2019 Cerro Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

When we heard that Derek Beitler, the super-skilled young winemaker with a deep Caymus connection, had crafted a Prisoner-inspired red wine from insider vineyards located mainly in the prestigious Rutherford AVA, we knew it would be a hit. 

And when we finally got our hands on his Cerro Napa Valley, the bold red wine bounded past our expectations. Packed with lush layers of fruit stacked on silky tannins, we couldn’t help feeling like it was custom-crafted for fans of Titus Andronicus, Leviathan, and the ultra-deep wines that made “Napa Red Blend” a world-famous phrase. 

Cerro is a quintessential Napa insider-wine, and cellaring plenty of it is a low-risk, high-reward proposition. It’s perfect for cold winter nights, ideal for the barbecue, and can certainly go for five years in the cellar—but taking a sip now, it’s hard not to get lost in the moment. 

Derek’s got a bit of royal Napa Valley blood in his veins. His uncle is Chuck Wagner of Caymus, and he grew up working in the Caymus cellars. This wine grew out of another project, which had left Derek with a fantastic Rutherford source but nowhere to put the grapes. Derek whipped up a blend of Cabernet, Petit Verdot, and Petite Sirah. Cerro was born. 

This is a unique wine that stands apart from the rest of Derek’s lineup, but it does boast his signature: extended barrel aging, in this case 30 months in oak. “With most wines, that extra year does so much for integration, for maturity, for softening rough edges,” Derek told us. “If you’re taking care of your barrels, there’s no real downside. It’s all positive.”