The Wide World of Cabernet Sauvignon
It's easily the wine world's most famous red grape, and while most wine lovers have a general conception of what constitutes a "typical" Cabernet, a deep dive into the history and diversity of this incredible varietal quickly reveals that there's no such thing as typical Cab. From Bordeaux to Napa to the farthest reaches of the Southern Hemisphere, Cab thrives and offers wine enthusiasts nearly unlimited opportunities for exploration, so we invite you to join us a trip around the wide world of Cabernet Sauvignon.
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A Renewed Excitement for Napa Valley Cabernet
In July of 2022 I moved with my family to Napa Valley. Despite the Bay Bridge commute testing me at times, the move has been incredible for getting to know the U.S.’s most iconic wine region much more intimately. Observing from afar, it’s easy to lump all of Napa Valley together as an adult “Disneyland” of homogenous, over-priced, over-hyped wines with little sense of place. However, when you get to spend lots of time here—the more you explore, the more back roads you turn down, the more vineyards you walk—it becomes increasingly clear that despite the commercial success and sometimes inflated price points, Napa Valley is undeniably a phenomenal, distinctive, and radically diverse place to grow grapes.
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Around the World with Cabernet
Cabernet Sauvignon’s origins are believed to stretch back to France’s Aquitaine region in the 1600s. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s that U.C. Davis researchers determined through genetic testing that this beloved grape is a cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Sequencing the genome in 2007 unlocked even more valuable insights into the origin, breeding, and characteristics of one of the most beloved cultivars on the planet.
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Rare Napa Cult Cab Collectibles Have Hit Our Auction Feed
This week on the blog, we are celebrating the inimitable Cabernet Sauvignon grape, and we are excited to kick it off by featuring the wines of an impeccable collection of super-rare Napa Cult Cab at our auction. Not only do these have perfect provenance—the collector is the original owner; the wines were purchased directly from the winery and stored in a professionally managed cellar—these are mostly 100 point wines that we just don’t get access to very often.
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Holiday Buying Guide: What Would Woodhouse Drink?
Domestic Wine Buyer Ryan Woodhouse has a fantastic job. Because he’s located in Napa, he has access to small, independent winemakers and the most prestigious cult winemakers in the business alike. You’ll often find him out and about in vineyards and cellars all around California with some of the brightest lights making wine today. Because of those personal connections, he brings us remarkable deals in Domestic wine that would be impossible otherwise. The other thing to know about Ryan: his palate is impressively elegant. When he picks out a wine, you can bet it’ll have gorgeous acid structure and depth of character. His California wines are not jammy; they’re not hyper-experimental or trendy. They are well-made testaments to this new era of winemaking in the U.S.—one that is in its sweet spot of sophistication and artistry. Below are his picks for the holidays.
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The New Tastemakers of California and Washington Wine
There's a never a shortage of new developments to share on the domestic wine front. Starting with our Key Accounts Team's Northern California Report, we dive into some of the benchmark properties in Napa and Sonoma to see what's on the horizon for collectors. Then Domestic Buyer Ryan Woodhouse shines the spotlight on three of his favorite boutique projects making waves among the most clued-in connoisseurs. Finally, a tantalizing sneak peek at Napa's upcoming 2021 releases has everyone in a festive mood for the upcoming holiday season.
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The 2021 Vintage in Napa Valley: Rising From the Ashes
All in all, 2021 is potentially an exceptional vintage; its only downside is limited availability due to low yields and the giant void left in the market from many wineries deciding not to produce any red wines in 2020. It's still fairly early days in the 2021 release cycle, but the wines that have already hit the market are showing this is potentially a vintage for the ages.
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WeatherEye Vineyard: The Most Ambitious Vineyard Project in Washington State
WeatherEye Vineyard, on the ridgeline of Red Mountain in Washington, is without doubt one of the most exciting vineyards anywhere in the United States: a site so radical, its implementation has been 15 years in the making! The incredibly rocky, volcanic soils, constant wind, elevation, and lengthy growing season give the wines immense concentration and structure. Even though the vines are relatively young, the intensity of the wines here is already formidable.
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Soulful Wines from Desire Lines
One of the favorite things about my job is seeking out small producers making interesting wines. I love working with people who are really just beginning on their journey and climbing on board with them to see where it goes. I first met Cody and Emily Rasmussen of Desire Lines Wines back in May of 2019 at a very memorable “Shades of Shake Ridge” event in the Sierra Foothills. … There is something so authentic and genuine about them as people and that in turn is encapsulated in their wines. The wines embody a true passion and love for the craft of making wines with a palpable sense of place. They are soulful wines of minimal intervention, yet are also precise and refined. Every part of the process from the selection of vineyard sites, meticulous farming, astute subtle winemaking, hand-drawn label art… everything is done with the utmost care and deliberate attention to detail.
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Small-Production Wines in Santa Cruz: Alfaro Family Vineyards and Farm Cottage
I have long believed that the Santa Cruz Mountains are a truly special place to grow grapes. This rugged coastal range forced up by the collision of two tectonic plates has an incredible bounty of complex soils. It’s a geological kaleidoscope of ancient uplifted seabed, volcanic deposits, and metamorphic rock bent and twisted by the immense pressures below. All of this is churned up by the San Andreas fault and weathered down by several millennia of coastal storms.
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Exploring the Latest Releases from the Napa and Sonoma A-List
To someone outside of California, saying “North of the San Francisco Bay” would indicate a large territory, including the lumping of Sonoma and Napa Counties together. Being just a quick 30-minute drive apart from each other means that many out-of-town visitors make plans to hit both areas in one go, especially for wine tasting expeditions. Yet, separated by the Mayacamas Mountain Range, these two wine-driven counties are, surprisingly, incredibly different from one another—in personality, in terroir, and ultimately in the wines that they produce. A few weeks ago, the Key Accounts team had an opportunity to spend a day in Sonoma and surrounding areas, and a day in Napa, side by side.
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The 2021 Vintage: Brilliance in Napa and Sonoma
After traveling around the world and talking to one producer after another, you can tell the difference between a vintage that needs to be explained, and one that speaks for itself. The 2021s in both Sonoma and Napa seem to be the latter.
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