Why does our staff Choose a Particular “Club” Wine?
NVWE has multiple wine clubs and we spend a lot of time deliberating about what is to go into them. There are specific reasons a wine might be appropriate for Club inclusion and some of these are obvious, some not. A wine might be appropriate due to its price vs value; immediate appeal or ageability, fame and scarcity, uniqueness or distinction. All these may be important, but they are not alone in interest to our staff or importance. I can use our March 2026 Cab 6-pack to illustrate our particular way of thinking for this box. Of course, to begin with, each wine fits nicely within our quality requirements and the group are representative of the retail price and value that we promise our Club Members.
2019 Behrens Family “Spare Me”, Napa Valley
Behrens began in 1994 (then called Behrens & Hitchcock), making very fine wines, primarily Napa Cabernets which they gave several extra years in the cellar before release, a boon to any Cabernet customer. These bottlings aged very well but were on the upper end of the ripeness scale, so not all were everybody’s stylistic ideal. They did have a steady following however and sold well. Sadly, in the 2020 Napa Fire Behrens winery burned to the ground. At that time, Behrens made more than half a dozen Cabernet bottlings annually, yet only five barrels of one bottling survived the 2020 fire (without smoke taint, however). Recently we learned that this wine was coming on the market and after tasting it, we bought it. Many times over the years a Behrens Cab has appeared in our club and we missed the winery’s style, personality and quality, as did many Cabernet Club members. At its selling price it fit nicely as well.
2023 Carter Cabernet Sauvignon “The Carter”, Napa Valley
Carter makes about eight Napa Cabernets, powerhouse wines, primarily from well-known and highly regarded Napa vineyards. Their To Kalon O.G. bottling may be the longest aging Napa Cab we typically carry (the 2001 and 2002 are reportedly still in their glory), but the O.G. now approaches $300. per bottle. “The Carter” is the winery’s favorite barrels blend. It can vary in character each year, depending on Mother Nature’s hand and the ultimate fruit source. The 2023 tasted to us like To Kalon, but with a softer edge, and its price was a fit, making it a happy choice.
2023 Deauratus Cabernet Sauvignon Jillian Rose Vineyard, Paso Robles
Our sample of the inaugural 2022 vintage of this bottling (tasted last year) came with an intriguing story (or rumor?), but that first wine was not so enticing as the story. So we anxiously awaited our sample of the 2023, a much finer Cabernet vintage. Ultimately we found the 2023 delicious, underpriced and not too far from maturity to preclude current enjoyment. The story? The two founders of Deauratus were expatriates from Ridge Winery in Santa Cruz, home of the legendary Monte Bello Vineyard. Reportedly they left Ridge in protest after the release of the 2020 Monte Bello bottling. Since we also found this the least exciting Monte Bello in memory, we were in sympathy (Ridge Monte Bello has a long history with NVWE, and I personally sold the 1968 elsewhere, upon its initial release), .
2021 élevé Cabernet Sauvignon Bismark Mountain Vineyard, Moon Mountain, Sonoma
My first thought when we tasted this wine was that it was the poor man’s Kamen Cab, assuming poor men can afford $70 wines. It displays Moon Mountain’s dark earthiness (what I call charcoal-graphite character), firm mouthfeel, dark berry fruit and the notable zest I associate with Sonoma’s best Cab locale. However, Kamen sells for $120 while the average fancy Napa Cabs start about $95. The 2021 élevé is fine dinner wine already, and it looks to become truly spiffy in 2-3 years.
2021 Kathryn Kennedy Estate Cabernet, Santa Cruz Mountains
The Kathryn Kennedy Estate Cab is often very seductive upon release and so is this rather stately 2021. Over the decades, this vineyard has often produced wines that aged memorably and here, I personally felt, was yet another. Crop yields at this vineyard are often tiny and I would be much surprised if profitability has been achieved every year. The 2021 is delicious already and likely 5+ years from its best. Nothing I can think of tastes quite like it. Its dark fruit, distinctive spice and minerality typically evolve together into a generous and distinctive harmony. In her lifetime Kathryn Kennedy, who passed away in 2009, prided herself on saving this land from developers and her wisdom remains evident.
2021 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon Leonardini Vineyard, St Helena
Tom Leonardini built this wine store in 1988 and bought Whitehall Lane winery in 1993, then eventually sold NVWE just before his 80th birthday. When Tom purchased Whitehall Lane, the winery owned virtually no land, yet they now own 7 Napa Cab vineyards and one more in Sonoma, not to mention vineyards planted to other varietals. We are the only store in the USA allowed to sell this particular bottling (along with Whitehall’s Millennium MM Cab). Thanks Tom! We wonder each year if we should carry this Leonardini bottling, or perhaps the pricier version of Leonardini Cab made by Argot winery. Over the last year the Cab Club has included the 2021 Whitehall Cab and the 2023 Argot version. We liked both and only we can get them both. These two will age nicely and each drank well early, so we liked them a lot.