2018 Martin Ray Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Bold and voluminous, the 2018 Martin Ray Cabernet Sauvignon is a no-brainer Napa Cab to buy by the case.

We simply don’t know of another bottle from the blue-chip region with this level of winemaking pedigree and critical acclaim for the price. In his 93-point review, James Suckling praised the 2018 as “deep and manicured,” proclaiming, “beautifully crafted tannins make this exciting.”

In Napa’s 2018 growing season, 100-point winemaker Keith Emerson and Talley alum Leslie Renaud took top grapes from Rutherford, Stags Leap, Howell Mountain, and Oak Knoll and transformed them into a vibrant and dense Cabernet. Silky, decadent, delicious from the first sip but built to age a decade, it achieves a Napa Valley standard that few affordable wines from the region ever reach. 

Not every winemaker who excels in the $250 zone can replicate this quality with a wine in the $20 zone, but with this bottling, Keith Emerson shows a range that may be wider than anyone else’s in the game. He and Renaud use the same approach that typically merits sky-high prices, but manage to deliver a weeknight value. Labor intensive, small-lot winegrowing and harvest techniques in some of the best Napa terroirs make for superb grapes, which underwent two weeks of punch downs in open-top fermenters before spending 16 months in 40% new French oak barrels. The result is rich and round, superb with food or on its own.

This is a new breed of classic yet affordable Napa Cabernet, and it’s one of the best Napa deals we’ve seen. Make sure you stock up.