2006 Hendry Vineyard Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

Perfectly-aged, 14-year-old, mint condition reds from one of Napa Valley’s most historic estates and one of The San Francisco Chronicle’s top “Wineries to Visit in 2019” typically come with a triple digit price tag. Especially a wine that hasn’t moved from the cellar where it was bottled and—not least—one that’s drinking as beautifully as this 2006 Hendry Ranch. At $45, this is one of the most thrilling steals we’ve ever managed to secure on a rare and fabulously mature Napa favorite. 

This is nothing less than top-quality Napa in its absolute sweet spot. A classic Bordelaise blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc, the 2006 Hendry Ranch is a serious wine that has benefited from the additional time in bottle. We recommend letting the wine breathe with a good 30 to 60 minute decant to both remove any sediment and allow this fully-developed beauty to stretch its 14-year-old legs.

The vineyard quality is so legendary that—before the Hendry family started bottling their own wines—Robert Mondavi spent the 1980s buying almost all of the estate’s grapes (and dividing the Cabernet Sauvignon with Opus One). The vineyard’s classic alluvial soils lie between 200 and 300 feet above sea level. The morning fog and strong afternoon breezes from San Pablo Bay further moderate the climate, which accounts for the Old World, Bordeaux-style elegance in today’s 2006 bottling.

With its elegant structure and tertiary flavor profile, this could be a ringer for high-end Bordeaux after some time in the cellar. The impressive fruit character, however, helps it remain a textbook example of what an exquisitely balanced, library-release Napa can do: 

Even at this stage, the wine is still surprisingly, glass-coatingly dense and purple. Aromatically complex, spicy oak, and low-toned purple fruit come to the fore after a swirl. Silky and full on entry, with air the mid-palate continues to expand, revealing powdered cocoa and strikingly deep berry accented with savory baking spices. A full mid-palate with fine-grained tannin structure leads into a sophisticated finish. It’s impressive now, although we’re inclined to continue to follow its progression over the next three to five years.  

Set on 203 sprawling acres in the foothills of the Mayacamas mountains, Hendry Ranch is a rural oasis in spite of being just minutes northwest of Wine Access HQ in downtown Napa. We bump into the affable third-generation vintner Mike Hendry all the time and we always recommend his family’s ranch to first time visitors to the valley. We’re not the only ones. Hendry might be the most low-key, beloved estate in the eyes of longtime Napa locals. It just doesn’t get more classic than that property—vines have been planted there since 1859, making it one of Napa’s earliest commercial vineyards.

The Hendry family has farmed it since 1939, meaning all their wines have been estate produced for going on nine decades—an authentic snapshot of how Napa Valley planted its roots decades ago. The lessons learned in more than 70 harvests provide a level of knowledge and a connection to the land that is rare in today’s Napa.

That generational memory and resulting expertise is the reason Hendry Ranch is among the very few Napa wineries that successfully dry farms its vineyards and makes the wines in a gravity flow winery (forgoing what they see as “aggressive” technology in favor of gentler, more traditional methods). The resulting wines are a masterclass in Napa terroir, showcasing the best of what the region is capable of in terms of both complex fruit character and impressive longevity.  

Second-generation owner George Hendry has been in charge of Hendry Ranch since he inherited it from his father in 1944. The ebullient 82-year-old is the unofficial vintner-mentor of Napa Valley—the region’s most famously decorated winemakers still come to him for tips on everything from farming philosophy to truths about the science and economics of the wine business. 

With his ability to make wine this good, hang onto it for 14 years, and release it to us at the kind of locals-only exclusive rate of $45 a pop (that could only come from being longtime neighbors and friends)—George is definitely doing something right. We’re all ears for anything the Hendry family has to say. And if this 2006 Hendry Ranch red is part of the conversation, we’re all empty glasses too.