2017 Martin Ray Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Bold, voluminous, and available today at an incredible deal, the 2017 Martin Ray Cabernet Sauvignon is the go-to case-buy Napa Cabernet of the year.

We simply don’t know of another bottle like it from the blue-chip region with this level of critical acclaim. With a star 93-point review, James Suckling called it “outstanding” and “serious at this price,” a wine that’s “rich and dense” with “juicy fruit.”  

In 2017’s low-yield vintage, 100-point winemaker Keith Emerson crafted top grapes from Rutherford, Stags Leap, Coombsville, and Diamond Mountain into a vibrant and dense Cabernet with everything in its right place. Generous dark fruits of cassis and black plum on the nose lead into a palate full of chocolate and spice, fleshed out with soft, polished tannins.

Silky, decadent, and delicious from the first sip but built to age a decade, this bottle truly represents the new standard in Napa for quality-to-price ratio. 

Emerson knows how to craft blockbuster bottles in the luxury category that make the critics’ eyes go big. But not every winemaker who excels in the $250 range can repeat the feat when the price drops toward $30—or below. With this bottling, Emerson shows ambidexterity that may be better than anyone else’s in the game. The same approach that typically merits high prices is used here but for a weeknight value. Labor-intensive, small-lot winegrowing and harvest techniques in some of the best Napa terroirs make for superb fruit, which then sees open-top fermenters and over a year in 50% new French oak barrels. The result is rich and round, superb with food or on its own.

A modern pioneer in making the best of Napa available at rare values, Martin Ray has been going its own way since 1943. Martin Ray was one of the original legends of California viticulture, alongside Don Chappellet and Robert Mondavi. He was motivated to craft wines that would rival Europe’s elites at a time when most would have found that notion laughable. He got the last laugh when his bottles ended up in the White House under two different administrations.

We expect you’ll be hearing a lot more about Martin Ray and the new breed of classic California wines they’re minting at benchmark values. But for now, jump on the train and make off with one of the best Napa deals we’ve seen in years.