Napa Valley: A Millionaire’s Playground? Or Something for Everyone?
Ryan in the cellars at Mayacamas.
Three and a half years ago I moved to Napa Valley. After 15 years of visiting the region to taste and learn about its wines I became a “local.” Friends and colleagues had mixed reactions to my new home ranging from “Oh, isn’t Napa just an adult Disneyland for rich people?”… to “Wow, there’s so much cool stuff happening in Napa these days.” Well, after a few years of living in the valley I’ll say that both assumptions were correct! If you’re a millionaire with plenty of disposable income, you can most definitely come to Napa and have a blast. You can spend as much money as you want on highly curated, luxury experiences, $1000 bottles, Michelin Star dining, and boutique hotels. However, on a visit to Napa you’ll also find a thriving agricultural community, young winemakers from all over the globe working in a melting pot of vinous cultures. There are epic food trucks lining Soscol Rd with Google Stars in place of Michelin ones. There are old-school, multigenerational farming families working tirelessly, like their grandparents before them, to eke out a living from this special land. You’ll see lavish, palatial wineries with the latest hi-tech equipment. You’ll also find folks working out of humble industrial units, foot-treading grapes in well-worn fruit bins; borrowing, sharing, collaborating with their neighbors to try and get a start in a business that requires passion, hustle, and grit if you don’t have bottomless pockets. I had long known that Napa produced world-class wines of pedigree, longevity, and opulence. What I didn’t know about Napa before moving here was the depth and variety of the winemaking culture and community. While the scope of this newsletter is focused on Bordeaux varietals (there’s so much beyond Cabernet in Napa) even within this particular genre of wines there’s a huge range of styles, prices, and ideologies to be found in the valley and I’ll do my best to cover some of them here.
2023 Anonymous Wine Collective Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon $39.95 (Elsewhere $120) I’ll start with one of the very latest releases from our very own Anonymous Wine Collective range because it’s a perfect example of the contrasts that exist in Napa. This wine was made by a one-man show producer, in a small, humble winery. The blend consists of just a few barrels of single-vineyard Yountville Cabernet. Just 104 cases were made. However, the vineyard where this fruit was grown sits at the heart of this highly renowned appellation, surrounded by wineries that bottle their wines with $300-$400 price tags. In fact, this very same fruit now goes into prestigious bottlings from one of the most lavish wineries in the valley. With our inside connection and no middlemen we’re only charging you for what the quality of the wine in the bottle requires; no charge for immaculate landscaping at the winery, nor a huge interior design makeover at the tasting room. Legit fruit, from a great vineyard, crafted by hand with passion and precision.
2024 Turnbull "Estate" Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc $24.95 Turnbull is one of my go-to producers in Napa Valley for consistently excellent and fairly priced wines. The Sauvignon Blanc is a combination of estate-grown fruit from Oakville and Calistoga. The wine is predominantly aged in stainless steel, but also portions in concrete, and neutral oak. Some Musque clone gives great aromatic lift. On the palate there’s lovely fruit, but also great tension and focus. Dependably delicious.
2024 Ghost Block "Estate - Morgaen Lee Vineyard" Yountville Sauvignon Blanc $24.95 Another of my perennial go-tos, the Ghost Block wines are farmed and made by the Hoxley family who have some incredible estate holdings in Yountville and Oakville. This multigenerational family is committed to organic farming and the ongoing sustainability of grape growing in Napa. This bottling is named after fifth-generation family member Morgaen Lee and comes from some of the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vines in Napa Valley, planted in 1978 and grafted onto St. George rootstock. The vines are dry-farmed and CCOF certified organic. The blend is 98% Sauvignon Blanc and 2% Semillon and the wine is aged on fine lees for seven months before bottling. Beautiful depth and texture underpin the purity of fruit and soaring aromatics. This is a wine you can quaff without care or study for its subtle nuances, whatever takes your fancy.
2024 Farella "Estate" Coombsville Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc $24.95 Never an after thought at Farella, this estate has been committed to top-quality Sauvignon Blanc for many decades when others ripped out Sauv Blanc vines to plant more valuable Cabernet Sauvignon (even when the soils greatly favored Sauvignon Blanc). One of the most vibrant and laser-focused expressions of the grape in Napa, the cooler climate and volcanic soils of Coombsville, plus all stainless-steel elevage keep this wine wonderfully crisp and bright. The quality and concentration of the fruit here means that wine never lacks intensity and depth.
2023 Arietta "On The White Keys" Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc - Sémillon $69.95 97VN For many vintages now I’ve considered this wine to be perhaps the premier expression of a white Bordeaux-styled wine coming out of Napa. A combination of 59% Sauvignon Blanc, 19% Sauvignon Musque, and 22% Sémillon. The wine is barrel fermented and aged nine months in 25% new French oak, 47% seasoned French oak, and 28% stainless steel. Incredible focus, intensity, coiled power and tension on the palate. The oak is perfectly integrated. Highly complex with wonderful potential to age gracefully.
2021 Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $49.95 94JS 93DC Freemark Abbey has one of the most storied histories in all of Napa Valley. From its founding in 1881 right before phylloxera decimated the industry, through to numerous changes of ownership, being the only winery to have both a red and white wine included in the fabled Judgement of Paris Tasting in 1976. To a more recent rising from the ashes under the ownership of Jackson Family. But to keep things simple, I’ll just get to my point—I think this is one of the very best bottles of Napa Cab you can buy for the money. The wine, crafted by the immensely talented Kristy Melton, is founded at its core on some of the very best vineyards in the valley. Taking fruit from estate vineyards primarily in Oakville and Calistoga (with a smattering of other sources) the wine strikes a perfect balance of classic proportions with modern purity and refinement. Exceptional value for money that’s true to its long history and pedigree.
2023 Château la Grande Roche (Forman) Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Elsewhere $50) $39.95 The Forman wines are undeniably some of the most incredible wines coming from the region in the past few decades. I’ve been lucky enough to taste a great number of them over the years and even had the pleasure of exploring the vineyard with Ric Forman himself. However, today I chose to highlight the second label of Forman, Château la Grande Roche. Essentially a wine declassified from the estate top cuvée, but still representing this unique and iconic estate on the steep slopes of Howell Mountain. Named for the enormous volcanic boulders that litter the hillside around the pockets of vines, this wine gives you a glimpse of this incredible property for a very affordable price point. The 2023 reflects the picture-perfect growing conditions and is one of, if not the finest Grande Roche I can remember. A blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Cabernet Franc.
2021 Hendry "Estate" Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $59.95 As I’ve written time and time again, Hendry Winery is one of the most under-valued, under-the-radar estates in Napa Valley. Now into the fifth generation to farm this ranch since the family purchased it back in 1939, this jewel of an estate at the base of Mount Veeder, overlooking the town of Napa, is one of the most “authentic” producers you could ever find in a world of continued corporate consolidation. A true family operation with three generations actively involved, this winery operates more like a traditional European domaine than a modern Napa winery. The vineyard is home to some of the oldest Chardonnay and Cabernet vines in the valley planted in 1973 on St. George rootstock. Cabernet from this site was sourced for some legendary wines made by Robert Mondavi and Opus One in the late 1970s early 1980s when Hendry Cabernet was championed for giving a more muscular structure to the To Kalon fruit! To this day the house style here is big, bold, powerful wines with brooding fruit, mountain-like structure and a slightly more old-school flavor profile. A serious bottle of estate Cab for a very modest price!
2019 Shypoke Calistoga Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $59.95 From one historic, family owned winery to another. Shypoke is the family property and brand of winemaker Peter Heitz (no relation). Peter, more famous for his long tenure as winemaker at Turnbull, makes small amounts of wine from his family’s property in Calistoga where they have grown grapes since 1904. These tiny-production wines pay homage to the five generations that have grown grapes here, and many generations before that who grew grapes in Alsace before emigrating to the U.S. A rich, powerful wine with tons of dark fruit, floral aromatics, loamy earth, ripe tannins and lush texture on the palate. Another amazing value for a boutique, hand-crafted, estate-grown wine.
2021 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon $59.95 97WE 97DC Longtime favorite at K&L and recent recipient of some MASSIVE scores from multiple publications, Smith-Madrone is long on authenticity and pedigree and very lean on commercial fluff and unnecessary expense. If I didn’t know Stu Smith, founder and owner, I’d be worried that these significant accolades would go to his head and precipitate enormous price increases. However, that’s just not how things work up there on the remote and rugged slopes of Spring Mountain. Since inception in 1971, Smith-Madrone has very much marched to the beat of their own drum. Ignoring fashions and being guided by what the mountain gives seems to have stood them in very good faith thus far, and I don’t think that’s about to change anytime soon. Classically styled, ageworthy, varietally correct, mountain-grown Cabernet that can and does embarrass its much more flashy and expensive neighbors.
2019 Inglenook Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon $79.95 95JS 94VN I’ve long thought that this wine represents a wonderful value in modern day Napa Valley. Or to be more precise, modern day west Rutherford bench. In my opinion this small sub-region of the valley is hallowed ground for why Napa Cab is what it is today. Inglenook’s historic estate sits very much in the sweet spot of this area on a picture perfect alluvial fun sloping down off the Mayacamas. Immediate neighbors include Scarecrow, Staglin, Morisolli, Bosche, Greer, and others. Some older bottles of Inglenook I’ve tasted from back in the 1960s rank up there with the finest aged Napa Cabs to have ever passed my lips. This special place seems to balance out Napa’s easy, fruit-forward opulence with a healthy dose of savory Rutherford dust, and a more elegant impression from the afternoon shading of the mountains. The winemaking team led on the ground by Jonathan Tyer and overseen by Philippe Bascaules (who spent the past 30 years at Chateaux Margaux) is making wine of stunning purity, intricate texture and nuance. I would never go on the record saying a wine is under-priced… but this does kind of feel like a bargain all things considered!
2019 Farella "Estate" Coombsville Napa Valley Merlot $39.95 An OG producer, the founder of the now very fashionable Coombsville AVA, Farella is a perfect example of old-school producers committed to wines of terroir and modest price points are still alive and well in Napa. Founded by his father Frank Farella in 1985, Tom Farella has now been the custodian of this incredible estate since 1991. An area once considered too cold to ripen Cabernet Sauvignon is now an epicenter of some of the most characterful, ageworthy Cabernets coming out of Napa. The wine winery at Farella is humble, nestled against the hillside of Mount George (an extinct volcano) shaded by beautiful old oak trees, looking out over the gently sloping vines. A step back in time echoed by the classically styled wines that favor elegance, balance and structure over brute force and extraction. While Cabernet Sauvignon is the calling card here, their Merlot is an absolute standout and a wine that deserves attention. I’ve tasted Merlot from Farella with multiple decades of age on them and they’re simply stunning. For a Pomerol challenger look no further than right here!
2021 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $124.95 97DC 96WE Any article about Napa Cabernet with a mention of Cathy Corison would be incomplete and lacking. The Queen of Cabernet in the Valley, the diminutive yet revered Cathy Corison has a career spanning five decades of making world-class Cabernet in Napa for the likes of Freemark Abbey, York Creek, Staglin, Chappellet, and of course for 38 years at the helm of her eponymous winery just south of St Helena on the western bench. Corison’s wines essentially represent a genre all onto themselves. The power and elegance they embody is mindblowing. As Napa has stylistically drifted with the powerful currents of fads and trends within the wine world, no winemaker has steered a more even course than Cathy. She quietly goes about her business making just about everyone else look amateur. One of the most deserving legends of a generation or two!
If you do intend to part way with some more significant dollars for some top notch Napa wines, please allow me to suggest a few wines that I think are most definitely worth the money:
2021 Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon $184.95 98JD 97VN Mayacamas is a property that in my mind is a singular, unique place that produces wines of such distinction it deserves a special place in the narrative of Napa Valley. The history and tradition of this place carries such reverence it’s an almost spiritual place to visit. The winemaking team are so humble and almost self-deprecating in their respect for the terroir and culture of the winery. They are always speaking to the sense of place and never about their own inputs. I’ll never forget a visit here during Premier Napa Valley one year that contrasted so poignantly with some of the other more brash, egotistical, even narcissistic qualities that were on display elsewhere. It seems to me that when the place has so much to say in the wines that it issues forth, there’s no real need for others to try and bulk out the messaging. The 2021 from Mayacamas is set to be a monumental wine. It is relatively tight and coiled right now, but I have no doubt, even in this youthful stage, that it will grow to become an all-time bottling from here.
2019 Ad Vivum "Sleeping Lady Vineyard" Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon $199.95 98DC 97WA 97JD For the past five or so years I’ve tried to turn just about as many people as possible on to the incredible wines of Ad Vivum. To sum up the back story here, Ad Vivum is the personal project of winemaker Chris Phelps. Unlike some of his peers, Chris has never really basked in the limelight of his achievements in his illustrious career and is certainly not a household name. However, after becoming friends with mentor and vigneron Christian Moueix, Chris worked at Château Petrus in Pomerol and several other Moueix properties in the region. Earning his trust and respect, Moueix then handpicked Chris to return home to California and become the founding winemaker of his new venture in Napa Valley—Dominus Estate. So, for the first 12 vintages Chris helped elevate Dominus to the upper echelons of collectible wines in Napa Valley. He has also worked at Inglenook and Caymus. In 2007 Chris started his own label, Ad Vivum, focused on a single vineyard, just down the road from Dominus, called Sleeping Lady. Similar to Dominus, this vineyard sits on a perfectly orientated alluvial fan of gravel at the base of the Mayacams. Immaculately farmed by the Bettinelli family, this site has become one of the most revered in the valley for classically styled, Bordeaux-inspired Cabernet. On numerous occasions, in rooms full of the most expensive and celebrated Cabs in Napa, I have found this wine to be the most compelling and refined. A true synthesis of a magical vineyard and a master of his craft.
2022 Quintessa Rutherford Bordeaux Blend $249.00 99DC 97JS And last but certainly not least, a wine that for me is always a contender for wine of the vintage, the very special 2022 release from Quintessa. I love this estate’s commitment to producing one wine that holistically reflects the given season. While much of the valley has seen a shift towards more and more single-vineyard, single-block wines; the strength and beauty of Quintessa lies in the incredible diversity of the estate. The vineyard has been farmed organically for many decades and is certified CCOF Organic and Demeter Biodynamic. The many parcels of vines planted across the estate cover just about every possible aspect and row orientation. The estate has three vastly different soil types and many more subtle variations within those. Renowned geologist Brenna Quigley has studied the property in depth and worked with the team at Quintessa to dial in every aspect of their farming to the nuances of the land. The eastern portion of the estate that adjoins the Silverado Trail is home to distinct white, volcanic ash soils. The mid portion of the estate, the rolling hills that surround Dragon's Lake in the center, is defined by very rocky, cobblestone soils of volcanic basalt and obsidian rock that has tumbled down from the Vaca Mountains. The far western edge of the estate is skirted by the Napa River. Here the vines grow on a bench of alluvial gravel with lenses of fine silts and clays. The wine whilst predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon also incorporates several other Bordeaux varietals. Winemaker Rebekah Wineburg and Estate Director Rodrigo Soto worked their magic with this wine that shows zero negative effects of the vintages punishing heat. A simply phenomenal wine that is complete in every possible way.