2014 Matthew Wallace Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District Napa Valley 750 ml

Stags Leap Grapes, Lafite Rothschild-Trained Winemaker

Today’s 2014 Matthew Wallace Cabernet Sauvignon might not have one weakness. The fruit hails from Block One of the Regusci Vineyard—perhaps the most famed terroir in Napa’s iconic Stags Leap District—where it is farmed under the expert eye of Matthew Wallace proprietor Matt Hardin, who is a partner in the firm responsible for farming sites like Hundred Acre, Herb Lamb, and Checkerboard. Finally, winemaking duties are handled by Julien Fayard, the French-born master who trained at Lafite Rothschild and Smith Haut Lafitte before moving to Napa and producing a slew of jaw-dropping wines, including a Purlieu Cabernet that is a Wine Access client favorite, and one Robert Parker singled out as “true perfection.” In a near-flawless vintage, the 2014 Matthew Wallace is a picture of Napa Cabernet excellence, from the ground to the glass. A mere 250 cases produced. We have 20 of them.   

The marriage between the fourth-generation daughter of a famed estate and one of the Valley’s most respected vineyard managers—who also happens to be a sixth-generation Napan himself—should make for a classic wine country “how they met” story. In reality, the union between Alicia Regusci and Matt Hardin made for a ground-breaking wine, in a much more direct way than one might imagine.

Alicia is the great-granddaughter of Gaetano Regusci, who, nearly a century ago, purchased a 289-acre estate in Napa Valley. Since then, the property has supplied some of Napa Valley’s top Cabernets, and is well-known as one of the top terroirs in the Stags Leap District. Who better for Alicia to marry than Matt Hardin, another deeply-rooted Napan who is not only the proprietor of Matthew Wallace, but a partner at Barbour Vineyard Management, one of the most respected vineyard teams in Napa Valley. On the occasion of his Alicia’s wedding, Jimmy Regusci decided to skip the Crate & Barrel registry and give the couple a truly unique gift: Cabernet Sauvignon from Block 1 of the Regusci family’s historic vineyard.

After raising it to his specifications, Matt handed that priceless fruit off to Matthew Wallace winemaker Julien Fayard, who arrived in Napa with an iron-clad Bordelaise resume just over a decade ago, and has since proven that his expertise with Cabernet Sauvignon knows no continental boundaries. After working at Quintessa and with Philippe Melka, Fayard has taken his own Purlieu label into the pantheon of Napa Cabernets, carving out a permanent place in Wine Advocate’s rarefied upper-90s. At Matthew Wallace, Fayard is the final link in a chain that only has one apparent weakness: a tiny production of just 250 cases.