2017 Olivia Edmund Lineage Red Napa Valley 750 ml

Few wineries in Napa Valley are capable of extracting such high-quality raw material from top sites and bottling it at stunning prices as Olivia Edmund. With top vineyard sources locked behind ironclad NDAs, it’s big and powerful yet beautifully proportioned—the kind of red that savvy Napa lovers stack away by the case. 

Lineage is composed primarily of Oakville Petit Verdot (61%) and Yountville Merlot (22%). Petit Verdot has long been a secret weapon in Napa’s red blends. Darker even than Cab, with a beguiling combination of deep fruit, vibrancy, and structure, it’s used by vintners throughout the Valley to punch up bottles that need a little oomph and pizazz. One famous winemaker described it as “Cab on steroids,” but it’s rare to see a bottle dominated by the tricky-to-grow grape.

A throwback to the expertly crafted Napa Reds of the 1970s, it’s big and powerful yet beautifully proportioned—the kinds of wine that put Napa on the map after the Judgment of Paris. Aged in French oak from some of the top coopers—names like Taransaud, Bouchard, and Seguin Moreau—there’s a big nose of blackberry, blueberry, cedar, and spice, matched by plenty of seductive fruit on the palate, but the wine isn’t over-extracted. It’s delicious now, and will clearly age with aplomb.

This crowd favorite promises to be one of the best bargains you’ll see from the 2017 Napa vintage, and it’s why Olivia Edmund is becoming our go-to source for great value more and more each year.