• Cabernet Sauvignon,  California,  Exceptional Red,  Merlot,  Napa

    Exceptional Red

    Napa Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 The winery was founded by Charlie R. Woods on five and a half acres of prime Oakville soil. In the 1970s, he built a geodesic dome there to store barreled wine, and he concentrated on making reds, in particular Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery changed hands a number of times before being purchased in 1996 by Koerner Rombauer and Rich Frank. A decade later, the Trinchero family was looking for a winery property that would capture the essence of Napa. Napa Cellars, with its ideal Oakville location and fame for luscious Chardonnay and authentic Napa reds, was the obvious choice. Winemaker Joe Shirley came…

  • Cabernet Sauvignon,  California,  Cellar Selection,  Merlot,  Napa,  Petit Verdot

    Cellar Selection

    Cade 2013 Howell Mountain Napa Cabernet Sauvignon In 2005, John Conover, Gavin Newsom and Gordon Getty founded CADE Estate Winery on Howell Mountain as a complement to the valley floor terroir of PlumpJack Winery. Like PlumpJack, CADE takes its name from Shakespeare, who used the term to refer to the wine casks or cades used to transport wine from Bordeaux to England in Elizabethan times. Deep purple red with concentrated aromas of black berry fruit and subtle spice, a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot and 6% Merlot. The palate blackberry, plum and cacao flavors with pepper and cinnamon, very complex, with cedar notes. Well structured with firm…

  • Cabernet Franc,  Cabernet Sauvignon,  California,  Cellar Selection,  Napa,  Petit Verdot

    Cellar Selection

    Robert Mondavi Oakville BDX 2012 Robert Mondavi established his namesake winery in 1966 with a vision to create Napa Valley wines that would stand in the company of the world’s finest. He chose To Kalon Vineyard in the heart of the Napa Valley as the home for Robert Mondavi Winery. This first-growth vineyard, located in Oakville, California, is renowned for producing some of the finest wines in the world. A special wine not produced every vintage, BDX presents a different expression of Oakville in a Bordeaux blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The wine sat on French oak (55% new) for 28 months. Aromas…

  • California,  Exceptional White,  Napa,  Sauvignon Blanc

    Exceptional White

    Hall Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Kathryn Walt Hall is the proprietor of Hall Wines and has been involved in the California wine industry since her family first purchased a vineyard over thirty years ago. She has had a distinguished career as a successful businesswoman, community activist, and most recently as the United States Ambassador to Austria. Kathryn Hall and her family have been grape growers in Mendocino County since 1972. The Walt family owns 63 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in the Redwood Valley and has sold their grapes to such wineries as Fetzer, Parducci and Beringer. Kathryn managed the family vineyard from…

  • California,  Chardonnay,  Napa,  Weekend Selection

    Weekend Selection

    Miner Napa Valley Chardonnay 2014 Following a number of years spent working in the software industry, Dave Miner got his start in wine in 1993 as President of Oakville Ranch Vineyards, owned by his late uncle, Robert Miner. Having spent years as an enthusiastic wine consumer and collector, Dave had a natural affinity for the business. In 1998 Dave and Emily Miner, founded Miner Family Winery tucked along the eastern hills of the Oakville appellation in the heart of Napa Valley Aged for 10 Months, 30% New French Oak, sunshine yellow with full concentrated stone fruit aromas. On the palate crisp apple, melon and citrus flavors with gentle toasty oak…

  • California,  Merlot,  Napa,  Weekend Selection

    Weekend Selection

    Nickel & Nickel 2012 Merlot Suscol Ranch Nickel & Nickel winery, located in Oakville, Napa Valley, produces 100 percent varietal, single-vineyard wines that express the distinct personality of each vineyard. Established by the partners of Far Niente in 1997, Nickel & Nickel is focused on producing single-vineyard wines from the appellation’s most significant vineyards. Construction of a cutting-edge winery facility housed within a vintage 1880s farmstead was completed in the summer of 2003, when the winery officially opened to the public. Merlot is often thought of as the little brother of Cabernet Sauvignon and the two varietals are frequently blended together. Yet, when grown in the right places, Merlot makes…

  • Cabernet Sauvignon,  California,  Cellar Selection,  Napa,  Petit Verdot,  Rutherford

    Cellar Selection

    BV Georges De Latour Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 In 1900, when Georges de Latour’s wife, Fernande, first laid eyes on the land that would become their original Rutherford vineyard, she named it “beau lieu,” or “beautiful place.” Shortly thereafter, de Latour sold his thriving cream of tartar business, bought the four-acre ranch and founded Beaulieu Vineyard with the vision of making Napa Valley wines that would rival those of his native France. When prohibition hit most wineries shuttered, Beaulieu Vineyard increased its business fourfold by selling sacramental wine to the Catholic Church. After the repeal in 1933, Georges de Latour became dedicated to the research and innovation that would bring about…

  • Cabernet Franc,  Cabernet Sauvignon,  California,  Cellar Selection,  Merlot,  Napa

    Cellar Selection

      Mt. Brave Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Mt. Brave pays homage to the pioneering spirit of those who settled the rugged terrain of Mt. Veeder during the 1800s and a tribute to the Wappo Indians, “The brave ones,” the original inhabitants of this special land they called home. Mt. Brave Vineyard was originally purchased in 1841, before the gold rush which forever changed California. Mt. Brave sits above the fog line, with morning sun warming the grapes each day. Soils are a sparse, gravelly loam. Nutrients and minerals are scant, resulting in tiny berries with concentrated and complex flavors. A blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 4% Cabernet…

  • California,  Carneros,  Cellar Selection,  Chardonnay,  Napa

    Cellar Selection

    Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay 2012 Shafer Vineyards traces its beginnings to 1972 when John Shafer left a 23-year career in the publishing industry and, with his family, moved to the Napa Valley to pursue a second career in wine.  After purchasing a 210-acre estate in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District, the Shafer family faced the arduous task of replanting the existing vineyards, which dated to the 1920s, and terracing the steep and rocky hillsides, eventually expanding vineyard acreage to its current 50 acres.  From a modest beginning of 1,000 cases in 1978, the winery has grown steadily until reaching its present size of 32,000 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot,…

  • Cabernet Sauvignon,  California,  Cellar Selection,  Napa

    Cellar Selection

    Caymus 2012 40th Anniversary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon In 1971 Charlie Wagner and his wife Lorna Belle Glos Wagner asked their son Charles  (Chuck) Wagner, who had just graduated from high school, if he would be interested in joining them in starting up a winery. If Chuck declined the offer, Charlie and Lorna were planning to sell out of their ranch in Napa Valley and move to Australia. Chuck accepted his parents’ offer to launch the winery, Caymus Vineyards. The Wagners produced their first vintage in 1972, consisting of 240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then, Caymus has focused their efforts in the production of quality Cabernet Sauvignon. Back in…