2021 Dust to Glory Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Napa Valley 750 ml

It was a bright Napa Valley afternoon, we were standing in the vines with our winemaker friend, who was springing a Rutherford pop quiz on us. “Here’s an easy one: Can you name three vineyards in between Conn Creek and Silverado Trail…”

We started to reply, then he said, “... BESIDES Caymus, Georges III, and ZD?” We clammed up.

This guy is one of the great self-taught, salt-of-the earth vintners in the region, a rarity in this day of PhD. winemakers and private equity ownership. And he’s got Rutherford dust in his veins.

“So when you ask me how I can do what I do for the price—I mean, people who read the headlines are shocked to hear this, but all Rutherford Cabernet does NOT cost $10K a ton. It can cost FAR less—and I’m not talking about the bottom of the barrel. Rutherford’s the greatest place on the planet to grow Cabernet. The barrel has no bottom half!”

We retreated to his barrel room, where he plunged a huge glass thief into a barrel and poured us tastes, dripping crimson onto the dusty concrete floor. As he swirled his own glass, he said, “You know what Andy Beckstoffer says when asked why he doesn’t make wine?”

This one we knew. “Yeah—because it’s easier to sell great grapes than great wine.” 

“That’s right. Well, I know how to sell wine. But once I get my lineup right, get everything blended the way I want it, what’s easier? Print up new labels, source more bottles, corks, and foil, file the paperwork, and market something new, bottle by bottle? Or call you up?”