2014 Sullivan Vineyards Couer de Vigne Bordeaux Blend Napa Valley 750 ml

Four years before the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting put it on the world’s radar, Napa Valley showed up on Jim O'Neil Sullivan's—so he and his wife JoAnna moved to what is now the Rutherford AVA. 

Today, Rutherford is one of the prime grape growing sites in the New World, dotted with heavyweight Cabernet producers like Alpha Omega and Scarecrow. Meanwhile, the 26-acre Sullivan Family Vineyards is still turning out gorgeous estate-grown reds, often for a fraction of the cost of their neighbors’ wines.

We’ve had a relationship with Sullivan for ten years, and it doesn’t result in an allocation every vintage—not even close, since their tiny production is usually devoured by their mailing list. But when we do get a call, it ends up being one of the best California Cabernet deals going. And it ends up going fast.

That’s what we expect from the 40 cases we’ve scored of Sullivan’s 2014 Coeur de Vigne Bordeaux Blend. Grown in the outstanding 2014 vintage and aged untouched in the Sullivan cellars, this is the kind of wine that Sullivan’s stellar reputation—not to mention their 31 five-star and 54 four-star member reviews from Wine Access members—is built on. It’s a velveteen stunner raised solely at the Sullivan estate, and it’s drinking in its prime right now, blossoming with gorgeous aromas of dark fruit accented by leather and cigar tobacco, allspice and mocha. 

Today we’ve got this rare red, coming cellar-direct at more than 46% off. At just $59 per bottle, it’s an estate-raised Cabernet-dominant blend from one of Rutherford’s originals, and we invite you to put it up against neighboring wines that go for two times the price. Once you do, you’ll know why Sullivan causes a stir every time we offer it.

Sullivan sits just off Highway 29. With Caymus just across the way, Staglin down the road, and Hall, Beaulieu Vineyard, and Cakebread all around, this is the Rutherford Bench at its best, home to some of the Napa Valley’s greatest Cabernet Sauvignons.

James Sullivan purchased his 26-acre property from the Galleron family (the estate sits on Galleron Road) partially on the advice of the legendary Russian viticulturist André Tchelistcheff, who was fond of saying: “It takes Rutherford dust to grow great Cabernet.” For 40 years, Sullivan helped establish Rutherford as one of the brightest lights in Napa, and in 2016, Juan Pablo Torres-Padilla acquired the historic property, raising its profile while building on Sullivan’s legacy of quality, elegance, and depth. 

Coeur de Vigne is a true expression of the Sullivan estate, a Bordeaux blend consisting of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 9% Petit Verdot. These varieties all thrive on the Sullivan property because the parcel contains half of the soil types found in Napa Valley—impressive, for a region defined by its geological diversity.

After the 2014 harvest, the blend was aged for 20 months in French oak, 40% of it new. Those barrels yielded just 600 cases of the wine, and the ones earmarked for Wine Access today have been resting untouched in the Sullivan cellars ever since bottling. They’re drinking beautifully right now, and if history’s any guide, our 40 cases will be a memory in no time.