2015 Legacy Wines Red Wine Alexander Valley 750 ml

What a difference 1% makes. 

The 2015 Legacy Wines Red Wine Alexander Valley comprises 74% Cabernet Sauvignon. One percent more of Cabernet Sauvignon—about a fifth of a barrel, according to our math—and this bottle would have been labeled thus. That means it would have scored in the top five Alexander Valley Cabernets of the vintage, rubbing shoulders with Jesse Katz’s $247 Aperture Cellars Cabernet in Wine Advocate’s rankings. 

That position would have certainly sent it to a rapid sell-out. But alas, at just 74% Cabernet, it’s labeled a Red Wine—which means some Cabernet fans scanning the horizon for the top wines of the vintage missed it. Lucky us.

Legacy winemaker Graham Weerts, a South Africa native with Bordeaux on his C.V, kicked off his California career at the apex of Alexander Valley: He worked a harvest at Vérité. After a stint back in South Africa, he came back to A.V. and became the winemaker at the iconic Stonestreet. He moved even farther up the Jackson Family Wines chain a decade later, and now he oversees vineyard and winemaking operations for Capensis, Stonestreet, Arrowood, and Matanzas Creek, in addition to leading the way at Legacy.

Weerts tapped the Jimtown Vineyard, which sits at the base of the Mayacamas Mountains, for the Cabernet grapes that form the core of this red. They’re bolstered by grapes from the sweeping Alexander Mountain Estate, which has been a bedrock source for Jackson Family since the 1990s. 

Now a solid eight-plus years after harvest, this wine is showing tremendously. It’s one of the steals of the vintage, and we’re thrilled to bring it to you at this point in its long life.