2017 Sullivan Coeur De Vigne Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford

2017 Sullivan Coeur De Vigne Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford

with No Comment $60-$70Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaRutherfordUSA

SULLIVAN

COEUR DE VIGNE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2017 RUTHERFORD 

2017 Sullivan Coeur De Vigne Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford
For nearly 50 years, Sullivan Estate has quietly produced classically styled Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon with a powerful sense of place. Their vineyard located North of BV, behind Franciscan, is under the guidance of Mike Wolf, one of the leading viticulture experts in Napa Valley, whose past and present clients include Bond, Scarecrow, and Lewis. Winemaker Jeff Cole’s goal for each vintage is to craft wine with great density, depth, and longevity, and his 2017 is a stunning example. 
 
Carved into an ancient riverbed with soil types ranging from clay loam to sandy gravel, Sullivan’s Vineyard has excellent drainage, which assists in producing intensely flavored berries. 
 
Sullivan’s Coeur de Vigne 2017 captures the essence of the vineyard and combines 75% Cabernet Sauvignon with 22% Merlot and 3% Malbec. The wine was kept for 19 months in oak and is drinking stunningly right now.
 
SULLIVAN
COEUR DE VIGNE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2017 RUTHERFORD
Retails at: $110
 
 
 
“Smooth textured and rich with ripe plum and blackberry fruit, elegant and lush with depth and balance, what you want from a top-quality Napa Cab.”
94 Points, Anthony Dias Blue
 
“Blended with 22% Merlot and 3% Malbec, this is an impressively made wine from the Rutherford estate. Densely concentrated, it offers youthfully grippy layers of black olive, dark cherry and plum, with underlying earthiness. The finish takes on additional notes of clove, black pepper and tobacco.”
92 Points
2018 Ty Caton Cabernet Sauvignon Moon Mountain District

2018 Ty Caton Cabernet Sauvignon Moon Mountain District

with No Comment $30-$40Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtMoon MountainNapaUSA

TY CATON

2018 CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
MOON MOUNTAIN DISTRICT

2018 Ty Caton Cabernet Sauvignon Moon Mountain District
Devoted to unveiling Moon Mountain Cabernet’s most captivating characteristics, Ty Caton developed his vineyard adjacent to world-class sites like Monte Rosso, planting multiple blocks, separated by soil type, elevation, and sun exposure. His Estate Cabernet Sauvignon offers a well-rounded depiction of the entire vineyard, capturing Ty’s commitment to land stewardship and drive to bottle the best wine possible from his Estate. 
 
Striving to produce wines of distinction, Ty’s vineyard on the Sonoma side of Mount Veeder is carved into steeply contoured hillsides with well-drained red volcanic soils that have fresh, focused fruit with outstanding depth. 
 
Ty’s 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is blended from a wide selection of his individually farmed blocks, representing the vineyard as a whole with balance, character, and sense of place. Aged for 15 months in French oak, the 2018 release is stunning at this price level.
 
TY CATON
2018 CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
MOON MOUNTAIN DISTRICT
Retails at: $44
 
 
 
“The 2018 Estate Cabernet greets the palate with rich and robust flavors of black cherries, plums, and cassis, followed by oak notes of sandalwood and vanilla. These dark flavors produce a dense textured mouth feel that combine with soft sturdy tannins, followed by a long silky smooth finish.”
2019 Domaine Maison Cheverny Rogue Loire Valley

2019 Domaine Maison Cheverny Rogue Loire Valley

with No Comment $30 and underFranceKevin VogtLoire ValleyPinot Noir

DOMAINE MAISON

2019 CHEVERNY ROUGE
LOIRE VALLEY

2019 Domaine Maison Cheverny Rogue Loire Valley
Pinot Noir/Gamay blends from Cheverny offer remarkable value and are relished by the French locals because they possess vibrant red fruit, crisp acidy, palpable minerality, and energizing freshness. Burgundy and the Atlantic Ocean influence Cheverny, a small region in the Loire Valley with siliceous clay, limestone, and gravelly soils, well-suited for Burgundian grapes that produce supple fruit with gentle tannins and vibrant energy. Cheverny Reds are primarily Pinot Noir/Gamay blends, with up to 10% Cabernet Franc or Malbec, known locally as Côt.
 
Domaine Maison’s Cheverny Rouge is a classic representation, combining 60% Pinot Noir with 30% Gamay with 10% Côt, balancing bright, supple fruit, floral character, and minerality, with vibrant energy, depth, and focus. This bottling is very typical for what the French locals might drink at a local Bistro, great wine that is an exceptional value.
 
Located between two rivers, Loire and Cher, the Domain Maison’s plots consist of vines between 20 and 45-years-old, grown in clay-limestone and light gravel soils, that produce focused fruit with depth and a sense of place. The team fermented this wine in stainless steel to preserve the fruit’s natural essence, beautifully delivered into your glass.
 
DOMAINE MAISON
2019 CHEVERNY ROUGE
LOIRE VALLEY
 
 
 
“Red wines of the Loire Valley are known for their brightness and vivacity. Cheverny AOC, located within the Touraine district, is planted mainly with Pinot Noir. This blend in particular is comprised of 60 percent Pinot Noir, 30 percent Gamay, and 10 percent Côt, the local name for Malbec. The region’s fruit ripens beautifully leading to wines with juicy, red cherry and raspberry flavors with great depth and concentration. Sweet spice notes, such as cloves and cinnamon, add an additional layer of complexity to the wine followed by a lush and silky finish. The locals enjoy this easy-drinking wine just a tad below room temperature, making it a perfect wine for the summer. Even at a fantastic value, the most surprising aspect of this wine is how quickly you’ll need another glass.”
95 Points
2017 Adaptation Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2017 Adaptation Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $50-$60Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaOak KnollStags LeapUSA

ADAPTATION

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2017 NAPA VALLEY

2017 Adaptation Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Framed by Mountain fruit’s power, harnessed with additions of Stags Leap, Oak Knoll, and Pope Valley grapes, Adaptation’s Cabernet Sauvignon is purposefully versatile and abundantly complex. The 2017 release emerges from the rugged, dynamic terrain of Howell Mountain’s Ink Grade Vineyard, supplying structure, depth, and flavor intensity. 100-point powerhouse Odette Winery creates Adaptation, under the guidance of Jeff Owens, formed to combine power and elegance while simultaneously showcasing its origins. 
 
Napa Valley’s diversity of micro-climates, terrain, soils, and exposures created an Artist’s palette of flavors, textures, tannins, and aromas for Jeff to adapt Howell Mountain’s power unveiling an approachable, elegant wine that delivers on all fronts. 
 
Centered around a core of nearly 80% Cabernet Sauvignon transformed with additions of Merlot, Malbec, and Petite Sirah, then aged 18 months in oak, Adaptation personifies the best characteristics of the vintage and the winery’s drive to showcase Napa Valley’s unique terroir gracefully.
 
ADAPTATION
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2017 NAPA VALLEY
Retails at: $62
 
Your Price: $59.99
 
 
“From the folks at Odette and Plumpjack, this lovely red is juicy, broad and immensely likable, with soft layers of baking spice, black cherry and licorice. With 16% Merlot and smaller additions of Malbec and Petite Sirah, it delivers supple texture and length without fuss.”
91 Points, “Editors’ Choice”
2018 Martinelli Zinfandel Vigneto Di Evo

2018 Martinelli Zinfandel Vigneto Di Evo

with No Comment $30-$40Kevin VogtSonomaSonoma ValleyUSAZinfandel

MARTINELLI

2018 ZINFANDEL
VIGNETO DI EVO

2018 Martinelli Zinfandel Vigneto Di Evo
The Martinelli Family’s intimate knowledge of their land developed over 135 years, encompassing six generations with an unsurpassed dedication to farming and crafting wines expressing their place and heritage. Their plantings include Jackass Hill; The steepest non-terraced vineyard in Sonoma County at a death-defying 65 degrees slope, compared to today’s 30 degrees limit. Their Vigneto di Evo Zinfandel is a barrel selection from Jackass, Vellutini, Lolita, and Giuseppe & Luisa vineyards. At $33, it offers a profound glimpse into the lifeblood of their wines. 
 
Guardians of terroir, the Martinelli team strives to consistently produce wines deeply rooted in place, highlighting the vineyard’s character through a hands-off winemaking approach, allowing the wine to go through a set of natural processes with minimal intervention.
 
Courtney Wagoner and Erin Green created this wine to represent the winery’s best Zinfandel plots, manifesting primal energy, heritage, and balance. Deeper, darker flavors developed from the vineyard’s proximity to the Pacific, heightened by old-vine intensity, and refreshed with younger vines, resulting in a fantastic representation of the Estate.
 
MARTINELLI
2018 ZINFANDEL
VIGNETO DI EVO
Retails at: $40
 
Your Price: $33
 
 
“… 2018 “Vigneto di Evo” Zinfandel has energetic aromas of wild strawberry, sweet leather and star anise lift and fill your nose. The palate has balanced acidity and elegant tannins with layers of chocolate and black cherry. Sweet and juicy flavors of blackberry and baking spices linger through the finish.”
2019 Widows Peak Pinot Noir By Beau Vigne Anderson Valley

2019 Widows Peak Pinot Noir By Beau Vigne Anderson Valley

with No Comment $30-$40Anderson ValleyKevin VogtPinot NoirSonomaUSA

WIDOWS PEAK

BY BEAU VIGNE
2019 PINOT NOIR
ANDERSON VALLEY

2019 Widows Peak Pinot Noir By Beau Vigne Anderson Valley
Beau Vigne is a boutique producer whose signature style is in making balanced, rich, multidimensional wines, and one that Robert Parker says is “one of my favorite wineries.” Their founding winemaker was Dave Phinney, later succeeded by Kirk Venge, and now, Julian Fayard, former Director of Winemaking for Philippe Melka, is at the helm. Their recently released Widows Peak Pinot Noir impresses at its $85 retail price, but at $38, it’s an absolute delight.  
 
This remarkable Pinot Noir emerged from a small vineyard in Anderson Valley centered between two creeks where well-drained gravelly soils and large diurnal temperature swings inspire fruit with clarity, place, and dynamic complexity. 
 
This soul-stirring Pinot Noir gains complexity from a wide range of Dijon clones 115, 667, and 777, as well as Swan and Pommard, each distinctively showcased, flawlessly delivering the vineyard’s identity. At this price, you’ll thank me once you taste it. 
 
WIDOWS PEAK
BY BEAU VIGNE
2019 PINOT NOIR
ANDERSON VALLEY
Retails at: $85
 
 
 
“The finished Anderson Valley Pinot Noir offers a provocative and swirling mélange of aromas and flavors. Lush bing cherry, raspberry and fine-grained tannins, spice, and a flinty mineral notes.”
2020 Joseph Jewell Rose Of Pinot Noir Slusser Vineyard Russian River

2020 Joseph Jewell Rose Of Pinot Noir Slusser Vineyard Russian River

with No Comment $30 and underKevin VogtRoséRussian River ValleySonomaUSA

JOSEPH JEWELL

ROSÉ OF PINOT NOIR
SLUSSER VINEYARD
2020 RUSSIAN RIVER 

2020 Joseph Jewell Rose Of Pinot Noir Slusser Vineyard Russian River
Representing a singular expression of the people, place, and vintage, Joseph Jewell wines bring people together with easy approachability, conversation-driving quality, and powerful varietal character. They source from expressive, cool-climate vineyards that provide the ingredients necessary to create wines that stand out for their pristine balance and thoughtful sophistication. Their 2020 Rosé was a bright star at our tasting with piercing aromatics, mineral-intensity, and contagious energy, and at $24, it’s a superb value. 
 
Farmed by the same family for over 100 years, Slusser Vineyard is in the middle reach of the Russian River Valley, where Mark West Creek’s flooding resulted in intense minerality in the wines. 
 
Calling on 100% Pinot Noir, winemaker Adrian Jewell crafted this Rosé in a brightly focused style, highlighting the vineyard’s keen minerality and freshness of fruit that will leave your taste buds craving more.
 
JOSEPH JEWELL
ROSÉ OF PINOT NOIR
SLUSSER VINEYARD
2020 RUSSIAN RIVER
 
Your Price: $24
 
 
“Fruity and layered in waves of raspberry, strawberry and watermelon, this light, crisp wine delivers vibrant flavor and texture. Dried herb and a hint of lemongrass add complementary nuance and deliciousness.” 
91 Points
2015 Spence Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

2015 Spence Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

with No Comment $80-$90Cabernet SauvignonHowell MountainKevin VogtNapaUSA

SPENCE

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2015 HOWELL MOUNTAIN 

2015 Spence Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain
The producers of Spence Howell Mountain Cabernet set out to create a wine that’s theirs alone, reflective of the specific characteristics of their exceptionally unique plot near Howell Mountain’s summit. Keenly focused on extracting what transpires in the vineyard, voiced in your glass with eloquence, purity, and individuality, their team is hands-off in the cellar. Their 2015 Howell Mountain Cabernet is sensationally intense, rivetingly defined, powerfully expressive, and an incredible value. 
 
Uniquely positioned above a canyon, Spence’s Vineyard benefits from consistent breezes, thickening the grape skins, contributing color and intensity. The site’s thick surface layer of red volcanic soil laced with rock allows rapid drainage, forcing the roots deep into the earth, extracting site-specific nuance.
 
Spence’s winemaker Ted Osborne began his career at Cakebread before gaining global experience in Australia, South Africa, and Bordeaux and returning to Napa Valley to make wine at Piña and Storybook Mountain. His focus is on vineyard-defined wines that unveil the site’s character in a balanced, elegant, and unique fashion through minimal-intervention winemaking.
 
SPENCE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2015 HOWELL MOUNTAIN
Retails at: $110
 
 
 
“Coming from the Spence’s vineyard at 1,900’ elevation on top of Howell Mountain, this blockbuster Cabernet reminds me of watching a Cheetah run in slow motion. It’s firm and bursting with power, yet sleek, graceful, and elegant at the same time. It begins with a gorgeous nose of explosive black plums, fragrant violets, dusty cocoa powder, wet slate, dried mushrooms, and vanilla hints. This mind-blowing concoction is perfectly ripe on the palate, with concentrated crushed blackberries, exotic wild currants, stewed plums, baker’s chocolate, and scorched earth. It is wonderfully firm and amazingly complex and long on the palate, with mouth-quenching crushed-velvet tannins that, time after time, left me yearning for another sip. It is a decadent, amazingly sultry stunner now that will continue to drop jaws for well over another decade.” 
97 Points, Kevin M. Vogt, Master Sommelier
2019 Belle Glos Pinot Noir Las Alturas

2019 Belle Glos Pinot Noir Las Alturas

with No Comment $30-$40Kevin VogtMontereyPinot NoirSanta Lucia HighlandsUSA

BELLE GLOS

2019 PINOT NOIR
LAS ALTURAS

2019 Belle Glos Pinot Noir Las Alturas
Belle Glos Pinot Noirs have an extravagantly rich style that transcends varietal/category to the degree that even some Cabernet-drinkers enjoy them. Winemaker Joe Wagner discovered Las Alturas Vineyard, one of Santa Lucia Highlands’s highest-plantable sites, and chose it for its strong maritime influence and Gloria sandy loam soils. The 2019 offers “a whirlwind of exuberance,” as stated by Wine Enthusiast, and with a monumental 96 Point score, I wouldn’t hesitate to secure yours. 
 
Perched at 1,200 feet elevation, the 15-acre Las Alturas Vineyard is planted to various clones of Pinot Noir, separated by the land’s natural slopes and soil attributes. Joe’s team deliberately farms the site to encourage low yields, preserving fruit intensity, depth, and sense of place.
 
Joe created Belle Glos to showcase Pinot Noirs produced from noteworthy coastal wine-growing regions, personified in this Las Alturas bottling, which just shattered records with its 96 point score. 
 
BELLE GLOS
2019 PINOT NOIR
LAS ALTURAS
Retails at: $55
 
Your Price: $39.99
 
 
“Firm lines of graphite and loamy earth streak through the opulent aromas of black plum and dried violet on the nose of this brooding Pinot Noir. The palate is a whirlwind of exuberance, as leathery tannins wrap around more graphite minerality, dried violet and lavender, stewed plum and a touch of bittersweet cocoa on the finish.”
96 Points
2020 Maison Lispaul Sancerre Les Deux Rangs Loire Valley

2020 Maison Lispaul Sancerre Les Deux Rangs Loire Valley

with No Comment $30 and underFranceKevin VogtLoire ValleySancerre

MAISON LISPAUL

2020 SANCERRE
LES DEUX RANGS
LOIRE VALLEY

2020 Maison Lispaul Sancerre Les Deux Rangs Loire Valley
When it comes to refreshing wines with dynamic complexity, laser focus, and tantalizing acidity, Sancerre is unparalleled. They offer stratospherically high quality/value compared to neighboring Burgundy, where you could be paying several times the bottle price for wines of comparable quality. Shirley Gaucher’s 2020 Sancerre Les Deux Rangs is classically concentrated, refreshingly bright, and focused, offering tremendous value, immediately noticeable in your glass. 
 
Drawn from established thirty-year-old vines grown in classic clay and flint soils, Shirley Gaucher’s Sancerre is vinified in stainless steel tanks for eight months, preserving the wine’s natural freshness, keen acidity, and fruit purity. 
 
Made at Maison Lispaul, named for the winemaker’s two children Lison and Paul-Henri, which is a small family-run estate, with proprietor David Maudry coming from a family of vintners. Their Sancerre comes from a 15-hectare plot on the left bank of the Loire, chosen for its Southern exposure, silex (flint)-rich soils, and expressive fruit.
 
MAISON LISPAUL
2020 SANCERRE
LES DEUX RANGS
LOIRE VALLEY
 
Your Price: $28
 
 
“The Shirley Gaucher Sancerre Les Deux Rangs 2020 shimmers in the glass and begins with a beautiful combination of lively fruits and florals on the nose, including ripe pomelo, lime peel, white peach, and wild rose petals. It has a laser-like focus on the palate with grapefruit, Kiwi, and mandarins, along with a focused, penetrating, and vibrant finish.”
91 Points