2021 Grape Culture Cabernet Sauvignon Nosotros Vineyard Mount Veeder 750 ml

Late in 2024, we visited the cellar of Grape Culture Wine, a new outfit from the minds behind Nottingham Cellars, which was one of our most popular Cabernets of the year. 2019 was Grape Culture’s first vintage, and so the chance to taste ‘21s and ‘22s—and lock in allocations before the rest of the world finds out—was hugely exciting.

Of their single vineyard bottles, we were most looking forward to tasting the one from Beckstoffer’s famed Georges III—a Rutherford site that’s normally the pinnacle of any lineup it’s in and has $175+ prices to match. But once everything was swirled and sipped, the winner of the day was the 2021 Nosotros Vineyard Cabernet, from a little-known site planted at dizzying heights on Mt. Veeder’s rocky soils.

Jeb Dunnuck was right there with us. He awarded the bottle 96 points, also placing it ahead of Grape Culture’s GIII, calling it a “stunningly classic Mountain Cabernet from Napa.”

Grape Culture proprietor Collin Cranor grew up steeped in California’s wine culture…in the Livermore Valley. So when he founded Grape Culture in 2019 on the success of his Nottingham Cellars label, we took note, but we weren’t sure we were prepared for how fast success would come.

When out-of-town winemakers make their first foray into the Napa Valley big leagues, you’d assume they’d need a good half-decade to get their feet under them, to make connections, to hit their stride. They’d improve slowly, incrementally, and after maybe five or ten years steeped in Napa Valley, they’d start seeing some real success.

Not so with Collin, who has come charging out of the gate. This bottle speaks to his skill and early success.