2020 Chris Hamilton Cellars Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

First, you have to have an “in.” 

Then, in order to buy fruit from one of the famed sites owned by the Pelissa-Hoxsey family, you wait. You wait until your toddler is thinking about college. You wait until your new car is an old beater. And only then, after the presidential administration has turned a couple times, do you get a chance at fruit from the family that supplies grapes for marquee wineries like Pilcrow and Nickel & Nickel.

But that’s not how it happened for vintner Chris Hamilton. He’s cultivated some amazing relationships in his time in Napa Valley, and he did the winemaking equivalent of skipping the line for Space Mountain when he got a call telling him that one of the Pelissa-Hoxsey family’s old clients was walking away from a contract—at the legendary Block House Vineyard, no less. 

He parlayed that rare opportunity into this bottle, one of the most thrilling values we’ve tasted from Napa Valley so far this year. Just as Hourglass has their HGIII wine, just as Dominus has Napanook, Hamilton has this lush, fragrant, opulent overachiever.

The Pelissa-Hoxsey family owns Napa Wine Company, the last winery in California with a bonded winery number in the single digits (#9)—a testament to their longevity. For over 100 years they have lovingly tended Block House, the first vineyard site in the entire Napa Valley—planted by George Yount in 1838!  

This red shows the gorgeous character that springs from the revered site. Built on Merlot with a touch of Malbec, aged in 35% new oak for 10 months, it shows the pedigree and opulence that wine lovers expect from this prime cut of Yountville.