2020 In Sheep's Clothing Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 750 ml

As a sommelier at The French Laundry and head sommelier at Per Se, André Hueston Mack trained his palate on the world’s most coveted wines: Grand Cru Burgundies, First Growth Bordeaux, and cult Napa Cabernets.

As a winemaker, he dropped the three-piece suit and MICHELIN-star digs to dirty his hands in some of the greatest soils in America—and produce some of its greatest values. His 2020 In Sheep’s Clothing Cabernet Sauvignon, from the gravelly slopes of Washington State’s revered Columbia Valley, is one of the best Cabernet bargains coming from the Pacific Northwest.

Mack might be well versed in the bucket-list wines whose labels turn heads, but this 2020 Sheep’s Clothing Cabernet’s wow-factor is 100% in the bottle. This opulent Cab unleashes high-octane fireworks, which burst with big, juicy, black-fruit flavors reined in by a framework of powdery tannins.

Mack knows that luxury-level substance isn’t always tied to a luxe package. That ability to move between worlds—from fine-dining temples to garagiste warehouses—gave rise to this label’s name, inspired by a line from the movie Training Day: “to protect the sheep, you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf."

For the 2020 release, he sourced 60% of the grapes from Washington’s Red Mountain AVA, the sweltering appellation that produces dark and muscular Cabernet. The rest comes from the Wahluke Slope AVA, also among the warmest in the region, where vines tested by the bone-dry climate yield grapes with an intensity of flavor that lights up every taste bud on your tongue.