2015 Robert Craig Cabernet Sauvignon Affinity Napa Valley 750 ml

Some of the best old-school yarns ever told by Wine Access were about Robert Craig wines, so we knew we had to get in touch with the top brass for this offer. So we got President and CEO Elton Slone, part owner for two decades, on the blower.

“We used to do seven-to-ten year library releases out of our cellar,” he told us. “This wine was part of the  library program, but we’re paring it down. I thought, ‘I gotta clean some of this out, I’m not gonna live to 150 years old in the wine world!’”

It’s one thing to get a library stunner like this. It’s another to get one from a brilliant growing season. “2015 was the shyest bearing vintage we’ve ever had at Robert Craig—we were down about 50%,” Elton said. “The ‘15 Affinity comes from La Londe, in Coombsville, really Bob Craig’s front yard. It’s some super, super rocky volcanic soil. Even when this wine was made, the vines had some real age on them. They give high acid and tannin—it’s got this really classic sort of Bordeaux acidity and structure.”

And it’s perfect for the cellar: “The beauty of the ‘15 is that it was our first experiment with Diam corks, which are guaranteed for 30 years. That means every bottle is TCA free, free from oxygen ingress. I mean, I opened this in the tasting room last week, and we just could not get over the wine.” 

Put the Wine Access team in that boat.  This blend of 78% Cabernet, 8% Merlot, 7% Cab Franc, 4% Malbec, and 3% Petit Verdot spent 18 months in French oak, 60% of it new and 40% of it once-used.