2014 Teeter-Totter Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Redux of Our #1 Napa Cabernet

Even though Benoit Touquette has earned eight 100-point scores, he’s still one of Napa’s great under-the-radar winemakers. But for those of you who locked into bottles of this 2014 Teeter Totter Cabernet (our #1 Cabernet of last year), you know the depths of his profound talents. For those just tuning in, here’s your chance to find out. To challenge himself, he took aim at making a Cabernet with triple digit pedigree without the hefty price tag. The 2014 Teeter Totter Cabernet is the wildly successful result. Robert Parker called it “heady, round” and “hedonistic,” and Thomas Keller’s head sommelier snatched up (and already sold through) several cases for The French Laundry. After Wine Access clients depleted all of our initial offering, and all of a 2015 Teeter Totter offer, we went back to the well, asking Touquette to open the cellar library doors. We’re thrilled to report that he obliged. If you missed out on the 2014s — one of Napa’s greatest vintages in three decades — don’t hesitate. 

Touquette has arrived at an almost unimaginable pinnacle as a Napa winemaker — he’s the author of eight 100-point wines for Realm in the last three vintages. Touquette first worked alongside Andy Erickson, sharing responsibilities in the famed cellars of Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Arietta, and Ovid. What he learned during the long days and alongside Napa’s greatest winemakers informed his work when he struck out on his own.

With Teeter Totter, Touquette doesn’t believe that a truly great Napa Cabernet Sauvignon has to cost $100 or more, and given his personal ties to some of the finest vineyards in the valley, he has made a wine that delivers on the vision he had when he founded the label.

The 2014 Teeter-Totter Cabernet is stamped with the fingerprints of a master craftsman. Bold and dark ruby-purple in the glass, bursting with classic Cabernet notes of blackcurrant, mocha, anise, and subtle toasty notes framed by new wood cedar. Full bodied, boasting silky black fruit, alluring earthy notes and purple florals, a rich and lingering finish is braced by fine-grained tannins. Enjoy now for its opulent, youthful, black-fruited purity, or cellar for at least a decade.

Robert Parker called it “heady, round” and “hedonistic” tipping off some of the country’s wine buying elite, like Thomas Keller’s head sommelier at the French Laundry who made a place for it on the coveted list.