2019 Karo-Kann Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

In every major appellation in Napa Valley, we keep tabs on certain top estates we consider to be bellwether properties. These are the places we ring up when we want to get a smart take— direct from the source—on how a vintage is shaking out.

Sometimes those conversations drift from weather and veraison dates to industry gossip: real estate drama, or the musical chairs of hiring for plum jobs. And very occasionally, those chats even translate into incredibly coveted allocations that we might otherwise have ZERO business landing.

That’s the story behind this sensational deal on the 2019 Karo-Kann Red Wine. The source estate is one of the most recognizable, famous wineries in its region, occupying the same rarefied neighborhood as Beckstoffer’s Dr. Crane and Las Piedras vineyards.

Their Cabs have been called “flawlessly balanced” and “just about perfect” by Jeb Dunnuck, fetching $200+ prices on the rare occasions when they find their way to the retail market. 

After a spring that started off drenched in rain, the vintage fell into an easygoing, mild summer that saw little to no extreme heat events. With water reservoirs well stocked, the lack of excessive heat meant grapes ripened exquisitely without suffering from dehydration. The source estate for this wine, according to our friend, therefore got slightly higher volumes of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon off their historic vineyard.

We mentioned we’d be happy to take any extra grapes off their hands. That casual offer firmed up over the following weeks into a concrete deal, and before long, we had today’s wine resting in French oak barrels, 30% new, for over 24 months.