2022 Off the Cuff Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

“100 cases of shiners. 2022 vintage. Clone 337 Cab off the eastern slope—great stuff!! U got first dibs but 3 other interested parties. Pls reply by 8.”

We’d just sat down to dinner at one of Napa’s bustling steakhouses—a place where reservations often need to be made months in advance—when this fateful text came in from a vintner “friend of Wine Access.” He’s the owner of a prime estate, and we’d long hoped for a shot at his wines. 

The somm was pouring a rare 2014 Blanc de Blancs Champagne—and that’s when our phone died.

We almost panicked. But we knew the chef was not only an acquaintance of our vintner friend, but also a rabid Champagne hound. The Blanc de Blancs we’d splurged on was one of the prized bottles on the list, so the next time our waiter came by, we asked him for an extra glass. He poured, and we  asked him to deliver it to the chef.

A short time later, the chef came out, his glass two-thirds drained—and in a pretty damn sunny mood. We said our hellos, he raved about the toasty Blanc de Blancs, and before he disappeared back into the kitchen, we did what journalists call “surfacing”—revealing our true intent, with as much tact as we could muster.

“Oh, and if you don’t mind,” we started. “Please tell Mr. C we say yes, and we’ll swing by in the morning.”

He told us to consider it done. We never found out who the other three interested parties were, but thanks to the deux ex machina intervention by the chef, we grabbed this wine in the nick of time.