2018 MaCo Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2018 MaCo Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaOak KnollUSA

MaCo

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY 2018

2018 MaCo Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Expert viticulturist Roberto Corona and wine aficionado Jesus Maciel created a dynamic equilibrium when they founded MaCo Vineyards in 2009. They’ve since developed a standard of excellence for Napa Valley’s Oak Knoll District. The vineyards are located on the western side of Silverado Trail near Soda Canyon Road, facing east, receiving copious amounts of California sunshine before being cooled nightly by the region’s breezes from the San Pablo Bay, helping maintain a bright acidity.
 
The second generation of MaCo Vineyards, Alvaro Camacho, pulled up to our tasting in his farm truck to present his family’s wines to our tasting panel, making it evident that he was serious about the MaCo Vineyards legacy. 2018 in Napa was a vintage for the record books, and MaCo’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon impressed us as soon as the bottle was opened, signaling a promising future for years to come.
 
MaCo
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY 2018
Retails at: $100
 
 
 
“The 2018 MaCo Cabernet Sauvignon opens with notes of lavender, blueberry, blackberry jam, black currants, wet stones, cloves, and earth. On the palate, flavors of black raspberry, marionberry pie, and cocoa are concentrated and balanced by fresh acidity. This wine’s fine-grained tannic structure and intensity promise longevity and the ability to evolve in the cellar if you have the patience to do so.
94-95 Points
2006 Pella Cabernet Sauvignon Star Vineyard Rutherford Napa Valley

2006 Pella Cabernet Sauvignon Star Vineyard Rutherford Napa Valley

with No Comment $40-$50Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaRutherfordUSA

PELLA 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
STAR VINEYARD RUTHERFORD
NAPA VALLEY 2006

2006 Pella Cabernet Sauvignon Star Vineyard Rutherford Napa Valley
Kristof Nils Anderson is the founding winemaker of Gargiulo Vineyards in Oakville and Scribe in Sonoma and is famous for the way he makes tannins “dance” on the palate in his terroir distinctive wines. His wines are known to have extended aging potential and the ability to evolve into magic in the glass, and Pella, a personal label named after his daughter, is the epitome of this signature style.
 
The fruit for this bold 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from the exemplary Star Vineyard in Rutherford, farmed by none other than renowned viticulturist David Abreu. The wine was aged for two years in fine-grained Tonnellerie Demptos Barrique Reserve French oak barrels before its long journey in the bottle leading to this magic.
 
On a side note, we are lucky to have Joel Aiken, an expert in Rutherford terroir, on our tasting panel. Joel spent 27 years as BV’s winemaker, and he agrees this wine is precisely what a supremely well-made Rutherford Cabernet should be.
 
PELLA 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
STAR VINEYARD RUTHERFORD
NAPA VALLEY 2006
Retails at: $100
 
 
 
“I don’t get overly excited about many wines, particularly if they have any extended age. Age, for the sake of age, is not my thing. Extended cellaring that transforms a bottle of wine into something otherworldly, now you have my attention. The 2006 Pella Star Vineyard Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon, yes 2006, no typo here, is drinking otherworldly now. Still inky in the glass, it begins with a powerful nose of briary black currants, freshly ground espresso beans, milk chocolate, and sweet vanilla spice. The palate is rich and decadent with deep black fruits, concentrated Creme de Cassis, delicate florals, and an unbelievably supple mouthfeel. The finish is very long, linear, expansive, and as compelling as you might hope to experience. Perfection is difficult to achieve and even harder for me to acknowledge, but this wine is about as close as I have seen. Simply brilliant!” I tasted two bottles over several days, and my notes are consistent. Wow!
98 Points
2021 Sanna Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valle

2021 Sanna Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley

with No Comment $30-$40CoombsvilleKevin VogtNapaSauvignon BlancUSA

SANNA

SAUVIGNON BLANC
NAPA VALLEY 2021

2021 Sanna Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valle
Kristof Nils Anderson has been making wine in the Napa Valley since the early 1990s and is the founding winemaker of Gargiulo Vineyards in Oakville and Scribe in Sonoma. He gained invaluable experience on the scientific side of winemaking while working at ETS Wine Labs in St. Helena and is now known for his terroir-distinctive style that presents with precision balance, finesse, and length. 
 
Sourced from a single vineyard in Coombsville, this 100% Musque Clone Sauvignon Blanc was fermented in stainless steel, preserving its purity, fresh fruit character, and zesty vibes. Kristof created this wine as a homage to his daughter, and with just 75 cases produced in 2021, don’t hesitate to secure yours to enjoy and enliven your summer.
 
SANNA
SAUVIGNON BLANC
NAPA VALLEY 2021
Retails at: $42
 
 
 
“The Sanna 2021 Sauvignon Blanc opens with fresh aromas of elderflower, pink grapefruit, lime zest, fresh-cut grass, and passion fruit. On the palate, the wine’s lively acidity perfectly complements the bright fruit flavors like honeydew melon and lychee. This wine is an excellent pairing for warm summer days but still has the sophistication to accompany a fine dining experience.”
94 Points
2018 AXR Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2018 AXR Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $70-$80Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaSaint HelenaUSA

AXR

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY 2018

2018 AXR Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
AXR’s historic estate in St. Helena sits at the base of the Mayacamas range, where sedimentary soils accumulated from thousands of years of runoff, resulting in a geography that produces wines of enviable character. The mastermind behind their wines is Jean Hoefliger, who’s drawn experience working in the cellars at Chateau Carbonnieux and Chateau Lynch-Bages in Bordeaux, bringing a Grand Cru Classé element to his new-world wines.
 
The 2018 AXR Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon exemplifies the estate’s benchmark style with powerful, lush tannins and rich flavors, arising from a vintage the Wine Spectator describes as “spectacular.” If you’re looking for a pedigreed, super high-scoring Napa Valley Cabernet under $100, this one’s pretty darn incredible.
 
AXR
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY 2018
Retails at: $88
 
Your Price: $79.99
 
 
“Wonderful aromas of currants, plums, lavender, slate and violets follow through to a full body with tight, chewy tannins that are polished and beautiful. Lovely texture and firmness to the opulent, vivid fruit. Opulence with form. Give this at least four or five years to come together. A blend of key single vineyards. Try after 2024.”
97 Points
 
“Refined in rich red fruit, savory spice and bolts of black pepper, this lovely appellation wine shows a roundedness and length—the tannins sweet and well integrated. Dark-plum, cherry and mocha flavors layer atop the smooth texture, providing tremendous quality and complexity for the price.”
95 Points, Editors’ Choice
2019 Calera Pinot Noir Central Coast

2019 Calera Pinot Noir Central Coast

with No Comment $30 and underCentral CoastKevin VogtPinot NoirUSA

CALERA

PINOT NOIR
CENTRAL COAST 2019

2019 Calera Pinot Noir Central Coast
A pioneer in domestic Pinot Noir, Josh Jensen founded Calera’s vineyard at an elevation of 2,200 feet on Mt Harlan after discovering the area’s limestone soils were similar to those in Burgundy, providing the depth and complexity to some of the world’s most well-respected wines.
 
Calera wines represent an American spirit with a French influence, and the Central Coast Pinot Noir sets a precedent for this old-world style in California and offers remarkable value. This 2019 vintage balances power and elegance with gorgeous red fruits, spice, silky tannins, and linear focus.
 
CALERA
PINOT NOIR
CENTRAL COAST 2019
Retails at: $30
 
Your Price: $26.99
 
 
“The Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir 2019 is a beautiful interpretation of New World Pinot Noir made in an Old World style. It begins with a nose of tart cherry, pomegranate, hibiscus petals, and hints of cloves. The bright, focused palate elegantly displays red cherry/berry characteristics followed by black tea and an interesting saline/liquid mineral complexity that draws you in for another sip. This wine is certainly one of the best value Pinot Noirs available in a daily-drinker price range.”
92 Points
2019 Domaine Curry Gentlemans Cut Napa Valley

2019 Domaine Curry Gentlemans Cut Napa Valley

with No Comment $70-$80Kevin VogtNapaProprietary RedUSA

DOMAINE CURRY

GENTLEMAN’S CUT
NAPA VALLEY CUVEE 2019

2019 Domaine Curry Gentlemans Cut Napa Valley
Domaine Curry is the culmination of a deep appreciation for wine, family, friends, and the moments shared with the people we love the most. Ayesha Curry is a New York Times best-selling cookbook author, a familiar face on several cooking shows, including the Food Network, a restaurateur, and one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 for “most influential food and wine businesswoman.”
 
Ayesha partnered with her sister-in-law Sydel Curry and CEO John Schwartz, proprietor at Amuse Bouche, Vin Perdu, and Coup de Foudre, offering the perfect balance of entrepreneurial spirit and expertise. The Gentleman’s Cut Cuvée is a Bordeaux-style blend from choice vineyards curated to celebrate Ayesha and Sydel’s husbands, Stephen Curry and Damion Lee, with 40% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot, 15% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Malbec each playing their part in this decadent blend.
 
DOMAINE CURRY
GENTLEMAN’S CUT
NAPA VALLEY CUVEE 2019
Retails at: $80
 
Your Price: $75
 
 
“Domaine Curry 2019 “Gentleman’s Cut” Cuvée begins with violets, red plum, blackberry, crushed volcanic rock, cloves, oregano, and sweet baking spices. The wine has soft tannins giving a lush mouthfeel with flavor intensity and a long finish reminiscent of black cherry and milk chocolate. The 2019 vintage has a warm approachability with a fine structure for aging, so don’t feel guilty about drinking a bottle tonight, but a bit of time in the bottle will reward those with patience.”
94 Points
2018 Wightman Pinot Noir Russian River Valley

2018 Wightman Pinot Noir Russian River Valley

with No Comment $30-$40Kevin VogtPinot NoirRussian River ValleySonomaUSA

WIGHTMAN

PINOT NOIR 2018
RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY

2018 Wightman Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
The Russian River Valley produces some of California’s most distinguished Pinot Noirs due to the sandy loam and Goldridge soils and their proximity to the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean. Wightman’s founder and vintner Justin Harmon worked under 100 Point winemaker Russell Bevan for several years, honing his craft, so he understands how to capture the texture and intensity of the region’s terroir with its opulent, ripe fruit, fresh acidity, and spice.
 
Justin sourced the fruit for this outstanding Pinot Noir from an assortment of Heritage clones: Wadenswil, Pommard, and Martini, harvested from vineyards in the rugged hills on the edge of the Russian River AVA. The wine was aged for 16 months in 30% new French oak giving some spice but allowing the beautiful fruit to shine, making a grand impression on our tasting panel. Now, we can’t wait to share it with you.
 
WIGHTMAN
PINOT NOIR 2018
RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
Retails at: $49
 
 
 
“The Wightman Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2018 begins with a nose that includes cotton-candied raspberries, cola bean, delicate fresh green herbs, light florals, and cinnamon hints. The palate has bright, elegantly concentrated red cherry/berry fruit with a liquid saline complexity, hints of toasty oak, and a beautiful combination of fruit extraction and mouth quenching acidity. This release is a lovely, classic Russian River Valley Pinot Noir that is ready to drink now but will cellar nicely over the next eight years.”
93 Points
2018 Wayfarer Pnot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview

2018 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview

with No Comment $90-$100Fort Ross SeaviewKevin VogtPinot NoirSonomaUSA

WAYFARER

PINOT NOIR
WAYFARER VINEYARD
FORT ROSS-SEAVIEW 2018 

2018 Wayfarer Pnot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview
Throughout his career, acclaimed Napa Valley vintner Jayson Pahlmeyer became increasingly enamored by Burgundian wines, leading him to search for the world’s finest vineyards for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the early 1990s. After a deal fell through in Burgundy, Jayson’s winemaker Helen Turley brought him to an organic farm for sale on the extreme Sonoma Coast that she felt had all the essential elements to be the ‘La Tache of California.’
 
Jayson purchased the property in 1998, and legendary viticulturist David Abreu planted the Wayfarer vineyard in 2002. The fruit was initially blended into Russian River fruit for the Pahlmeyer label until 2012, when the exceptionally high quality of the harvest demanded a brand of its own. Each block for the 2018 vintage was handpicked before sunrise and hand-sorted to guarantee only the healthiest grapes selected, producing elegantly structured wines with intense flavors, bright acidity, and incredible precision.
 
WAYFARER
PINOT NOIR
WAYFARER VINEYARD
FORT ROSS-SEAVIEW 2018 
 
Your Price: $98
 
 
“The 2018 Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard has a medium ruby color and slowly opening perfume of garrigue, dried orange peel, prosciutto and rose petals with mineral-laced cranberry and red and black berry fruits. The medium-bodied palate, grainy and incredibly fresh, slowly gains in flavor amplitude and nuance in the mouth, ending in a fanfare of spicy detail.”
98+ Points
 
“…This deeper ruby/purple-hued effort offers an awesome bouquet of black raspberries, scorched earth, toasted spices, and flowery incense. It’s rich, medium to full-bodied, and a stunning effort.. Bravo!”
96 Points
2018 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Aligote Burgundy

2018 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Aligote Burgundy

with No Comment $30-$40BurgandyFranceKevin VogtWhites

ALEX GAMBAL 

BOURGOGNE ALIGOTE
BURGUNDY 2018

2018 Alex Gambal Bourgogne Aligote Burgundy
Burgundy is synonymous with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; however, a few vineyards grow lesser-known varieties, such as Aligoté. It takes a lot to stand up to the quality and hierarchy of the region. Still, Aligoté currently represents six percent of plantings in Burgundy, and it’s beginning to make a comeback thanks to increased knowledge in the vineyard, restricting yields and creating more intensely captivating fruit.
 
Vines aged 25 to 40 years in the southern part of the Côte d’Or in Auxey-Durresses are the source of the concentrated, complex fruit for this profound example of Aligote. The grapes are hand-picked, fermented in neutral oak, and aged for 12 months, adding body to the light, refreshing nature of the variety.
 
ALEX GAMBAL 
BOURGOGNE ALIGOTE
BURGUNDY 2018
 
Your Price: $35
 
 
“The Alex Gambal 2018 Bourgogne Aligoté opens with fresh notes of elderflower, honeycomb, lime zest, a hint of vanilla, brioche, and bright minerality. On that palate, the wine has a crisp acidity with flavors of green apple, lemon, and pastry dough. The invigorating style of this wine makes it very easy to sip in the afternoon, especially on a warm summer day.”
94 Points
2017 Juslyn Perrys Blend Spring Mountain

2017 Juslyn Perrys Blend Spring Mountain

with No Comment $50-$60Kevin VogtNapaProprietary RedSpring MountainUSA

JUSLYN

PERRY’S BLEND
SPRING MOUNTAIN 2017

2017 Juslyn Perrys Blend Spring Mountain
Juslyn Vineyards’ proprietors, Perry and Carolyn Butler, came to Napa in 1997 from the tech industry, bringing a high level of quality expectations and detail-oriented nature. Winemaker Angelina Mondavi exceeded those expectations beginning her career at age 10 in the lab at her family’s winery, Charles Krug, and now has 28 harvests under her belt. She also has an undergraduate degree from Villanova University with a major in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Oenology from the University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus.
 
Since her return to Napa in 2007, Angelina’s had the opportunity to work with many acclaimed winemakers, including Stacy Clark at Pine Ridge and Jayson Woodbridge of Hundred Acre. She carefully crafts Perry’s Blend as a Left Bank Bordeaux-style Red that changes each vintage but is based around a core of Cabernet Sauvignon enhanced primarily with Cabernet Franc, proudly conveying the Spring Mountain prestige and classic character.
 
JUSLYN
PERRY’S BLEND
SPRING MOUNTAIN 2017
Retails at: $110
 
 
 
The 2017 Juslyn Vineyards Perry’s Blend is an exceptional example from Spring Mountain opening with an incredible depth of aromas, with wild black currants, black tea, balsamic, cloves, fresh roses, and volcanic rock. The palate mimics the nose with its deeply concentrated flavors adding blackberries, black olives, dark chocolate, and a hint of aniseed. A linear structure of flavors reveals a very concentrated and focused wine with a solid tannic structure and bright acidity that will keep this wine fresh, alive, and age-worthy for at least another 12 to 15 years.” 
94 Points