2016 Vermillion Red Wine Blend California 750 ml

“As Charming and Delicious As It Gets”

The 2016 Vermillion is a gorgeously layered red that is one of the steals of the summer and drinking at its peak. Jeb Dunnuck called the 2016 “about as charming and delicious as it gets” adding he’d be “thrilled to drink bottles over the coming 4-6 years." At Wine Access HQ, we stock this red by the case and reach for it almost daily.

The new release from 100-point winemaker Helen Keplinger is available at $35.00, far below the standard cost of bottles with a Keplinger signature, like those from Grace Family or Bryant. Helen epitomizes honest winemaking and no bottle shows her dedication, creativity, and joyous commitment to delicious better than the 2016 Vermillion Red, a Rhône-style blend that explodes with red cherry, pomegranate, raspberry, and exotic spice.

Napa Valley may seem to be all glitz and glamour to the uninitiated, but Helen—a former Food & Wine Winemaker of the Year and genuinely wonderful person—proves you have to stay in touch (literally) with grapes if you want to be the best. Her hands are consistently stained a dark purple—from cleaning tanks, to blending, to sampling grapes, she is constantly in touch with her wines. ​

In Vermillion, Helen approaches Rhône grapes with the same obsessive care as she does cult Cabernet Sauvignon. With a résumé boasting triple-digit scores and armies of adoring fans, it’d be easy for the calm and easygoing winemaker to rest on her laurels, and delegate everything from harvest to bottling to eager newcomers. But Helen prefers to remain hands-on, and you can taste her singular dedication in Vermillion’s complex combination of juicy fruit, savory herbs, and barely-there tannins.

Keplinger’s thirst for crafting single-vineyard, distinctive Rhône-style wines from top-notch sites in northern California borders on fanatical. Critic James Laube praised her ability to create “captivating and uniquely styled wines that are stretching the boundaries,” of distinctive California reds, adding her label is “one of the most exciting and innovative wineries to emerge in California in years.”

Stretching from Sonoma County to the Sierra Foothills, the range of her source of vineyards is like a wide-angle snapshot of Northern California viticulture. She has an unerring instinct for terroir, able to locate a vineyard’s “voice,” as she calls it, and exercise patience and meticulous care in expressing that voice with near-perfect clarity.

“Wine has to have a story,” Keplinger told us recently, “It’s the people, places, and vintage in a wine. Without that it’s just boring.”