2021 Nichols Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Napa Valley’s 2021 growing season was dry from the start—an auspicious development, since dry often means small, thick-skinned berries of fantastic concentration. As the warm and steady summer progressed, everyone in Napa Valley could tell that quality was going to be through the roof. “You could just feel the excitement all over the valley,” in the words of Wine Bible author Karen MacNeil. 

No one was watching closer than Britt Nichols.

Britt’s a skilled winemaker with Jordan, Melka, and Peter Michael on her résumé, and early in the season, she’d struck handshake deals with the grapegrowers at two coveted Oakville and Yountville vineyards. After years of waiting, she’d finally moved up the ladder far enough to have a legitimate shot at the fruit—IF there was enough to go around. With yields looking to be on the lighter side, all she could do was hope. 

Then, one day toward the end of harvest, two calls came in. Britt was thrilled—and with the fruit from NDA-protected sites in Oakville and Yountville, she crafted a stunner of a Cabernet. .  

Britt’s résumé boasts some impressive experience. After a stint at Jordan winery, she landed one of the most sought-after cellar jobs in the valley at Peter Michael, assisting Nicolas Morlet in making the iconic 2010 Les Pavots. A year later, Nichols was recruited by Philippe Melka, the Bordeaux émigré who Robert Parker named “one of the nine most influential winemaker consultants in the world.” 

Connections are everything. While working under Melka, Britt was introduced to a wealth of incredible Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards up and down the Napa Valley. And she’s made a career out of tapping those sites for overdelivering Cabernets.