2018 Hunt & Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from an acclaimed family-owned winery for under $25 doesn’t come around every day—so when we find one, we pursue it relentlessly. It took nearly a year to track down our allocation of the 2018 Hunt & Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon, and now we’ve got this powerful and polished red for Wine Access members at the best price in the nation.

We never expect to travel 3,000 miles cross-country just to end up enamored by a wine from our hometown, but our Master Sommelier friend Brahm Callahan—who runs the Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning wine program at Boston’s Grill 23 steakhouse—insisted that we sample Hunt & Harvest with our Tomahawk steak. So we tried it. Then we tried it again. And we kept trying it until our glasses were empty. 

Our final destination on that trip was the Nantucket Food & Wine Festival, but before we even got off the mainland, we had our wine find of the trip. Now we bring it to you for just $24 per bottle, nearly 30% off SRP. This is a Cabernet worth crossing the country for, so don’t sleep on this rare find.

There is a lot to dive into in this glass of Hunt & Harvest Cabernet. It's immediately generous, a luxurious mélange of black fruit greeting the nose, with fresh tobacco and crushed bay leaf adding complexity. Dark fruit and a bite of bittersweet chocolate on the rich and polished palate, the fine tannins and firm acidity adding definition as it slides into a long, enticing finish—and makes you never want to set the glass down again.

On the trail to track down this allocation, we discovered that this elusive wine was a part of a Napa Valley legacy: that of Long Meadow Ranch, which stretches across some of the finest land in the Mayacamas foothills. Helmed by the Hall family, the Hunt & Harvest label taps Napa’s highest-quality sites for pristine Cabernet, and puts it in the expert hands of winemaker Lisanne Leask. 

With more than 15 vintages working with iconic estates like Tignanello and Stag’s Leap Winery, Leask knows how to craft serious Cabernet Sauvignon, and it shows here. It’s the kind of Cabernet you can rarely find for $40, let alone under $25.  

Call it a “right place at the right time” moment. Call it a good eye, or call it connections. But be sure to make the call to take some home, because this is the kind of under-the-radar find that won’t be around for long.