Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon fans, clear some space in your wine fridges. The latest shipment from the Robb Report 672 Napa Valley Wine Club features a trio of Cabs from America’s most famous wine region. While recent club offerings have included red blends, Syrah, Malbec, and Merlot alongside bottles of Cab, this quarter the stars have aligned, and all three selections are made with the king of red grapes. Club director Dave Shefferman says that although it’s purely coincidental this time around, it’s not entirely unexpected. “While we do try to mix it up with blends and other varietals, by definition Napa Valley is Cabernet-heavy,” Shefferman told us. “That said, we thought this quarter’s shipment was a fun mix of three distinctive regions: One from Atlas Peak, one from Oakville—one of the highest regarded appellations in Napa Valley—and one from across Napa Valley.”
Members already know that the club regularly replenishes its stocks of under-the-radar Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, cuvées, and interesting single-varietal reds. Named for the number of bottles held by a standard pallet of wine, Club 672 exclusively supplies its members with red wine from Napa Valley. All are produced in very small quantities, normally just a few barrels, and they are prime examples of the valley’s best single vineyards or blended from Napa’s finest sites. Having grown his network of winemakers and winery owners over his career, Shefferman seeks small-batch offerings that usually only get sold to winery’s private club members.
“Our process starts with scouting,” he says. “Our team is regularly out and about, meeting with producers, attending industry events, and tasting wines.” Unlike many wine clubs where individual buyers make purchasing decisions, Shefferman evaluates the standout wines alongside a panel made up of winemakers, sommeliers, and WSET-certified professionals, who blind taste the submissions together and pick the very best without bias.
Every quarter begins with hundreds of wines and once selections are narrowed down to fewer than 20, we taste the wines and help Shefferman choose the final three that will be shipped to club members, who receive two bottles of each—one to enjoy now, and one to lay down for a later date. Each six-bottle pack, compiled four times a year, is priced at between US$550 and US$650 (HK$4,285 and HK$5,065), including shipping, for an average price of US$100 (HK$780) per bottle. Considering the price of many Napa Cabs, this is an amazing deal for limited-quantity, hard-to-procure Napa reds. (Full disclosure, we also write the tasting cards that are included with each shipment and the emailed producer profiles, but we do not receive any additional compensation from the wine club.)
Here are the three wines featured in the Robb Report 672 Napa Valley Wine Club’s upcoming shipment.
Stringer Cellars 2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Made with 96 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 4 per cent Petit Verdot, this wine is a true cross-section of Napa Valley. Grapes were procured from three valley-floor vineyards in Calistoga, Oakville, and Yountville, and three high-altitude sites on Howell Mountain, Atlas Peak, and Pritchard Hill. After picking by hand, grapes were fermented in stainless steel tanks and 75 per cent new oak barrels, aged separately before blending and then combined and aged for six more months. Stringer Cellars 2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby in the glass and has aromas of lavender, violet, red plum, and raspberry. Polished tannins and mild acidity are wrapped around flavours of cassis, black plum, raspberry, nutmeg, and fennel pollen that dissolve into a smooth finish.
Acumen Wines 2021 Peak Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak
Sourced from two different vineyards only a half mile apart, this wine combines the best of both worlds, allowing for the intensity of one to be balanced out by the more graceful characteristics of the other; a tiny amount of Merlot is blended in for equilibrium. Acumen Wines 2021 Peak Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak is dark garnet to the eye. It has a nose of red plum, cherry cola, sage, and thyme. Flavours of black cherry, raspberry, cherry pipe tobacco, anisette, and dark chocolate are set into muscular tannins that gently coat the tongue and gums before drifting away.
Stanton Vineyards 2019 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon
At the heart of the Oakville appellation, the Stanton family has farmed their vineyard since 1947, and they acquired it in 1952. Over the years, they have sold grapes to the likes of Newton, Phelps, Far Niente, and Groth, but from the taste of this, it seems they may keep the best fruit for themselves. Stanton Vineyards 2019 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon has aromas of cassis, cedar, and mocha. Inky garnet in colour with a violet rim, it has flavours of red plum, red currant, blackberry, milk chocolate, clove, and violet. Silky tannins and a burst of bright acidity on the finish make for a beautiful pour.
