2019 Commission Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Sourced from a gorgeous NDA-protected site on the low eastern slopes of Howell Mountain in Napa Valley—one whose Cabernets normally fetch $125 per bottle—the 2019 Commission Cabernet Sauvignon features a specially designed label by artist Ryan McCann. 

Crafted by 100-point star Julien Fayard—whose wine Robert Parker once praised as one to “diagram and analyze over and over to see what true perfection really is”—this bottle puts the Lafite-trained winemaker’s magic touch on full display. Showing a deep, luminous shade of purple, it’s got ripe black cherry, blackberry, vanilla, violets, crème caramel, and mint aromas bursting from the glass, followed by a plush palate built on seamless tannins.

We’ve been following artist Ryan McCann for about a decade and have long been fascinated by his work, from his early pyrography—photorealistic images made with wood and a blowtorch—to the abstract portraiture of the 2019 Commission Cabernet. 

“In portraiture, if you’re being literal in your representation, there’s not a lot of information—just the person, what they’re wearing, and the background,” Ryan said. “But what I’d been looking for, and what I discovered in the studio, was a way to capture the essence and feeling of somebody, but leave something—something you can’t quite pin down.”

McCann shoots his subjects with a large-format digital camera, and what you see on the label is the image he sees through the lens—there is no digital manipulation after the shutter clicks. It’s a technique that introduces an element of the unknown, and it delivers the abstract element he seeks in his work. 

A wine that will cellar beautifully for years packaged in a bottle you’ll want to keep forever. This is the 2019 Commission Cabernet.