2018 Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon

2018 Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain

with No Comment $100 and overCabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaSpring MountainUSA

BARNETT VINEYARDS

2018 RATTLESNAKE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
SPRING MOUNTAIN DISTRICT

2018 Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon
Barnett’s 2018 Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon walks a tightrope of perfection, led by superior concentration, fruit intensity, and overall balance, staying on your mind for weeks after tasting it. The wine emerges from a small rocky knoll on the estate at 2,050′ elevation, blended with the most exceptional barrels of their Estate fruit, meticulously scrutinized by winemaker David Tate throughout elevage.
 
Rattlesnake Hill Cabernet made its debut in 1991, prompting a handwritten congratulatory letter from Robert Parker stating, “I’ve only been compelled to do this twice in my career before, but enclosed you will find a personal check for 2 cases for my cellar.” Their team’s unwavering use of traditional techniques and micro-managing production has solidified them as a paragon on Spring Mountain for more than 30 years, and this wine represents the pinnacle of their achievements. 
 
BARNETT VINEYARDS
2018 RATTLESNAKE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
SPRING MOUNTAIN DISTRICT
 
Your Price: $195
 
 
Our tasting panel tastes thousands and thousands of wines every year, many of them super high-scoring. Even so, there are very few that are so mind-bogglingly great from the first sip that they virtually require you to continue discovering their secrets. The 2018 Barnett Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon from Spring Mountain is undoubtedly one of those super-compelling wines that dials everything into perfection. It begins with a very intriguing nose, including black currants, graphite, light menthol, cocoa powder, and the aromas of walking through a cedar grove after rainfall. It continues with a very compact, concentrated palate of muddled blackberries, black raspberries, baker’s chocolate, and saline minerals, along with hints of green peppercorn. Then, just saying the finish is long and complex is an understatement. The waves of balanced fruits and flavors not only dance across your palate for over a minute, but they also penetrate your very being. This stunner is a spectacular bottle of wine, and I can’t wait until the next time I get to taste it again.”
98 Points, #1 WCC Top 5 Wines of 2021
2016 Anthem Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder

2016 Anthem Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder

with No Comment $60-$70Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtMt VeederNapaUSA

ANTHEM 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2016 MOUNT VEEDER

2016 Anthem Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder
Selected for its powerfully expressive, vividly detailed, and incomparably hedonistic qualities, Anthem’s 2016 Mount Veeder Cabernet is a show-stopper so irresistible that it was nearly impossible to keep stocked in the tasting room. Jeff Ames, the winemaker at TOR and Rudius, crafts Anthem Cabernet to showcase power and restraint while simultaneously exhibiting a stunning level of depth and persistent intensity, setting it apart from others.
 
Anthem winery is steadfast in creating exceptional quality Cabernets from distinctive Mountain AVA’s in Napa Valley. They’ve assembled a powerful team led by highly-respected viticulturist John Truchard and, as mentioned earlier, winemaker Jeff Ames. The winery’s production team is free to vinify without regard for cost, making every decision solely on its impact on the quality of their wine. All of this is present in their wines, and this 2016 release is their most remarkable yet.
 
ANTHEM 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2016 MOUNT VEEDER
Retails at: $125
 
 
 
“The 2016 Anthem Cabernet Sauvignon is an explosion of intense aromas beginning with violets, lavender, cassis, black plums, black cherries, balsamic reduction, black tea, graphite, and earth. The pronounced flavors penetrate the palate with great depth and firm tannins for a completely mouth-coating texture that slowly dissipates into the background. Drinking this wine is a truly ethereal experience, and its structure gives it the ability to be aged for several years of pleasure.”
95 Points, #3 WCC Top 5 Wines of 2021
2017 Frisson Cabernet Sauvignon Alluvium Coombsville

2017 Frisson Cabernet Sauvignon Alluvium Coombsville

with No Comment $30-$40Cabernet SauvignonCoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaUSA

FRISSON

2017 CABERNET SAUVIGNON
ALLUVIUM COOMBSVILLE

2017 Frisson Cabernet Sauvignon Alluvium Coombsville
Frisson is a French word defined by a sudden feeling of excitement or thrill; Taking inspiration from this, Frisson Cabernet is mindfully crafted in a magnetic style, awakening your senses with intensely compelling characteristics, drawing you in with soul-stirring energy. The winery’s Alluvium Coombsville Cabernet whispers the region’s spirit with persuasive power and polished confidence, leaving a positive impression at its $115 retail price and a frisson at $36.
 
Focusing on revealing Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley’s leading sub-appellations most dynamic features, Frisson proprietors drew on Coombsville’s gravelly loam soils and cooler climate that naturally encourages balanced fruit in creating this masterpiece. This wine embodies the proprietor’s mission of creating boutique wines from grapes grown in superior terroir, transforming them into balanced wine with a sense of place. Frisson offers exceptional value at our Customer Appreciation Week Price.
 
FRISSON
2017 CABERNET SAUVIGNON
ALLUVIUM COOMBSVILLE
Retails at: $115
 
 
 
“Frisson’s 2017 Alluvium Coombsville Cabernet is striking in the glass with a deep, brooding, inky-purple color. This full-throttle wine begins with a powerful nose that includes very ripe dried plums, dried cherries, black currants, dried herbs, Asian spices, light florals, and bramble. The intense palate has concentrated black fruits with black plums, black cherries, vanilla hints, and exotic spice. This is certainly no cocktail wine, and it begs to be enjoyed with food. I had it with orange-barbecue glazed pork, and it was delightful.”
91 points
2018 Dolum Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Cask #28 SLD

2018 Dolum Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Cask #28 SLD

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaStags LeapUSA

DOLUM ESTATES 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2018 CASK #28
SLD (STAGS LEAP DISTRICT) 

2018 Dolum Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Cask #28 SLD
Dolum Estate’s Stags Leap District Cabernet is a classic example of the region’s best attributes, with penetrating fruit, vibrant detail, and mouth-quenching acidity. Stags Leap District has unique terroir marked by the heat reflecting off the rocky cliffs, balancing the cooling breeze from the South, producing powerfully captivating and intensely concentrated Cabernet grapes.
 
Dolum’s vines emerge from nutrient-deficient shallow, sandy loam soils over thick red clay, forcing the roots deep into the earth, extracting minerals, and illuminating their site-specific terroir with power, intensity, grace, and balance. Winemaker Chad Alexander’s background in soils science and experience making wine at Hess Collection and Robert Craig wineries brought this wine to the next level, resulting in a profound depth of flavor that remains elegant and finely balanced.
 
DOLUM ESTATES 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2018 CASK #28
SLD (STAGS LEAP DISTRICT) 
Retails at: $120
 
Your Price: $48
 
 
“This is one of those “Wow” wines that when you taste it, you instantly realize it is something special. The rich nose begins with blackberry syrup, bright cassis, vanilla crème, elegant florals, menthol, and sun-baked stones. The palate has a beautiful concentration of black and red fruits, including Burgundy plums, red currants, and crushed black cherries, intertwined with a touch of dried herbs, cracked black pepper, and espresso roast. The concentrated finish is linear, expansive, and long, wrapping your palate in a mouth-quenching satin blanket. Unfortunately, it looks like the bottle will run out long before my enthusiasm does.” 
95 Points
2019 Silver Ghost Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2019 Silver Ghost Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $30-$40Cabernet SauvignonCalistogaKevin VogtNapaRutherfordUSAYountville

SILVER GHOST 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2019 NAPA VALLEY

2019 Silver Ghost Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Named after Weston Eidson’s great-grandfather’s love for the legendary automobile of the same name- the 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Silver Ghost Napa Valley Cabernet embodies the same precision, power, and class. Weston’s winemaking parallels in quality, gaining much of his experience from mentors Jason Moore and Russell Bevan.
 
Crafted from a selection of high-quality grapes from Rutherford, Calistoga, and Yountville, Silver Ghost is bold and expressive with 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 5% Petite Verdot aged 22 months in 50% new French oak barriques. This value-driven wine compares to other Napa Valley Cabernets that are double and triple the price and thoroughly impressed our tasting panel when it stood out in a lineup of a few dozen respected producers within Napa Valley.
 
SILVER GHOST 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2019 NAPA VALLEY
Retails at $40
 
Your Price: $35
 
 
“I’m always impressed by the quality to value this producer offers in his wines, and this new release is another absolute winner. The 2019 Silver Ghost Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon begins with a nose including black cherries, pink peppercorns, dried sage, bay leaf, and violets. The palate showcases red currants, wild red berries, fresh tobacco leaf, cardamom, delicate mint, and oak spice. While this bottle will certainly benefit from a few extra years of aging, it is drinking beautifully now and will continue to for another decade.”
92 Points
2018 Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain

2018 Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District

with No Comment $100 and overCabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaSpring MountainUSA

BARNETT VINEYARDS

2018 RATTLESNAKE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
SPRING MOUNTAIN DISTRICT

2018 Barnett Vineyards Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain
Representing the highest level wine possible from Barnett Vineyards, Rattlesnake Hill comes from a small rocky knoll on the estate at 2050 elevation, blended with the crème de la crème barrels of their Estate fruit, meticulously scrutinized by winemaker David Tate throughout elevage. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 vintage rattles your senses with euphoric complexity, penetrating fruit, and indescribable length. 
 
Rattlesnake Hill Cabernet made its debut in 1991, prompting a handwritten congratulatory letter from Robert Parker stating, “I’ve only been compelled to do this twice in my career before, but enclosed you will find a personal check for 2 cases for my cellar.” Their team’s unwavering use of traditional techniques and micro-managing production has solidified them as a paragon on Spring Mountain for more than 30 years, and this wine represents the pinnacle of their achievements.  
 
BARNETT VINEYARDS
2018 RATTLESNAKE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
SPRING MOUNTAIN DISTRICT
 
Your Price: $195
 
 
“Our tasting panel tastes thousands and thousands of wines every year, many of them super high-scoring. Even so, there are very few that are so mind-bogglingly great from the first sip that they virtually require you to continue discovering their secrets. The 2018 Barnett Rattlesnake Cabernet Sauvignon from Spring Mountain is undoubtedly one of those super-compelling wines that dials everything into perfection. It begins with a very intriguing nose, including black currants, graphite, light menthol, cocoa powder, and the aromas of walking through a cedar grove after rainfall. It continues with a very compact, concentrated palate of muddled blackberries, black raspberries, baker’s chocolate, and saline minerals, along with hints of green peppercorn. Then, just saying the finish is long and complex is an understatement. The waves of balanced fruits and flavors not only dance across your palate for over a minute, but they also penetrate your very being. This stunner is a spectacular bottle of wine, and I can’t wait until the next time I get to taste it again.”
98 Points
2016 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Lot C-91

2016 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Lot C-91

with No Comment $90-$100Cabernet SauvignonHowell MountainKevin VogtNapaOakvilleRutherfordSt HelenaUSA

HEITZ CELLAR

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2016 LOT C-91
2016 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Lot C-91
Joe Heitz pioneered single-vineyard wines in Napa Valley, and in 1969 he blended select plots from his most prized vineyards, discovering that he could create a wine with the qualities he desired most – aging potential, complexity, and depth. Lot C-91 encompasses this art of assemblage, gracefully presented with concentrated fruit, focus, and sophisticated complexity. 
 
Heitz is a historic winery that continues to pursue the same traditional, age-worthy style for which they’re well known and respected. For the last 50 years, Heitz Cellar has sourced fruit for Lot C-91 from premium parcels in St. Helena, Oakville, Rutherford, and Howell Mountain, representing a step-up in quality, achieving the density and length of a genuinely fantastic wine, which recently earned an extraordinary score.
 
HEITZ CELLAR
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2016 LOT C-91
 
Your Price: $99.99
 
 
“Blue fruit with stone, lavender and currant aromas and flavors. Fresh herbs too. Medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins. Such firmness and focus and beauty. A blend of all their top single vineyards. Drink or hold.”
96 Points
2018 Erickson & Caradin Ivy & Thistle Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak

2018 Erickson & Caradin Ivy & Thistle Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak

with No Comment $40-$50Atlas PeakCabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaUSA

ERICKSON & CARADIN

2018 IVY & THISTLE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
ATLAS PEAK

2018 Erickson & Caradin Ivy & Thistle Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak
True wine lovers and collectors in their own right, Erikson & Caradin set out to create Cabernet Sauvignons that top the highest standards. The two found their beginnings in 2013 when they sold the entirety of their small production to good friends and select restaurants. They continue to remain craft-focused today, with only 50 barrels produced across eight separate designations.
 
The 2018 Ivy & Thistle is the fourth vintage of one single row of Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the steepest part of the Atlas Peak Vineyard, providing intensely concentrated and expressive mountain fruit. The cool vintage allowed for a longer hang time, producing beautifully complex fruit that winemaker Kevin Morrisey fermented in concrete before aging in second-use barrels. These practices encourage the fruit’s natural expression of its terroir to be the main focus in this limited-production Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
ERICKSON & CARADIN
2018 IVY & THISTLE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
ATLAS PEAK
Retails at: $140
 
Your Price: $49
 
 
“The 2018 Erikson & Caradin Ivy & Thistle Cabernet Sauvignon has pronounced aromas of lavender, purple lilacs, black currants, black plums, cardamom, and graphite. The flavors are rich and intense on the palate with black cherries, crushed blackberries, dark chocolate, and dried herbs. The wine is full-bodied with velvety tannins and a very smooth, persistent finish that is drinkable today or can be aged up to 10 years.”
93 Points
2018 Calculated Risk Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville

2018 Calculated Risk Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaOakvilleUSA

CALCULATED RISK

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 OAKVILLE

2018 Calculated Risk Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville
Dedicated to crafting wines that express their true sense of the land and natural varietal character, Calculated Risk’s Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon is a textbook example of the winery’s driving force. Oakville’s notorious complexity is powerfully bestowed and incarnated with robust intensity, keen focus, and lasting balance. 
 
Winemaker Dwight Bonewell added two Oakville Vineyards together; Money Road, near Oakville’s center, and a State Lane property bordering Yountville AVA, creating a broad interpretation of Oakville terroir, equaling a balanced, polished easy-drinking style. Priced in line with many Oakville neighbors at $120, at $46, it doesn’t take a calculus degree to sum up this deal… 
 
CALCULATED RISK
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 OAKVILLE
Retails at: $120
 
Your Price: $46
 
 
“Plenty of ripe berries and cherries here with some chocolate and hazelnut undertones. It’s full-to medium-bodied with round tannins and a flavorful finish. Shows richness with balance…”
93 Points
2018 Sebright Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2018 Sebright Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $60-$70Cabernet SauvignonCalistogaKevin VogtNapaUSA

SEBRIGHT

2018 RESERVE 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY

2018 Sebright Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Named after the Silver Sebright bantam chickens that help maintain the biodiversity of their environmentally friendly farmed vineyards, Sebright Cellars quietly produces superior quality boutique Cabernet from their own single-acre Garnett Creek Vineyard in Calistoga. Double planted to clone 7, a clone also used by Screaming Eagle, Sebright’s vineyard produces concentrated fruit enriched with minerality and fresh acidy.
 
Veteran Calistoga winemaker Tom Eddy’s vast experience gives him the tools needed to lucidly reveal the vineyard’s site-specific terroir with singular focus, robust fruit character, and structure for aging. Their 2018 vintage is magnificent, and so if you haven’t tried Sebright before, and you’re looking for a wine that none of your friends have heard of but will rock them to their core when they try it, this is it.
 
SEBRIGHT
2018 RESERVE 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY
Retails at: $125
 
 
 
“The Sebright Reserve Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 begins with a deeply extensive, sultry nose that includes crushed blackberries, blueberry cobbler, black currants, baking spices, and violets. These aromas dance in unison with a concentrated palate of burgundy plums, bing cherries, crushed earthy minerals, and black tea, combined with a focused intensity to the fruit. The finish is balanced, with power, finesse, and satiny tannins that create a long, plush finish. This outstanding wine is delightful to drink now but will reward collectors with 15 or more years of enjoyment.”
96 Points