2018 Beringer Vineyards Q Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

At about 1,800 feet of elevation on Howell Mountain, Beringer farms the Bancroft Ranch Vineyard, which covers 89-acres of rocky, nutrient-poor soils. Much of the intense Cabernet Sauvignon grown at Bancroft goes into Beringer’s Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, a flagship bottling for which collectors are always willing to pay the $175 tariff.

But that’s not the end of the story. Bancroft fruit also makes up the lion’s share of the 2018 Beringer Q Red Wine. Because of that vineyard provenance—plus a cépage containing 86% Cabernet (rounded out by other Bordeaux varieties)—this wine could just as easily be labeled Howell Mountain Cabernet. 

Throw in the fact that it hails from one of the greatest Napa Valley vintages of all time, you’ve got a recipe for a bottle as powerful and stealthy as a Mercedes C63 in graphite grey.  

Muscular, expressive, with a deep ruby core in the glass, this is more proof of the qualitative tear that Beringer has been on since Mark Beringer, great-great-grandson of one of the founding brothers, returned to the family business. When he took the helm as winemaker in 2015, he immediately wrote himself into the winery’s legacy with his dazzlingly supple Cabernet.

Returning to the same vineyards that his family first cultivated generations ago, Mark showed his complete mastery of the style that has twice earned Beringer Wine of the Year honors from Wine Spectator. In the 2018 Q, the Cabernet is accented by Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and aged in French oak barrels (55% new) for 20 months.

You know the Beringer name. This bottle will show you exactly how high the winery can push quality and maintain a shockingly affordable price.