2018 Hoopla Cabernet Sauvignon California

2018 Hoopla Cabernet Sauvignon California

with No Comment $30 and underCabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaOakvilleUSA

HOOPLA

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 CALIFORNIA 

2018 Hoopla Cabernet Sauvignon California
A howling value, Hoopla’s California Cabernet is a mixed breed born from doggone good stock. Proprietor Lindsay Hoopes owns 35 prime acres in Oakville, and her 2018 California Cabernet includes fruit from Paso Robles’ top sites and other meticulously chosen vineyards in Monterey and Napa Valley. Raised by Anne Vawter, whose experience includes working alongside Heidi Barrett as the assistant winemaker at Paradigm for years, at $24, this Cab could become man’s second-best friend. 
 
Hoopla is a cross-breed that includes barrels that didn’t go into Hoopes purebred bottlings from Napa Valley, Oakville, and Howell Mountain. The wine offers a lush coat of smooth red and black fruits, intriguing spice and floral characteristics, toasty oak, and absolutely no bite. 
 
Kenneled for 20 months in French oak, the 2018 release is Cabernet Sauvignon, harnessed with other Bordeaux varieties, offering a rare breed of concentrated, focused fruit, uncommon at this value price. Keep this one on a short leash.
 
HOOPLA
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 CALIFORNIA
 
Your Price: $24
 
 
“The 2018 Hoopla California Cabernet is a ruby red, juicy Cabernet that sings with fresh aromas of blackberries, black plum, and roasted coffee. In the mouth, dense flavors of blackberries, black cherry, and cocoa powder mingle with broad, mouth- filling tannins. The lengthy finish is perfumed with vanilla bean.”
2018 Freeman Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

2018 Freeman Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

with No Comment $40-$50Kevin VogtPinot NoirSonomaSonoma CoastUSA

FREEMAN

2018 PINOT NOIR
SONOMA COAST

2018 Freeman Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
Defined by strength, balance, and inherent complexity, Freeman Pinot Noir embodies the soul of the Sonoma Coast. Setting out to prove domestic Pinot Noir can be both as complex and compelling as Burgundy, proprietors Ken and Akiko Freeman toured hundreds of properties before settling on the western edges of Sonoma County. They hired Pinot-maestro Ed Kurtzman to help bring their dream to fruition. Ed’s ability to shape Pinot Noirs with refinement, balance, and inherent sense of place, was matched with an uncompromising commitment to quality, resulting in exemplary coastal Pinot. 
 
A marriage of 79% grapes from Yu-Ki Estate Vineyard at 1000 feet elevation and 5 miles from the Pacific, and 21% fruit from Campbell Ranch near Annapolis in the northernmost reaches of Sonoma County, this Pinot Noir transparently reflects Ocean influence, Sonoma Coast geography, and soils. 
 
The winery notes that 2018 produced the highest quality fruit that they’ve encountered in their seventeen vintages at Freeman. Ed’s winemaking technique preserves the fruit’s natural expression by aging the wine for just 11 months in mostly neutral barrels. The resulting wine is exquisitely balanced, supple, and intriguing.
 
FREEMAN
2018 PINOT NOIR
SONOMA COAST
Retails at: $45
 
Your Price: $42
 
 
“This bold and distinctive wine impresses with its focused flavors, vivid balance and excellent depth. From a haunting aroma of rosemary, violet and black cherry to vibrant sour-cherry and black-tea flavors, it tastes powerful and pure. Best through 2026”
94 Points “Cellar Selection”
2019 Gamba Zinfandel Starr Road Ranch

2019 Gamba Zinfandel Starr Road Ranch

with No Comment $40-$50Kevin VogtRussian River ValleySonomaUSAZinfandel

GAMBA

2019 ZINFANDEL
STARR ROAD RANCH

2019 Gamba Zinfandel Starr Road Ranch
An oracle of Old Vines, Gus Gamba makes winemaking decisions with a keen focus on preserving the freshness and specific expressions of fruit character. He acts as the human conduit for the vines to tell their best story in every vintage. The 2019s are what Gus strives for; They’re vibrantly detailed, engrossingly complex, and invigoratingly fresh. This vintage will undoubtedly earn monster scores, and given the small production, don’t wait to secure yours. 
 
The historic Starr Road Ranch Zin comes from an organically farmed vineyard planted in 1920 that yields just 1.5 tons per acre of strikingly intense, concentrated, pristinely focused fruit. Cultivated without the use of herbicides or pesticides, Starr Road Ranch relies solely on winter rains as its only source of irrigation, as it has for the past 100 years.
 
Gus and his winemaking team double hand-sort the berries, with only the best making their way into fermentors. Next, the 2019 release spent an impressive 18 months aging primarily in American oak barrels, contributing to the spice characteristics.
 
GAMBA
2019 ZINFANDEL
STARR ROAD RANCH
 
Your Price: $49.99
 
 
“The 2019 Starr Road Old Vine Zinfandel offers a beautiful deep garnet color in the bowl of the glass, with a lush, creamy and dark berry note on the nose, with a hint of black tea and exotic spices. Notes of cola, leather, vanilla and black fruits fill the senses, and round the wine’s feel on the palate. A refined and compelling polished texture is complemented with a bright yet proportional acidity that delicately lifts and balances the wine. The pleasant spicy finish lingers on the palate, woven with a fine texture of subtle woody tones.”
2016 Maroon Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville

2016 Maroon Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSA

MAROON

SPECIAL RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2016 COOMBSVILLE 

2016 Maroon Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville
Fueled by unparalleled quality and extreme scarcity, the following for Maroon’s Special Reserve Cabernet grows stronger with each vintage. Patronage is furthered by winemaker Chris Corley’s ability to harness Coombsville fruit’s power and deliver it with finesse and elegance. The Special Reserve is created from the top-performing blocks in the vineyard and priced in line with Coombsville greats Favia, Merus, and Meteor at $160 retail; As you can imagine, at less than 1/3 of the retail price, we have great difficulty keeping it stocked. 
 
Deeper and more defined than Maroon’s other bottlings, winemaker Chris Corley introduced as little manipulation as possible during the winemaking process, allowing the remarkable terroir of Maroon’s best Vineyard Blocks to shine.
 
The 2016 Special Reserve is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and aged for a full 24 months in oak before bottling. If you’re looking for an elegant but powerful Cabernet with plenty of definition and complexity, this is it.
 
MAROON
SPECIAL RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2016 COOMBSVILLE
Retails at: $160
 
 
 
“The 2016 vintage of Maroon Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has a rich, intense nose with briary wild berries, graphite, fresh sage, and hints of vanilla. The palate is concentrated, with penetrating crushed blackberries, dense black plum, decadent cassis, and an ethereal mouthfeel. It is a concentrated and focused wine with a finish that is elegant, powerful, refined, and long. It is a gift for your mouth now and will continue to drink beautifully for another decade or more.”
97 points
2017 Beaulieu Vineyards Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

2017 Beaulieu Vineyards Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

with No Comment $100 and overCabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaRutherfordUSA

BEAULIEU VINEYARDS

GEORGES DE LATOUR
2017 PRIVATE RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON

2017 Beaulieu Vineyards Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
A wine of grand distinction, BV’s Georges De Latour Cabernet is a liquid legacy epitomizing Rutherford’s distinctive terroir with a transpicuous window into the fragrance of Rutherford and deep connection to the area’s roots. Paid homage by winemaking and fruit selection of the highest level that and even after 80 vintages the wine is as solid as ever. This 2017 offers a choreographed union of power and grace, and with double high-90s reviews, it’s a joy to behold. 
 
Beaulieu Vineyards is a timeless classic, embodying every trait that makes Rutherford so wondrous. Created from vines planted in the early 1900s, George de Latour’s first vintage was in 1936, released in 1940 to honor the winery founder’s passing. 
 
Under the guidance of one of the world’s most iconic winemakers, Andre Tchelistcheff, BV built on a reputation of excellence and achievements. Composed inside the winery’s new state-of-the-art facility, Georges de Latour perfectly balances time-honored traditions with modern technologies.
 
Fun side note, friend and former head winemaker at BV (27 years there) Joel Aiken tastes with us on our tasting panel each week.
 
BEAULIEU VINEYARDS
GEORGES DE LATOUR
2017 PRIVATE RESERVE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Retails at: $145
 
Your Price: $125
 
 
“This is one of the most balanced Georges de Latour, offering currants, minerals, fresh herbs and spices. It’s full-bodied with very fine tannins. Long and focused. Subtle and complex. Very elegant and refined in the end. Reminds me of classic, old vintages from the 1960s and 1970s. Drink or hold.”
97 Points
2019 Arbe Garbe White Blend Sonoma County

2019 Arbe Garbe White Blend Sonoma County

with No Comment $30-$40Kevin VogtProprietary WhiteSonomaSonoma ValleyUSA

ARBE GARBE

2019 WHITE BLEND
SONOMA COUNTY

2019 Arbe Garbe White Blend Sonoma County
Inspired by the Friuli region of Northern Italy, Letizia Pauletto and Enrico Maria Bertoz created Arbe Garbe to reconnect with their roots by crafting unadulterated wines, created from rare varieties common in Friuli but scarce in the New World. An essential part of their blend is Tocai Friulano, a relative of Sauvignon Blanc, of which there are 51 acres planted in California. Malvasia Bianca and Chardonnay shape the rest of the blend into a freshly focused, euphorically detailed white that’s unlike anything else from California. 
 
Winemakers Enrico and Letizia worked harvests in Friuli, well-rounding their skillsets. After arriving in the US, Enrico gained invaluable experience at Sine Qua Non, Joseph Phelps, and Flora Springs. 
 
Their 2019 release includes 50% Malvasia Bianca, an ancient variety with Greek origins contributing to the clean, crisp, laser focus. The winemaking is done naturally with gentle pressing and native fermentation, resulting in balanced, direct, and powerfully intriguing wines.
 
ARBE GARBE
2019 WHITE BLEND
SONOMA COUNTY
 
Your Price: $35
 
 
“This beautiful wine packs a one-two punch in both style and fruit character. It begins with a basket of ripe stone fruits, including peaches, nectarines, and apricots. It then follows with exotic bright citrus with pomelos, kumquats, mandarins, calamondins and carries bright florals along the way. The weight and body of this wine are rich and supple, with a degree of opulence and a bright acidity profile to keep it super fresh and clean—what a delight.”
93 Points
2018 My Favorite Neighbor Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles

2018 My Favorite Neighbor Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonCentral CoastKevin VogtPaso RoblesUSA

MY FAVORITE NEIGHBOR

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 PASO ROBLES

2018 My Favorite Neighbor Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles
Created in a collaborative spirit that calls on the best, sustainably farmed fruit from a collection of neighboring vineyards, Eric Jensen of My Favorite Neighbor believes it takes a village to make great wine. His circle includes favorite neighbor Stephan Asseo of L’Aventure, and friend Justin Smith of Saxum, whom Eric spent five vintages with, gleaning top-level winemaking. This wine gives Paso Robles an unmistakable voice, powerful enough to be heard in Napa. A $50, 96 Point Cabernet from anywhere is a dominating force.  
 
Guided by inspiration, Eric interferes as little as possible during the winemaking process, resulting in elegantly balanced wines with a salient sense of place. Modeling consistency, this wine’s cumulative average rating from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate over the past six consecutive vintages is an astounding 96 Points.
 
Impeccably farmed, Eric’s 100-acre certified organic estate vineyard on Paso’s Westside produces noble quality fruit. The 2018 blend includes 77% Cabernet Sauvignon accented with Bordeaux and Rhone varieties, aged 18 months in oak.
 
MY FAVORITE NEIGHBOR
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 PASO ROBLES
 
Your Price: $49.99
 
 
“…deep purple/ruby-hued and has slightly more red fruits with lots of black raspberry, cassis, toasted spice, unsmoked tobacco, and incense aromas and flavors. It almost has a Margaux-like perfume and is medium to full-bodied, seamless, and wonderfully balanced on the palate. Some chalky minerality comes through with time in the glass, and it has plenty of tannins and a great finish. It’s not an over-the-top blockbuster and impresses just as much for its elegance as its richness.”
96+ Points
 
“… Deep ruby-black in color, it gives up luscious crème de cassis, blackberry pie, kirsch, mint chocolate, vanilla bean, coffee and grilled meats scents with touches of tobacco and sweet spices. Medium to full-bodied, it offers intense, expertly managed, ripe fruits and loads of spices with a firm, finely grained frame and great freshness, finishing long and spicy.”
93-95+ Points
 
“Dark, bright-rimmed purple. Deeply perfumed aromas of ripe black/blue fruits, sandalwood and potpourri take on a smoky mineral nuance and a spicy top-note with air. Palate-staining blackberry, cassis, cherry-vanilla, spice-cake and mocha flavors are joined by suggestions of candied rose and cola on the back half. Finishes on an alluringly sweet dark berry preserve note, with well-knit, gently gripping tannins and sharp definition.”
94 Points
2019 Alma De Cattleya Pinot Noir Sonoma County

2019 Alma De Cattleya Pinot Noir Sonoma County

with No Comment $30 and underKevin VogtPinot NoirRussian River ValleySonomaSonoma CoastUSA

ALMA DE CATTLEYA

2019 PINOT NOIR
SONOMA COUNTY

2019 Alma De Cattleya Pinot Noir Sonoma County
At 14, how many of us knew what we wanted to do for a career? Despite growing up in Columbia with very little exposure to wine, Bibiana González Rave knew she wanted to become a winemaker. Graduating with honors from the University of Bordeaux, Bibiana gained invaluable experience at Château Haut-Brion in France, Soronsberg in South Africa, Lynmar Estate, and Peay in California before climbing the ranks at Pahlmeyer. Proving fantastic wine can be had at an accessible price, Bibiana crafts Alma de Cattleya to represent the purity of their varietals. 
 
Founded equally from Russian River and Sonoma Coast Vineyards, favoring maritime influenced sites, Bibiana’s 2019 Pinot Noir is vibrantly detailed, superabundantly fragrant, and expertly balanced. 
 
Fermenting in stainless steel open-top tanks to allow for hand-punch-downs and preserve freshness, Bibiana’s commitment to the highest quality is evident in every aspect of production. This Pinot embodies the soul of Sonoma County, and at $30, everybody should try it.
 
ALMA DE CATTLEYA
2019 PINOT NOIR
SONOMA COUNTY
 
Your Price: $29.99
 
 
“Exploding with aromas of raspberries, cherries, wild strawberries and a hint of vanilla, the mouthfeel is rich, with great texture and a supple finish.”
2016 Zuidema Grenache McGah Vineyard Rutherfor

2016 Zuidema Grenache McGah Vineyard Rutherford

with No Comment $30-$40GrenacheKevin VogtNapaRutherfordUSA

ZUIDEMA

2016 GRENACHE
MCGAH VINEYARD
RUTHERFORD

2016 Zuidema Grenache McGah Vineyard Rutherfor
Freed from a one-acre block of gnarly head-trained Grenache vines that were nearly re-planted to Cabernet, Zuidema Grenache was 30 years in the making and is a passion project by one of Napa’s most respected winemakers. Rudy Zuidema is the winemaker for Mastery and has held winemaking positions at Robert Craig, Honig, and Ehlers Estate, to name a few. His pensive winemaking style results in balanced, complex wines, deep with individuality and varietal truth. At $38, the value is unmistakable. 
 
Sourced from the McGah Vineyard in Eastern Rutherford, Zuidema Grenache powerfully reflects the area’s nutrient-rich, rocky soils and ideal microclimate. The Gobelet trained vines yield various ripeness levels, and that lack of perfect consistency is what Rudy looks for to create the naturally rustic complexity in his wine.
 
Analytically hand-harvesting, de-stemming, native yeast fermenting, and three times daily punch overs for 10-12 days, Rudy’s cumulative knowledge over the past 30 years is commanding in this wine. If you’re looking for something a little different from one of Napa Valley’s greatest terroirs, this is it. 
 
ZUIDEMA
2016 GRENACHE
MCGAH VINEYARD
RUTHERFORD
Retails at: $42
 
Your Price: $38
 
 
“The 2016 expresses incredible fruit purity and opens with aromas of cherry blossom, ripe plum, cinnamon spice, fresh strawberries, and vanilla bean. Flavors of cherry pie, wild berry jam, licorice, and orange zest, layer with subtle herbal nuances. The well-knit tannins are juicy and rustic, integrating with a clean, crisp acid profile. The wine finishes with rolling waves of black raspberry, new leather, dark spice, and graham cracker piecrust.
131 cases produced. 100% Grenache”
2013 Together Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2013 Together Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $30-$40Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaUSA

TOGETHER

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2013 NAPA VALLEY

2013 Together Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Together’s 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is flawless, deepened with six years of bottle development, accentuating the mountain fruit’s power, and Grant Long Jr’s gentle winemaking techniques. The once muscular profile is now silken, with soft tannins, balanced acidity, opulent fruit, and balanced, integrated oak. At our price, words cannot do this wine justice with how it’s drinking right now. 
 
Grant wove together Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the surrounding mountains of Napa Valley and a vintage unanimously recognized for its unrivaled quality. Robert Parker alerted readers that the 2013 vintage “…may turn out to be the finest vintage I have experienced in tasting North Coast varietals over the last 37 years.” 
 
This remarkable wine is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, enhanced with Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, which were vital in balancing the distinct Mountain terroirs. The wine was cave-aged for around 20 months in premium oak barrels, and after six years in the bottle, it’s stunningly brilliant.
 
TOGETHER
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2013 NAPA VALLEY
Retails at: $80
 
 
 
“The Precursor to the lovely 2015 and 2014 vintages that I’ve written about is the Together Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, which is an absolute delight to drink. It begins with a concentrated nose of wild berries, bramble, cocoa powder, Spring florals, and wood spice. The concentrated palate is supple and opulent, with the wine’s characteristic black cherry/berry blend balancing the brighter, fresher red fruit notes and finishing with a chocolaty characteristic. Like the two previous vintages, it is rich, densely concentrated, and powerful, and the finish is smooth, satiny, balanced, and ready to drink right now.” 
93 Points, Kevin M. Vogt, Master Sommelier