2019 Venge Vineyards Scout's Honor Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

If you’re into inky, intense wines crafted by Napa Valley masters, then you can’t possibly do better than Kirk Venge’s Scout’s Honor. It’s a lush, opulent blend of Zinfandel, Charbono, Petite Sirah, and Syrah that never fails to disappear quickly. 

Kirk Venge is a 100-point legend from fine stock—his father is Napa Valley’s original 100-point winemaker—and this wine is named in honor of his late Labrador, Scout. The Zin hails from two dry-farmed Calistoga vineyards: Venge’s newly acquired Signal Fire Vineyard and the Frediani Vineyard, which also supplies the Charbono. Robbie Mondavi’s Oso Vineyard on Howell Mountain provides the Petite Sirah, while the Syrah comes from the famed Stagecoach Vineyard on Atlas Peak.

Showing an intense and saturated purple hue, Scout’s Honor has plum preserves and ripe blueberry dominating on the nose, accented by freshly cracked black pepper. The wine is texturally rich and lush on the palate, leading with mixed-berry cobbler, five spice, and unsmoked cigar before closing with a broad and lengthy finish of toasty oak, vanilla bean, and Luxardo cherry.

This is a crowd-pleaser that’ll draw oohs and aahs from friends and family, no matter where you serve it to them: beside the fire, alongside a perfect medium-rare rib roast, or at a summer barbecue. And it’s priced so you won’t mind cracking open a second, a third, a sixth bottle—provided you packed plenty away. 

We always wish we had enough of this crowd-pleaser to provide our members with all they want, but demand is a bit too high around here. If you get (or have gotten) this wine in your glass, consider yourself lucky—and enjoy every luxurious sip!