2019 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2019 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $100 and overCabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSAYountville

MERUS

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
NAPA VALLEY 2019

2019 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Merus is Latin for “pure” or “undiluted.” The purity behind the winery humbly came to fruition in 1998, with Erika J. Gottl and Mark Herold having crafted the inaugural vintage in their garage behind their house in Napa. The wine won international renown, and in 2007 Bill Foley added Merus to his Foley Family Wines group and restored an old ghost winery into a winemaking facility worthy of the brand.
 
The winery’s small size and long-term relationships with many Napa Valley growers allow the team to control many factors in the vineyard, including yield size, pruning, irrigation, and harvest times. The 2019 vintage is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon coming from a unique site in the Coombsville AVA with 3% Petit Verdot, sourced from a selected plot in Yountville, aged 24 months in 100% new French oak giving the already concentrated fruit additional flavor complexity, depth, and a lasting finish. 
 
MERUS
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
NAPA VALLEY 2019
Retails at: $225
 
 
 
“A killer bottle of Napa Valley magic, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon from Merus is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot. It’s a powerful, full-bodied, uber-ripe beauty that stays lively and balanced, with beautiful blue fruits, as well as smoked tobacco, chocolate, and scored earth-like aromas and flavors. A beast of a wine with a great mid-palate and velvety tannins, it should shed its considerable baby fat over the coming 4-6 years and have two decades of overall longevity.”
97 Points
2018 Grand Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley

2018 Grand Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaRutherfordSt HelenaUSA

GRAND NAPA 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
RESERVE NAPA VALLEY 2018

2018 Grand Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley
Our top-selling Cabernet Sauvignon this year, Grand Napa Vineyards in Rutherford, produces rich, full-bodied wines with depth and character from premium vineyards in Napa Valley. Grand Napa owner/winemaker Dwight Bonewell hand-selects the vineyards he works with, and his involvement ensures harvesting only the highest quality fruit before he works his magic in the winery, carefully nurturing each vineyard’s unique character into its purest expression.
 
Grand Napa’s 2018 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon arose from prime sites in Rutherford, St. Helena, and Coombsville, compellingly representing the vintage and distinct origins. This bottling spent 22 months in 50% new French oak and 50% two-year-old oak, giving a graceful balance between the depth of fruit, spice components from the oak, plush tannins, and impressive structure.
 
GRAND NAPA 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
RESERVE NAPA VALLEY 2018
Retails at: $110
 
 
 
“Another terrific wine, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve offers lots of blackcurrants, spice box, tobacco leaf, and chocolatey nuances to go with a full-bodied style on the palate. It has the 2018 vintage’s fresher, more elegant style yet brings ample fruit and has an expansive, layered mouthfeel as well as a great finish. It’s another wine to enjoy any time over the coming 15-20 years.”
94 Points
2018 Maroon Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve Coombsville

2018 Maroon Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve Coombsville

with No Comment $60-$70Cabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSA

MAROON

SPECIAL RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
COOMBSVILLE 2018

2018 Maroon Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve Coombsville
Paul Maroon recognized the potential for Bordeaux varietals to thrive in Coombsville and purchased 37 acres there over two decades ago. He sold fruit to several of Napa Valley’s top wineries until 2009 when he decided to produce the first vintage of Maroon. Coombsville became an AVA in 2011 and quickly established a reputation for delivering sophisticated wines with elegant structure due to the cooler climate in the southern end of Napa Valley.
 
Chris Corley has been the winemaker since Maroon’s inaugural vintage and has worked with Paul for over 20 years, creating a symbiotic relationship built around their passion for the vineyards, the beautiful wines, and a solid commitment to quality. We recommended this wine last November, and it recently earned an incredible 96 Point Score from Lisa Perrotti-Brown, co-founder of The Wine Independent. Lisa is a Master of Wine and former Editor-in-Chief for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. At our price of $65/btl, you can be the judge of how great of a deal this wine is. 
 
MAROON
SPECIAL RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
COOMBSVILLE 2018
Retails at: $174
 
 
 
“Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve gallops in with energetic notes of blackcurrant jelly, chocolate-covered cherries, and boysenberry preserves, plus suggestions of chocolate mint and candied violets. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers a structured style with great tension and firm, grainy tannins to support the bright, muscular fruit, finishing long and vibrant.” Reviewed March, 2023
96 Points
2021 Far Niente Chardonnay Napa Valley

2021 Far Niente Chardonnay Napa Valley

with No Comment $50-$60ChardonnayCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSA

FAR NIENTE

CHARDONNAY 2021
NAPA VALLEY

2021 Far Niente Chardonnay Napa Valley
John Benson founded Far Niente in 1885, and the winery was a notable stronghold in Napa Valley until Prohibition closed the gates in 1919. Sixty years later, Gil Nickel purchased and restored the property with a vision to create a quintessential Napa Valley Chardonnay of sophistication, balance, and stature. He released the first vintage of Far Niente in the modern era, an estate-bottled 1979 Napa Valley Chardonnay that has been a namesake of the winery for over four decades.
 
The fruit for the Estate Chardonnay is grown in Coombsville, which has a similar climate to Carneros, but with less wind and well-drained gravelly loam and volcanic soils that give the wine its signature stone and tropical fruit flavors with a distinct minerality. Malolactic fermentation is avoided in the winemaking process to preserve the malic acid for a fresher sensation on the palate, increased longevity in the bottle, and a celebrated style long associated with the winery.
 
FAR NIENTE
CHARDONNAY 2021
NAPA VALLEY
Retails at: $73
 
 
 
“The Far Niente Napa Valley Chardonnay 2021 opens with concentrated notes of green apple, ripe pear, exotic tropical fruits, and spring florals. The palate follows suit, bringing vibrant acidity, levity, and intense, ripe flavors. This wine blends the perfect balance of power and elegance in a way that brings you back for sip after sip. It’s an outstanding Chardonnay, thrilling to drink now and over the next decade.”
95 Points
2018 Mastery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2018 Mastery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $90-$100Cabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSA

MASTERY

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
NAPA VALLEY 2018

2018 Mastery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Mastery’s 2018 release offers a deep, powerful reflection of Napa Valley’s highest-rated vintage in more than twenty years; a vintage revered for producing “wines that are rich and dark, but detailed, restrained in style and very terroir-driven,” as written by the Wine Spectator. Winemaker Rudy Zuidema’s cumulative knowledge over the past 30 years is commanding in this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon which beautifully articulates the terroir of Rapp Ranch and Shadybrook Estate Vineyards in Coombsville. 
 
Forged from vines grown in Coombsville’s volcanic soils, this powerful, focused, penetrating Cabernet celebrates its origin in memorable detail. Three barrels made up the entire production in the 2018 vintage, each chosen for varietal focus, concentrated flavors, and a masterful combination of strength and elegance. You’ll find these qualities in many of the world’s most outstanding wines. At $95, Cabernet Sauvignon doesn’t get any better!
 
MASTERY
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
NAPA VALLEY 2018
 
 
 
“Mastery 2018 is a sumptuous wine with aromas of violet, blueberry, cassis, balsamic glaze, English toffee, cigar box, and petrichor. On the palate, the wine is rich and powerful, with flavors of blackberry pie, dark chocolate, and gingerbread. The 2018 vintage is elegantly layered with an intense structure that will slowly unravel to reveal its intricacies for those who lay this beauty down in the cellar.” 
96-97 Points
2019 Silverado Merlot Mt Geroge Vineyard Coombsville Napa Valley

2019 Silverado Merlot Mt Geroge Vineyard Coombsville Napa Valley

with No Comment $40-$50CoombsvilleKevin VogtMerlotNapaUSA

SILVERADO 

MERLOT 2019
MT GEROGE VINEYARD
COOMBSVILLE NAPA VALLEY

2019 Silverado Merlot Mt Geroge Vineyard Coombsville Napa Valley
Silverado Vineyards was founded in 1981 by Ron and Diane Miller and her mother, Lillian Disney, who was married to Walt Disney before his death. Silverado lies in the heart of Stags Leap District and today sustainably farms more than 300 acres to produce and bottle single-vineyard Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Chardonnay, and several other varieties. The winery came under new ownership in 2022 by Bill and Carol Foley, who own around thirty successful wine brands, including Merus, Lancaster, Kuleto, and Foley Estate, and aim to keep the founders’ vision of Silverado Vineyards alive.
 
The Mt George Vineyard is the site of one of the first Napa Valley vineyard plantings in 1868, and the current Merlot plantings from 1989 and 1990 thrive on the well-drained, gravelly slopes of the ancient volcano. The characteristics of a cooler climate are apparent in this wine, which offers intense fruit flavors, spice, and deep color typical of the vineyard. The 2019 vintage yielded superior fruit quality with a friendly approachability and the structure necessary for cellaring. Our panel was thrilled by the wine’s impressive quality and agreed with James Suckling that it’s a hard wine to put down.
 
SILVERADO 
MERLOT 2019
MT GEROGE VINEYARD
COOMBSVILLE NAPA VALLEY
Retails at: $65
 
Your Price: $45
 
 
“Aromas of pine, plum and redcurrant. Medium-bodied with fresh, mineral character and silky tannins. Bright and cool on the palate. Balanced and juicy. So approachable and delicious that it’s hard to put down. Drink now.”
93 Points

2018 Grand Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaRutherfordSaint HelenaUSA

GRAND NAPA 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
RESERVE NAPA VALLEY 2018

Grand Napa Vineyards in Rutherford produces rich, full-bodied wines with depth and character from premium vineyards in Napa Valley, hand-selected by winemaker Dwight Bonewell. Dwight’s involvement in the vineyards ensures harvesting only the highest quality fruit before he works his magic in the winery, carefully nurturing each vineyard’s unique character into its purest expression.
 
Grand Napa’s 2018 Reserve Cabernet arose from prime sites in Rutherford, St. Helena, and Coombsville, compellingly representing the vintage and distinct origins. The 2018 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon spent 22 months in 50% new French oak and 50% two-year-old oak giving a graceful balance between fruit and spice components from the oak, plush tannins, and impressive depth and structure.
 
GRAND NAPA 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
RESERVE NAPA VALLEY 2018
Retails at: $110
 
 
 
“Another terrific wine, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve offers lots of blackcurrants, spice box, tobacco leaf, and chocolatey nuances to go with a full-bodied style on the palate. It has the 2018 vintage’s fresher, more elegant style yet brings ample fruit and has an expansive, layered mouthfeel as well as a great finish. It’s another wine to enjoy any time over the coming 15-20 years.”
94 Points
2019 Mike and Molly Zinfandel R.W. Moore Vineyard

2019 Mike and Molly Zinfandel R.W. Moore Vineyard

with No Comment $30-$40CoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSAZinfandel

MIKE AND MOLLY

ZINFANDEL 2019
R.W. MOORE VINEYARD

2019 Mike and Molly Zinfandel R.W. Moore Vineyard
Mike and Molly Hendry’s connections to Napa Valley grape-growing run as deep as the roots of the ancient Zinfandel vines of the R.W. Moore Vineyard, initially planted in 1905 in what is now the Coombsville AVA. Molly’s uncle Bill owns the historic vineyard, a member of the U.C. Davis Heritage project, where genetic material from the vineyard is studied and preserved.
 
This field blend of approximately 95% Zinfandel, with small amounts of Petite Sirah, Carignan, Mourvedre, and Mourtaou, displays the unique microclimate and its cooling influences from the Pacific Ocean, maintaining freshness and overall balance. Mike and Molly have been producing wines from this legacy vineyard since 2009, and their 2019 vintage is the beginning of a new decade of Zinfandel excellence with this full-bodied yet graceful wine.
 
MIKE AND MOLLY
ZINFANDEL 2019
R.W. MOORE VINEYARD
Retails at: $42
 
Your Price: $39.99
 
 
“The Mike & Molly Hendry 2019 Coombsville R.W. Moore Vineyard Zinfandel has a bright, fresh nose with aromas of ripe red plum, cranberry, cloves, black tea, and cigar box. The wine has flavors of red cherry, strawberry, and sweet baking spices, with soft, smooth tannins and a velvety finish. This wine has a concentration and fruit intensity for age-ability, and an inviting youthful drinkability with spice notes will pair perfectly with the holidays.”
94-95 Points
2018 Maroon Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve Coombsville

2018 Maroon Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve Coombsville

with No Comment $60-$70Cabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSA

MAROON

SPECIAL RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
COOMBSVILLE 2018

2018 Maroon Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve Coombsville
Paul Maroon obtained 37 acres in Coombsville over two decades ago, with 17 of those acres planted with Cabernet Sauvignon that he tended and sold to several of Napa Valley’s top wineries until 2009 when he decided to produce the first vintage of Maroon. Coombsville became an AVA in 2011 and quickly established a reputation for delivering sophisticated wines with elegant structure due to the cooler climate in the southern end of the Valley.
 
Chris Corley has been the winemaker since Maroon’s inaugural vintage and has worked with Paul for over 20 years, creating a symbiotic relationship built around their passion for the vineyards, the beautiful wines, and a solid commitment to quality. The wine team hand-picked the 2018 Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maroon estate in Coombsville, fermented the grapes, and aged the resulting wine for 30 months in 75% new French oak for a complex flavor development that will continue to evolve and express this fantastic vintage.
 
MAROON
SPECIAL RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
COOMBSVILLE 2018
Retails at: $174
 
 
 
“The 2018 Maroon Special Reserve Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon opens with lavender, sage, red plum, blackberry pie, mocha, and crushed rocks. The wine has flavors of dark berries, baking spices, cassis, and dark chocolate with a tension that will soften with time. This beautifully balanced 100% Cabernet Sauvignon captures the essence of the Coombsville AVA with refreshing acidity, structured tannins, and long aging potential that will reveal more profound layers of complexity.”
94-95 Points
2020 Leviathan Proprietary Red California

2020 Leviathan Proprietary Red California

with No Comment $30-$40CoombsvilleKevin VogtMoon MountainProprietary RedSonomaUSA

LEVIATHAN

PROPRIETARY RED
CALIFORNIA 2020

2020 Leviathan Proprietary Red California
Andy Erickson grew up in the Midwest, and after spending a summer in France, he began his winemaking journey in Napa Valley before moving to Mendoza, Argentina. Upon his return to Napa, he worked under several renowned winemakers, including Paul Hobbs, John Kongsgaard, and Michel Rolland, and earned his Master’s Degree in Enology from UC Davis. During his college studies, he worked at Spottswoode and Saintsbury wineries before making wine for some of Napa Valley’s top estates, including Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, and Staglin Family Vineyards.
 
Propelled by his access to some of the most exceptional vineyards in Northern California, Andy founded Leviathan in 2004 to showcase the freedom of American winemaking without rigid appellation requirements. For the 2020 blend, he sourced Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Syrah, Syrah, Petite Verdot, and Cabernet Franc from some of his favorite plots in Red Hills, Coombsville, and Moon Mountain, combining his advanced knowledge and skillset for this delicious blend.
 
LEVIATHAN
PROPRIETARY RED
CALIFORNIA 2020
Retails at: $40
 
Your Price: $38
 
 
“Lots of black olive, tar and asphalt with black fruit. Medium to full body with firm and linear tannins that run the length of the wine. This is a multi-region blend with a large percent from Sonoma. 56% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot, 13% petite syrah, 7% syrah, 5% petit verdot and 4% cabernet franc. Drink or hold.”
93 Points