2009 Topel Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Battuello Vineyard St. Helena Napa Valley 750 ml

During a recent visit to Topel Winery, while we were barrel tasting their always-delicious Battuello Vineyard Cabernet, Martin saw that we were distracted. Our gaze kept drifting, again and again, to the stacks of cases in the corner. We couldn’t help it. With two dozen pristine cases of back vintages that looked like they hadn’t moved in a decade, we just kept staring.

He must have known what we were thinking, because he stepped away from the barrel samples he had pulled for us and walked toward the mini-mountain of older wines. “Let’s check these out. I’ve always loved the 2009s, and I think these might be in a pretty good place right now.”

He cut the foil on three bottles—the 2009, 2011, and 2012 vintages—and poured us generous tastes of each. They were all excellent—Martin is one of the top winemakers of his generation, and learned the art of terroir-driven wines alongside Paul Hobbs in Argentina and California, and Guillaume Pouthier at M. Chapoutier—but it was the 2009 Battuello Vineyard Cabernet that had hit its peak. It practically levitated above the glass with notes of red and black fruit, with dried roses and lavender and the perfect counterpoint of saddleback leather, turned soil, mixed balsamic notes, and herbs.

In other words, it was aged to perfection. 

We couldn’t believe that a wine this transcendent had sat untouched for a full decade, but did our best to play it cool. We figured that with bottling in full swing, and the winery a beehive of activity, Martin might want to make a little room in the cellar. So we asked if the winery had plans for the cases. Martin just laughed; last time we popped this particular question it resulted in one of our fastest sell-outs of the year. “Good question! I haven’t moved these since they were piled up there. Do you guys have any ideas what I should do with them?” he said with a knowing smile. 

We took every last case of the 2009 from that modest mountain of cases the cellar. After the response to our offer of their equally delicious 2010—which sold out in a single day—we are thrilled to offer you the 2009, at the mind-boggling price of $35. It’s such a rare opportunity to taste a perfectly aged Napa Cab like this, not to mention one with absolutely impeccable provenance, that we wanted to make sure it was accessible to every one of our members.

In an age when it’s rare to find any Napa Valley Cabernet for under $50, discoveries like this—a single vineyard wine from the heart of St. Helena—are the reason we’ll never pass up a chance to taste in the cellar, where the winery’s best-kept secrets always lie.  

Topel has been tapping this stellar vineyard for years. Farmed by the Battuello family since they purchased it in 1909, the land sits atop the varied soils where the Mayacamas and Vaca ranges converge—squarely in the middle of St. Helena’s high-rent Cabernet district in the northern Napa Valley. HALL, Merryvale, Freemark Abbey and more all call the famous AVA home. Yet their wines cost significantly more than this incredible 2009. And the aging has already been done for you!

Now a decade on, the 2009 is maturing beautifully. This Cab reminded us exactly why Wine Spectator rated the vintage 96 points, saying that the weather that year led to “a surprise bounty of pure, opulent wines.” Stephen Tanzer of Vinous, in a recent retrospective of the top 2009s, concluded that “the best wines, made from carefully controlled yields and consistently ripe grapes, will continue to age gracefully on their balance for another decade or two.”

Yet with the 2009 Topel Cabernet Sauvignon Battuello Vineyard, there’s no need to wait. It’s a gorgeously mature wine right now. Then again, if you want to give it another few years, it promises to get even better. Either way, this is a rare chance for you to take a trip back to a classic vintage, with all the hard work—the waiting—done for you.