2018. Our friends vineyards supplied him with a gorgeous crop of some of the plushest, more characterful Cabernet Franc and Merlot you can imagine. Of course, he still had his normal contractsCabernet Sauvignon from a prime vineyard in Oakville, Merlot and Cabernet Franc from one of the top sites in Carnerosand that shook up his normal lineup.

He stayed the course on the single-vineyard Cabernets hes best known for, which go up to $250. He crafted his triple-digit-priced Bordeaux-style blend as well. But when all was said and done, he had a few barrels left over, and no desire to make a brand-new bottling.

Thats when we got the call.

Knowing that our friend deals (and now grows) nothing but the best, we jumped at the chance to taste the barrels he hadand then claimed them so our winemaker Britt Nichols could get to work. She blended a gorgeous cuve of Cab Franc, Merlot, Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot that will stun you for the price.

Ruby-red, bursting with aromas of ripe Damson plums, baked cherry compote, chipped graphite,vanilla bean, fresh mint, crushed gravel, and blueberries, the 2019 Word Choice Red Wine is plush and well-knit on the palate, with juicy acidity and smooth tannins making for a seamless experience.

This wine was a hairsbreadth from being in a $125 bottle. Today, you get it for a fraction of that. Heres to being happy but never satisfied.