2014 Titus Malbec Napa Valley 750 ml

Titus Malbec: Finally

Wine Access clients are very familiar with Phil Titus’ bold and broad-shouldered “Andronicus” red blends. We’ve offered every vintage since 2011 and the reviews have been consistently exemplary. "However, among their other fabulous wines is probably the best Malbec for the money produced in Napa, a rare single variety bottling available only at their new tasting room in Saint Helena - until now."

A true insider wine, the 2014 Malbec is deep and lush, sourced from the Titus family’s 40-acre estate just north of St. Helena on the Silverado Trail. Gorgeously ripe and complex, it offers a juicy mix of pomegranate, raspberry, and blackcurrant complemented by blooming lilac and lavender, with hints of vanilla and mocha. Robert Parker hailed Titus’ wines as “always well-made and the prices reasonable."  

We’ve worked with Phil Titus for 20-some odd years. When he isn’t crafting 100-pointers as the winemaker at Chappellet, he turns his attention to the historic Titus family estate, which he runs along with his brother Eric, who tends the vineyard with meticulous precision.

The story of Lee Titus—Phil and Eric’s father, who moved to California from Minnesota just after the Depression—is a piece of St. Helena folklore. It also contains the roots of today’s extraordinary Malbec. As Lee attended medical school, his future wife, Ruth Traverso, the daughter of Italian parents, was living in the Bay Area. During family October vacations in Napa Valley, the Traversos returned to their Piedmontese roots, helping friends harvest their vineyards in Calistoga. Years later, when Ruth and Lee married, both husband and wife were smitten by the wine bug.

Soon after Eric and Phil came upon the scene, the family moved to Sonoma and Lee began purchasing vineyard land on the eastern side of St. Helena, just west of the Silverado Trail. At the time, few Napa Valley growers understood what to plant on the rocky, volcanic soils of St. Helena. Lee soon replaced the Mondeuse, Burger, Golden Chasselas, and Pinot Noir with Bordeaux varieties - including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec - a decision that would pay massive dividends as they gained popularity in the following decades.

It is these gnarled, decades-old vines that form the backbone of the 2014 Malbec, which also bears the hallmark concentration of Spectator’s “dream” vintage, not the mention the elegance of Titus’ deft touch. Blended with 11% Merlot and 2.5% Cabernet Sauvignon—all estate-grown—Titus’ Malbec is a joy to drink, especially next to a grilled rack of lamb. After reminding them of our long relationship, we were able to pry a mere 480 bottles of this wine away from their sell-out mailing list, to offer you, our Wine Access friends, a piece of Napa you can't find outside the Valley.