2015 Titus Andronicus Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

Phil Titus’ Dark, Brooding, & Extravagant Napa Red

Since we first offered winemaker Phil Titus’ Andronicus Proprietary Red back in 2014, Wine Access clients have been smitten with its dark, voluptuous power… and its price tag. We can’t blame you. To get an extravagant, deeply concentrated offering from Titus, the man responsible for countless 99-point scores at Chappellet, for $24.99, is a steal—especially considering the vineyard sources: the Titus family’s pristinely manicured St. Helena estate and several notable parcels throughout Napa and Sonoma.

The 2015 Titus Andronicus Proprietary Red is terrifically concentrated, dense and almost chewy in texture, the core is just packed with black fruit and mountain blueberry preserves. We have just 360 bottles remaining in our temperature controlled warehouses, ready to make a new home in your home. Shipping included on 6.

How is it that we managed to get a hold of a limited wine from one of the Valley’s most celebrated winemakers? Chalk it up to history. We’ve known Phil Titus for 25 years, his marine biologist brother Eric for a decade. When we call—well, we’ll be honest, no one usually picks up the first time, Phil is a pretty busy guy. But after a second call, we get right through. Chalk it up to persistence and history.

The story of Lee Titus—Phil and Eric’s father, who moved to California from Minnesota just after the Depression—is a piece of St. Helena folklore. It also contains the roots of today’s extraordinary Andronicus wine. As Lee attended medical school, his future wife, Ruth Traverso, the daughter of Italian parents, was living in the Bay Area. During family October vacations in Napa Valley, the Traversos returned to their Piedmontese roots, helping friends harvest their vineyards in Calistoga. Years later, when Ruth and Lee married, both husband and wife were smitten by the wine bug.

Soon after Eric and Phil came upon the scene, the family moved to Sonoma and Lee began purchasing vineyard land on the eastern side of St. Helena, just west of the Silverado Trail. At the time, few Napa Valley growers understood what to plant on the rocky, volcanic soils of St. Helena. Lee soon replaced the Mondeuse, Burger, Golden Chasselas, and Pinot Noir with Bordeaux varieties—a decision that would pay massive dividends in the following decades.

Those incredible plantings form the backbone of the 2015 Andronicus, which bears the hallmark concentration of the vintage and the elegance of Titus’ deft touch. Terrifically concentrated, dense and almost chewy in texture, the core is just packed with black fruit and mountain blueberry preserves, even as the wine remains high-toned and balanced, showing the pedigree of a bottling twice the price. We probably shouldn’t say this too loud, but if there was any question, this is a case buy. You’ll thank us later.