OK. I hope that this counts as a really good story of our times.

I made a 2023 Mt. Veeder Cabernet for the restaurant of a friend-- it was a lot of wine! It was from the same vineyard and harvest as our own Mt. Veeder Cabernet, but made in a slightly different style-- to suit the needs of her restaurant. 

I made our wine with no SO2 and only careful topping to keep it fresh. I made hers with a little SO2 added early during elevage, but none during its last 6 months in barrel, nor at bottling.

I added about 2% each of Tenbrink Petite Sirah and Lone Wolf to our Cabernet to make sure that the wine had at least a spark of funk. Kaeley was not so sure about this decision. I added none to my friend's wine. It is 100% Cabernet.

Our wine was aged in 100% new French Oak, hers about 90%. This makes only a small difference-- I am just being precise. Ours was ready to bottle in June; hers, perhaps because of the SO2, needed to wait until September-- just as harvest was beginning. There was something truly excellent about the additonal 3 months of aging, without topping or SO2-- it really gave the wine more focus and planed down a kind of obstreperous richness.

Make no mistake-- the wine is still rich and powerful. But it is no typical Napa Cab. It still our wine. I gave it the same name as a superb 2019 Zinfandel/Petite Sirah blend that we bottled in 2022. It has much in common with this seductive wine.

Here is where it is a story of the times:

The fruit for this wine only became available because of contraction in our industry. The wine was originally destined for a prestigious estate program. A Napa winery. They could see the contraction coming and sold estate fruit in 2023, at good prices. I raced to buy some, and made some for the friend's restaurant— a steakhouse. But, as bottling got closer, she decided that she had asked for a little too much wine. So I took one barrel of the blend back, at a discount. 23 cases.

That is a lot of wine for us too, especially unplanned. So I am offering it at an especially good price. $65 per bottle.

In a certain sense, the wine fell into my lap. It is the right time to pass on the good fortune that can lead to lower prices.