2018 Palazzo Right Bank Reserve Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

The Right Bank is Scott Palazzo’s flagship—the wine that inspired Thomas Keller to ask him to make a red exclusively for The French Laundry and Per Se. The 2018 version is an all-time great because that season—rated 96 points by Wine Advocate—amounted to a juicy fastball down the middle. 

“This is a world-class vintage,” Scott told us earlier this year when we spoke. “For me, 2005, ‘09, ‘13, and now 2018: Those are vintages that capture what I originally had in my mind’s eye when I said ‘I’m gonna make Right Bank, St.-Émilion, Pomerol-style wines in Napa Valley.’”

It’s hard for us to imagine a more pleasurable red. This is epitome of a silky, seamless Napa Valley wine, with aromas of wild-blackberry compote, graphite, pencil shavings, licorice, and dark chocolate, and gorgeous, tight-knit tannins carrying layer after layer of dark fruit. 

Scott’s first vintage was in 2003, when, as he puts it, “the whole cult Cab thing was taking off.” His friends told him he was crazy if he didn’t make a Cabernet Sauvignon, but he resisted the pressure, instead following the taste he’d honed over decades. 

He found the perfect vineyards in Carneros. “It really is the most Bordeaux-like. It gives me just wonderful fruit to work with,” he said. He always picks in late October, getting four to five weeks longer hang-time than he would in other parts of Napa. Since he doesn’t have to contend with up-valley heat, he doesn’t have to worry about his sugars skyrocketing.  

The result is a beautiful Right Bank–style red that’s ready to drink right now but also fit for a decade or more in the cellar.