2018 Claire Griffin Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Known only to a few among our Napa circles, this wine is made by an extremely well-established 100-point winemaker under the pseudonymous Claire Griffin label. Those who know what the wine is and who’s behind it snap it up whenever it becomes available. It’s made entirely from Pritchard Hill Cabernet intended for the reserve blend at the winemaker’s day job—where the 99-point 2018 flagship wine sells for over $700. The location is, in the words of Wine Spectator, “one of Napa Valley's most coveted addresses.” 

The quality of this bottling is apparent from the moment you’re drawn in by the lavish bouquet of bold blackberry and red currant, accented by flourishes of mocha, vanilla, and sweet spice. A broadly textured and bright palate undergirded with dusty tannins reveals luscious black fruit flirting with toasted oak and freshly tilled earth, giving way eventually to a finish of bitter cacao and aromatic spices. It’s a bottle with all the power and verve you’d expect from a $125 wine and the serious chops behind it.

As a reward for the 100-point score, the famed source winery gives their winemaker the Cabernet that doesn’t make the bottling for their final reserve. The Claire Griffin Cabernet thus comes from all the same hallowed vineyard sources that supply the reserve blend, and we can affirm that it belongs in the same league as its pricier sibling.

Pritchard Hill lies east of Rutherford in the Vaca Mountain foothills. Its rugged slopes are marked by volcanic soils strewn with boulders and rocks, making for well-drained vineyards full of mineral content, which helps give wines like the 2018 Claire Griffin a layered complexity, earthy undercurrent, and unmistakable power.

At 72% off a $125 knockout that’s a steal in its own right, this is as close to a Napa Cabernet giveaway as we’ve seen, especially since it’s only $30 per bottle on cases. Don’t miss out on this incredible deal.