2016 Concept Album Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 750 ml

There is very little of this wine—just two barrels—but in some ways that’s the only reason we were able to get our hands on the 2016 Concept Album Cabernet Sauvignon. Had there been enough for another full cuvée, the 100-point estate would have bottled it under one of their $90+ labels. 

As you might imagine, we can’t divulge many details, but what we can tell you is that we didn’t make this wine. We’ve offered many Cabernets from this Wine Access member-favorite estate, nestled high in the Mayacamas mountains. A notoriously difficult-to-access vineyard, this site is renowned for its lush Cabernets, which Robert Parker has called “clearly world-class.”

But 2016 yielded too much of a great thing, so we were able to lock down two barrels of this exquisite Cabernet Sauvignon a fraction of the winery price. Because we’ve been cellaring this wine ourselves, it’s ready to ship next-day.

At the end of a secluded, tree-lined driveway in the hills outside of Healdsburg, a certain grammy-winning, wine-loving musician has a summer home. We were lucky enough to be there one night last June, invited by our friend, a 100-point winemaker who helped craft the 2016 Concept Album. As he reminded us, “You’d never stop a record halfway through and claim to have experienced it. It’s the same with wine—the music doesn’t stop until the bottle is empty.”

Over the course of the evening (and a few bottles, if we’re being honest), this Cabernet delivered a performance for the ages, dazzling us with wild dark fruit purity, tantalizing spice, and a profound generosity that seemed to unfold endlessly. 

This is Concept Album, and this is its story.

Side A — Glass 1: When we got to the house in Healdsburg, Springsteen’s Nebraska was spinning on our host’s Linn LP12. A somber choice to begin a dinner party, we thought, but a classic all the same. Our winemaker buddy was already there, popping the corks on half a case of unlabeled bottles and humming along to the music. After 15 minutes he doled out the first pours. Four ounces of deep ruby hit our oversized stemware like a Pacific wave. The journey had begun. Our first swirl revealed a pronounced bouquet, with ripe dark fruit at the center—fresh blackberry, black cherry, black plum, and mountain blueberry burst from the glass. 

Side A — Glass 2: The bouquet continued to erupt, adding layers of cinnamon and clove, mocha and vanilla from judicious use of new oak. Fresh herb, black pepper, and graphite also began to peek through the cornucopia of dark fruit, announcing a complexity that would build throughout the evening. 

Side A — Glass 3: Up to this point our winemaker buddy hadn’t said a word about the origins of his unlabeled bottles, content to sit back and watch us marvel. But now, we all wanted to know more. “This is 100-point terroir,” he told us. “Way up in the Mayacamas, on the Sonoma side of the mountain. The vineyard is incredibly steep, on slopes of more than 50 degrees. You can’t even plant on land that steep anymore, 15 degrees is the limit, but since this vineyard dates to the 90s, it was grandfathered in. It’s produced quite a few Parker darlings in that time. High 90s almost every release, and of course the 100-pointer that I made,” he winked. “This is some of the most rugged and highly concentrated Cabernet grown anywhere in California. It’s an absolute pain in the @#$ to farm, but it’s worth it.” 

Flip

Side B — Glass 4: Dinner was simple yet profound. Dry-aged New York strip steak seared in a scalding-hot cast iron skillet served with roasted asparagus and fingerling red potatoes—salt, pepper, olive oil, and nothing more. Next to our mountain Cab, nothing else was necessary. On the palate this thing was absolutely loaded with bold fruit, buttressed by vibrant acidity from the cool Spring Mountain micro-climate. The texture was rich and mouth-filling, with chewy, fine-grained tannins that spoke of the vineyard’s rocky soils. The pairing sang like Bruce—”Born in the U.S.A.” Bruce. We were in awe. 

Side B — Glass 5: As we cleaned our plates the wine showed no signs of slowing down. On the contrary, it kept unfolding. Vinous’ Antonio Galloni called 2016 “one of the most consistently brilliant and alluring young vintages I have ever tasted in Sonoma,” and this was proving his point. This was offering up layers of chocolate, cinnamon, and bramble that were completely new an hour after opening the bottle. The mountain muscle was giving way to unadulterated plushness and the bouquet was still on full blast. 

Side B — Glass 6: The last drops were the best. Seamlessly integrated, rich and bold, soft and silky, all at once. An impossibly deep dark-fruited and cacao-spiced grand finale had our jaws on the floor, our minds open, and our hearts full. As we emptied our glasses, the persistent finish lingering for almost a minute, we all looked around as if emerging from a dream—then, our gears got turning. 

“How much of this do you have left?” we asked our friend. 

“Just two barrels. Not enough to release ourselves. It’s a shame it has no home.” 

“We can fix that,” we replied, trying to contain our overwhelming excitement. 

“You should call it Concept Album,” our rockstar host chimed in. 

And that’s exactly what we did. This brand-new release, consisting of just 600 bottles, is unquestionably one of the leading wines of Sonoma’s stellar 2016 vintage—without a vintage-leading price tag. More than that, it’s one of those rare bottles that takes you on a journey from start to finish, making everything and everyone around it better for its existence.