2016 Matt Morris Wines "Ode to Bonarda" Napa Valley 750 ml

The 2016 Matt Morris Ode to Bonarda is one of those brilliant Napa wines we don’t often get to tell you about—a passion project, a one-off release that’s passed around within elite winemaking circles, but too personal and made in too small of quantities to make sense for the mass market.

Only 50 cases were produced of the Ode to Bonarda, an intoxicatingly potent blend of Malbec and Charbono, a dark, powerful grape that dates back to the early immigrant vine plantings in Calistoga. Jeb Dunnuck called it “stunning stuff” with a blazing 96-point score. Vinous wrote: “Dense and inviting, the 2016 is flat-out gorgeous,” noting that the “Vineyard sites are some of Napa Valley’s best.” For an unsung variety to generate that level of critical excitement and acclaim is quite frankly unheard of!

If it weren’t for this year’s unusual circumstances, we wouldn’t be offering this wine today. All 50 cases would have disappeared into the cellars of the winemakers’ friends and restaurants you know. Lacking a dinner party invite, you’d typically only see this wine pop up at The French Laundry, Meadowood, or Petit Crenn.

But things being what they are, Matt Morris—a well-connected Charbono fanatic and photographer of Napa’s blue-chip wineries—called with an opportunity to give our members a taste of the kind of rare, behind-the-scenes bottles that Napa’s wine cognoscenti revel in. 

At $85 today, crafted by eight-time 100-point winemaker Benoit Touquette of Realm—who consulted for Screaming Eagle and Arietta—layered with blueberry compote, vanilla, and violets, this release is collector gold.

“What happens if you give Charbono a blank check?” That was the question that seized Matt’s imagination. The grape, originally from France, was once widely planted throughout California, but today is almost extinct. Densely black-fruited with robust tannins, Charbono made up a good proportion of early Prisoner releases, until the popularity of the label outstripped the supply of vines. The grape “produces wines of tremendous natural intensity and richness, qualities that are prominently on display here,” noted Galloni in his notes on the Ode to Bonarda review.

Matt wanted to know what would happen if you gave the grape the same luxury treatment Cabernet Sauvignon receives in Napa, working with growers to bring a level of meticulous care to the cultivation that had never been tried before.

From the famous Argentinian chef Francis Mallmann, also a big Charbono fan, Matt got the idea to blend it with Malbec, as is often done in South America. Matt sourced the Charbono from the famous Shypoke Vineyard, and the Malbec from a prestigious 100-point vineyard that he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) name, as the growers broke rules about who they could supply to in order to hook him up.

The result is like nothing else that we or you have had from Napa—a one-of-a-kind wine that’s incredibly dense, yet infused with orange peel, delicate violet, and a growing secondary profile of licorice and herbs. With no plans from Matt to ever make this wine again, we have the last of this unforgettable insider release.