A beautiful and luscious red wine made from nearly equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot from a friend's vineyard at the very northern end of Napa Valley, on the benchland of the Mayacamas mountains, before Napa ends and Knight's Valley begins.

The wine is not pure Napa. I was careful to add something special from Los Angeles to the final blend. It includes 14% Lopez Zinfandel from Galleano in Cucamonga.

In pursuit of Classicism, the Bordeaux varieties were all aged in topped Bordeaux barrels, either new or nearly new. The Lopez Zin was aged in an old Burgundy barrel. Not much so2 was used in the maturation of any of the wines, but the Bordeaux barrels were topped regularly.

In some ways, the wine is Napa, but Old School. It is has good structure and good acidity; at the moment, what I think is most striking about it is its charm. It has a classical beauty.

It is a little hard to say why I named it after Hector. The Iliad and the Odyssey have been constantly on my mind, as always-- but even moreso as I reflect on Classicism in winemaking. The other wine in this offering is Pergamos-- named after the citadel of Troy. Hector is the Trojan Prince, whom Achiless slays tragically near the end of the Iliad. I cannot even say why both of these wines are Trojan to me. It all has something to do with Mt. Veeder-- and its darkness. The Pergamos is a darker and more serious wine.

But this is Hector's wine: in the Iliad, he is less fierce, less terrifying than Achilles. We see him early in the book holding his son, before he leaves for battle. He is, in some ways, a normal human, not just a semi-divine hero like Achilles. That catches the nature of this wine: in some ways, normal and quotidian, in other ways: still a Scholium wine, intense and surprising.

Please note the "FOB" pricing on these bottles. Hector goes down to $22 per bottle on a case. This is much less than a nameless Napa Red Wine recently showcased on Instagram by the Last Bottle people.