2016 Dalla Valle Vineyards Collina Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

The Chance to Experience a Legend

Not long ago, over lunch with Naoko and Maya Dalla Valle to seal the deal on this, we discovered to our surprise that, even with their name on some of the greatest bottles America has ever seen, they’re just as enthusiastic about the wines as we are. Over the course of a leisurely two-plus hour lunch at Gramercy Tavern, we were prepared to enjoy the wines, sure, but to sip them the way most glasses of iconic red get consumed: Gingerly, and with a sense of ceremony.

Nope: Naoko and Maya kept our glasses full, insisting that we enjoy them fully. The 2016 Collina stole the show—no easy feat amongst their standout releases—with its exotic spice aromas, supported by blackberry, cassis, and smoke, and a cashmere-smooth texture. After waxing poetic about its irresistible plum, blueberry, and blackberry fruit and remarkable freshness, they even sent us home with the leftovers. Which meant that we became what we imagine were the only people in our swanky hotel that night enjoying highly allocated wine, from a 100-point-scoring producer, on our couches with room-service hamburgers. Which, for the record, was an epic pairing.

We can’t stress this enough: Dalla Valle, one of the greatest of California’s cult producers, is virtually impossible to get your hands on. Aside from a handful of top restaurants (The French Laundry, for example, lists bottles of Dalla Valle Maya for $1500 each), members of their mailing list buy virtually all of the remaining bottles.

And if you want to get on the mailing list—well, good luck. First, you’ll have to pause for years on the waiting list before finally (if ever) receiving notification that you’ve been granted the privilege of buying directly from the winery. As a result, new releases rarely hit the retail market, and back vintages are among the most highly prized at auction houses around the world.

Which are just a few of the thousand reasons that we are beyond proud to be able to offer the 2016 Dalla Valle Collina, a wine that Vinous praised as “striking in its aromatics and pliant in feel…Soft contours bring out the red cherry, plum, tobacco, spice, cedar and spice flavors nicely.”

The name Collina translates to “hill” in Italian, and it’s been given to this incredibly delicious red because the majority of the fruit comes from the younger vines of Dalla Valle’s legendary hillside blocks. Winemaker Andy Erickson (who also has crafted the wine at Screaming Eagle) and internationally renowned consulting enologist Michel Rolland (who has worked with Harlan, Chateau Ausone, and countless other top producers around the world) have, with the 2016, brought together 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Cabernet Franc, and 9% Petit Verdot to create a wine that strikes that most elusive balance: It’s phenomenal right now and already speaks to the pedigree of the fruit and the impeccable vision of the producers, but is also capable of aging for decades with the grace and complexity that all of Dalla Valle’s wines are known for.

When Gustav and Naoko Dalla Valle started in 1982, they could have had no idea that the wines bearing their name would rise to the level of international cult classics that they have. And they also couldn’t have known that their daughter Maya, named after their famous vineyard, would one day play such an important part in carrying on the family’s name and values. But both have come to pass, and the wines of Dalla Valle are as inspiring and rare now as they have ever been.

Don’t miss your chance to own a piece of Napa history.