A Few of Our Favorite Things from the Domestic Wine Aisle
For the Holiday Buying Guide this year I decided to take a leaf out of Oprah’s book and present a few of my favorite things! As the Domestic Wine Buyer for K&L, I taste many thousands of wines a year: from high-end luxury cult Cabs to delicious everyday drinkers at $9.95; from solid, dependable, consistent old favorites, to the newest, most esoteric, experimental wines from folks trying something creative to get a start. My role as the buyer here is often not just to assess the quality and value presented by a certain wine, but to match it with a specific customer demand. The idea of this list is to be a little self indulgent (hey, it is the holiday season) and focus on wines that I personally enjoy to drink, share, and gift to others. Wines I believe have a broad appeal and will bring a smile to most people who taste them. And so without further ado I bring to you:
Hundred Suns
Hundred Suns is one of my favorite wineries that we work with. Across their full range of wines, everything they make is superb. As fully fledged staff favorites here at K&L, over the last few years we have put these wines into many people's hands and always get stellar feedback. Husband-and-wife team Grant and Renee are the small but mighty team behind these wines. Grant was the longtime winemaker at the iconic Beaux Freres. He has an incredible depth of connections across the Willamette Valley and is able to source the very best fruit available. They have steadily built a range of wines full of truly special bottlings that can stand toe-to-toe with the most celebrated wines of the region. The style of the wines, to me at least, is defined by a thread of generous fruit purity and silky tannins on the palate. The wines are very textural and plush, but never over-ripe or lacking in lift or vibrancy. I love that about the wines, they’re not strict, or lean, there’s lots to love about them from an approachability standpoint, and yet every wine in the range also retains its own uniqueness and says something about the vineyard site that issued forth its specific character. So many wines that try to be crowd pleasing have a tendency to become over engineered and generic. Somehow Hundred Suns manages to create wines that are universally adored, without sacrificing individuality or becoming formulaic.
From their appellation-wide “Old Eight Cut” wines, to the tiny-production single-vineyard wines, there’s something for everyone here and I’m excited to share them with you!
2022 Hundred Suns "Old Eight Cut" Willamette Valley Chardonnay $32.95 95DC A fantastically detailed and crystaline Chardonnay that really captures the potential of Chardonnay in a region often thought of as driven by Pinot Noir. Sourced from Lone Feather Vineyard in McMinnville and Cole Road Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. Vibrant, fresh, mouthwateringly tangy, and mineral infused. Chablis-like with minimal oak influence, but plenty of complexity and length on the palate.
2023 Hundred Suns Willamette Valley Gamay Noir $32.95 From mature vines in the Chehalem Mountains in fractured Basalt soils. Grant's technique here is fascinating, one-third of the fruit is fermented fully carbonic, another one-third is fermented whole-cluster, and the final one-third is destemmed and fermented. The wine is also aged in a combination of stainless steel, neutral oak, and clay amphora. Blending all these components together results in a very engaging, multifaceted wine with so much character and intrigue. Lifted and aromatic, with soft fruits and floral tones, but also some deeply savory sous bois notes and turned earth. Super cool wine that is a perennial favorite of mine.
2022 Hundred Suns "Old Eight Cut" Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $32.95 If someone asks me for an Oregon Pinot recommendation, this is by far and away the most likely wine I'll put in their hands. Hundred Suns has this appellation blend on lock. Consistently the best value in mid-priced Oregon Pinot Noir. There's enough fruit and textural generosity here that makes it easy for just about anyone to love, and yet there's tons of complexity and nuance, too. Sourced from top notch vineyards and masterfully composed to give a stunning panorama of the vintage. The 2022 Old Eight continues to build on this wine's already stellar reputation amongst our staff and customers.
2022 Hundred Suns "Bednarik Vineyard" Tualatin Hills Pinot Noir $59.95 96JD 95DC 95IWR From a small, six-acre vineyard planted in 1988 to own-rooted Pommard and Wadensvil clones. Farmed organically with loving care and attention. This is a core wine for Hundred Suns now in its seventh iteration. Subtle, grounded power and density from the heritage clones. Rich cherry fruit with lots of earthy spices, forest floor elements and an incredible silky texture on the palate. Beautiful as a young wine, but certainly has great potential to age as well.
2022 Hundred Suns "Carson Philips Vineyard" Dundee Hills Pinot Noir $54.95 97IWR 96DC 95JS A tiny production of just 150 cases, the Carson Phillips vineyard sits in a prime spot in the famed Dundee Hills home to many of Oregon's most celebrated estates. The vineyard is organically farmed by three brothers with immense attention to detail. The vines grow in classic Jory soils that produce perfumed, intense wines with plenty of mid-palate richness. The 2022 Carson Phillips is wildly aromatic with brambly fruits, baking spices, floral highlights and potting soil base tones. Once again the wine has Hundred Suns trademarked contrast of wonderful purity of fruit, plushness and silky tannins, but also complex terroir-driven characteristic and subtleties that delineate each site they work with.
Assiduous
There’s something special about selling wines that you have a personal connection to. In fact, sometimes it’s quite hard to remain subjective when assessing wines made by someone, or from a particular place that you have an affinity with. However, there’s no need to be worried about bias here! The fantastic wines from Assiduous are now tried and tested here at K&L and have grown to be some of the best-selling wines in their categories. I first met Keegan Mayo, the winemaker and sole proprietor of Assiduous wines, back in 2010 while working in the cellar at Testarossa Winery in Los Gatos. Keegan and I became friends and have kept in touch frequently ever since. Back in 2010 Assiduous was merely an idea. In fact one of the very first wines Keegan ever made on his own was a half ton of Green & Red Tip Top Vineyard Zinfandel that year! Fast forward several years and K&L became one of Keegan’s first wholesale customers as he increased production to more than just a few dozen cases. An instant hit with our sales staff, Keegan’s trips over HWY 17 from Santa Cruz to hand-deliver the wines quickly became a little more frequent than was practical! The next year some great write ups in local press and some scores from the Wine Enthusiast meant the wines went from our favorite in-store hand-sells to fully realized email blasts to our mailing list where the wines grew and grew in popularity. These days we sell a good proportion of Assiduous' total production and subsequent visits to the winery and vineyards that Keegan sources from has cemented these wines into K&L Staff Pick lore.
Keegan’s wines are very non-interventionist in style, though he shies away from the natural wine label preferring stability and consistency over dogmatic adherence to any ideology. Small amounts of sulfur are the only things added or taken away in the vast majority of his wines. He utilizes native yeasts and almost entirely neutral oak for aging. The wines all speak of coastal California, focused largely on the Santa Cruz Mountains with a couple forays into Monterey County. The wines have a cool climate sensibility and restraint about them. With his outgoing, affable personality, and relentless work ethic, Keegan has managed to foster relationships with some of the very best grape growers in the region (sourcing such gems as old-vine Cabernet from the historic Bates Ranch)! Never one to rest on his laurels, Keegan’s range of wines under his own small label continues to grow now encompassing Grüner Veltliner from Monterey, several single-vineyard Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, plus Malbec, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. All small-production, hand-crafted wines, all extremely well priced!
Here’s what we currently have from Assiduous:
2022 Assiduous Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Gris $19.95 A wine that really speaks of its coastal origin (hence the kelp on the label). After being crushed and spending 12 hours on skins, the Pinot Gris is pressed off to neutral French oak and stainless-steel drums. Keegan likes to allow the wine to ferment quite warm, allowing some of the more fruity elements to blow off and create a more savory, textural, mineral-driven wine. Such a delicious, mouthwatering wine that is very versatile with seafood or salty appetizers.
2022 Assiduous "Mesa Del Rio Vineyard" Monterey County Grüner Veltliner $19.95 I don’t carry many Grüners from California, quite honestly because its hard to complete with the quality and value you can get from Austria. But…some are totally worth your time, and this little gem from Assiduous is excellent! From a sustainably farmed vineyard on a terrace overlooking the Salinas River. Cool, windy conditions and very gravelly soils produce concentrated, aromatic fruit. The wine is fermented with native yeast and aged four months in tank and four months in neutral oak. Minimal sulfur was the only addition. Juicy key lime pie notes, crushed quince, riverstone mineral, hints of almond paste. Beautiful wine that has raciness and breadth at the same time. One of my favorite examples of domestic Grüner.
2023 Assiduous "Regan Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir $29.95 Keegan’s day job is being winemaker at Bargetto Winery in Santa Cruz. Bargetto’s estate vineyard is Regan Vineyard in the hills above the small town of Corralitos. From this essentially “estate” vineyard Keegan selects one of his favorite blocks of Pommard Clone Pinot Noir for this bottling. Destemmed fruit is fermented with native yeast and rested in neutral oak for 10 months. The sandy soils of this area give beautiful lift and vitality to the wine with black raspberry, pomegranate, and spiced citrus peel. Then the ultra cool climate here just a few miles from the Monterey Bay means the wine also leans into the more savory, earthy, gamey elements of the varietal. It is a fascinating wine with so much going on in the glass.
2023 Assiduous "Volkmann Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir $29.95 Composed of three different Dijon clones (777, 667, 115) always comes across to me as a more restrained wine than the Pommard Clone based Regan bottling. Volkmann always has a really strong sense of place—the wine is packed with Coastal Redwood grove aromas, sous bois, dried mushroom, wild berries, bay leaf and winter spices. Elegant and supple on the palate, medium bodied, with fresh acidity. Such a beautiful food friendly wine with immaculate balance and purity. A quintessential expression of Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir.
2022 Assiduous "Bates Ranch" Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon $34.95 One of the true highlights in the range, the Bates Ranch Cab is phenomenal and a fantastic value given the pedigree of the historic site in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. Farmed by legendary viticulturist Prudy Fox, Keegan gets a mixture of old vine fruit (30-year old) and some younger vine fruit (15-year old). He loves how the older heritage clones lend a muscular savory intensity and grit to the wine, while the younger block gives more fruit, perfume and softness. The wine gets a modest amount of top-quality American oak, a tip of the cap to Ridge Monte Bello that is famously aged in American oak. Briary dark berries, lavender, mulberry, mountain chaparral, star anise, cigar box notes. Structured and serious, but very refined and accessible even as a young wine. Exceptional value.
$100(ish) Napa Cabs That Compete with the $500 Ones
A quick look at my Customer Profile at K&L will tell you a few things about my buying habits. It’s kind of like those Spotify and Amazon Music “Wraps” that encapsulate your year of listening to music (sometimes a little embarrassingly I add…I never really thought about my commute karaoke session data being compiled and analyzed!) You’ll see from my K&L habits that I drink equal parts Astral Blanco Tequila, Plymouth Gin and Old Speckled Hen English Ale (not combined thankfully). You’ll also see that I LOVE a deal. Sure I understand that sometimes making a splurge on an expensive bottle is fun and justifiable, but I drink wine just about daily and quite frankly have to seek out wines that over-deliver. One of the very hardest categories to achieve that in is Napa Cabernet. Yet, I’m not willing to give up on it! Napa Cab is a very special thing. I live in the valley and understand the magic that comes from these soils and climate.
2018 Meteor "Perseid - Estate" Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon $99.95 (EW $150) 97VN This is a very serious, age worthy, pedigreed bottle of Napa Cabernet from an exceptional vineyard site. Meteor is a small vineyard in the heart of Coombsville, just east of the town of Napa, in the valley's coolest region sub-region. The vines grow in very rocky volcanic soils and cooled throughout the growing season by breezes off the nearby San Pablo Bay with daily fog common in June and July. The natural intensity of the fruit this site produces is nicely tempered by Bill and Dawnine Dyer who craft the Meteor wines (when they're not crafting their own stunning wines from their tiny vineyard on Diamond Mountain). The Dyers bring an old-school sensibility to the wine striving for varietal typicity, classical structure, and restraint. The wine is bursting with brooding, deep black fruit, mulberry, plum, blackcurrant, mingling with leather, manzanita chaparral, crumbly rock, wild sage, and some hints of tobacco and leather. If a standing rib roast is in your plans this holiday season… this should be a very strong contender to serve by its side!
2019 Mt. Brave Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon $99.95 (EW $125) 97D JS96 96VN A consistently excellent and highly acclaimed expression of Mt Veeder Cab. Mt Brave comes from the same stable as much more expensive wines such as Lokoya and Cardinale and is made by the inimitable Chris Carpenter. I love how this wine retains its immensely powerful core of mountain fruit, but also has such beautiful floral high tones, dried lavender, wild mint, elderberry and liquored cherry. I've long appreciated Carpenter’s ability to take mountain fruit with huge power and structure but manage to retain a brightness and elegance in the wine. This wine has a long drinking window, drink now or lay it down for 30 years. You choose!
2021 Complant "UC Davis - South Station Vineyard" Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon $99.95 A very unique wine with an incredible story behind it. Complant is a small label made by father and son team Dan and Sam Baron. Dan was, amongst other things, the longtime winemaker at Silver Oak. He also worked at Chateau Petrus and Dominus with Christian Moeiux. Sam is currently the winemaker for Ashes and Diamonds in Napa. The UC Davis South Station Vyd is sandwiched right in between Opus One's southern To Kalon Vineyard to the east, and (Heitz) Martha's Vyd to the west. Other neighbors include Harlan and Vine Hill Ranch all on the west Oakville bench. Park of the original 1840s Hamilton Crabb's Tokalon Ranch. This is about as good site for Cabernet as you can find on the planet. Aged in 22% new French oak. An incredibly elegant, Bordeaux-inspired wine with beautiful clarity and purity of fruit. Just 93 cases were made.
2021 Far Niente Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $99.95 96JS When folks ask me for a Napa Cabernet that really delivers for the price and has some brand recognition and pedigree, Far Niente is high up on my list. For decades they have made delicious, polished Cabs from some of the very best vineyards in the region. A large portion of this blend comes from the West Rutherford bench combined with fruit from Calistoga, and Oakville. It's sauve and luxurious but without being over the top. There's no jaminess here, just perfectly ripe fruit and nice varietal qualities, and polished tannins. The 2021 has impeccable balance and is a stunning wine all around.
2021 Chimney Rock Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon $109.95 95JD 94 WS #5 Wine of 2024 A visit to Chimney Rock earlier this year simply reinforced my belief that these wines are some of the most distinctive and engaging in all of the valley. On several occasions at the annual Napa Premier celebration the Chimney Rock wines have been clear standouts amongst many much more expensive wines. I had the chance to walk a few vineyard blocks behind the winery and was excited to see several old heritage clones of Cab including a personal favorite, La Cuesta Clone. This selection of Cabernet was purportedly taken from Chateau Margaux in the 1880s and planted in Woodside, CA. From there it found a home at Martin Ray / Mount Eden and in the 1940s became the backbone of Ridge Monte Bello. If you're seeking a more old school style of Napa Cab, but one that still has some heft and rich fruit, look no further. This is a structured, muscular wine combining effusive black fruits, with camphor, graphite, leather, bay laurel, cedar and rock dust. For bone-in red meat. Winemaker Elizabeth Vianna is in top form here as evidenced by this being named the #5 Wine of 2024 by the Wine Spectator.
Winery-Direct Library Offerings
Who doesn’t love to get some beautifully aged wines with perfect provenance direct from the winery!? Right now we have some really fun verticals from two of my absolute favorite Napa producers who both make classically styled, age worthy wines that just get better and better with age. Both of these have limited quantities so act fast if you don’t want to miss out!
Forman
Legendary, yet somewhat reclusive (his words, not mine) winemaker Ric Forman has just completed his 57th harvest in Napa Valley. However, as he toured me around his incredible estate on the slopes of Howell Mountain earlier this fall, I would have believed him if he told me it was his 57th birthday not working vintage! Ric seems absolutely energized and inspired to continue crafting magical wines from his spectacular vineyard and his are no less exciting than they were in the 1980s. At 80 years of age he’s still very much the hands-on winemaker, politely excusing himself at the end of our visit as he was eager to get back into the underground barrel cave to continue filling barrels with the newly composed 2024 Estate Cab. The perilously steep and rugged mountainside property consists of several distinct parcels of vines demarcated from one another with towering piles of volcanic boulders extracted from the hillside (often with dynamite) when developing the vineyard back in the late 1970s. This terroir is very distinctive, the fractured granite bedrock, manzanita trees and other mountain chaparral scrub surrounding the vines (some of which are now 40+ years of age). Ric’s expression of this place has stayed true over the years, a powerful Cabernet that reflects its mountainside locale and west-facing aspect, but with a steadfast commitment that wines must taste like Cabernet and retain the savory aspects that define the varietal. I’ve loved these wines for almost 20 years, but having finally made it up to the property and had a chance to walk the vines with their longtime steward I’m even more infatuated with them than ever. Right now we have the honor of selling 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2019 Cabs—all direct from the winery and in perfect condition.
2014 Forman Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Winery Direct Library Release) $99.95 96DC 94JG 94VN
2015 Forman Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Winery Direct Library Release) $99.95 96VN
2016 Forman Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Winery Direct Library Release) $99.95 94VN
2019 Forman Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $129.95 97VN 96JD
Dyer
Another winery that is small in stature yet mighty in my eyes is that of Dyer. This tiny property of just two acres, located high on Diamond Mountain, produces wines in a timeless style with incredible longevity and elegant intensity. The property sits next door to the iconic Diamond Creek Vineyard and shares much of its character. Founded back in 1996 by Bill and Dawnine Dyer. Together they personally hand-tend the vines, make the wines, pack and ship the orders - this is a true boutique production of just 300 cases total! The wine itself strikes a perfect balance between old-school, mountain-grown Cabernet with a slightly more modern, accessible fruit profile. These medium bodied, Bordeaux inspired wines are typically highly aromatic with plenty of lavender, cassis, tobacco, cedar and soil driven tones. As with Forman, we’re super lucky right now to have a selection of vintages with perfect winery-direct provenance so you can enjoy these wines with a nice bit of bottle age when they truly start to sing. We also have a sharp price for Insider’s Advantage members to sign in to reveal an excellent price for these beautiful wines!
2016 Dyer Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon (HIDDEN) 95WA 95JD
2017 Dyer Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon (HIDDEN) 95VN 94RP
2018 Dyer Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon (HIDDEN) 96VN 93JD
2019 Dyer Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon (HIDDEN) 96WA 96VN