2016 Meyer Family Cellars Fluffy Billows Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley 750 ml

Finding single-vineyard Oakville Cabernet for less than $100 is nearly impossible. Discovering one as pedigreed and delicious as the 2016 Meyer Family Cellars Fluffy Billows, from a vintage James Suckling called “outstanding” is a dream. Our advice is to jump at the opportunity: Values like this, especially with such an intimate connection to Wine Access member-favorite Silver Oak, don’t come around all that often.

Bold and generous, the 2016 coats the glass in garnet, and sings with aromas of blackberry, Mission fig, and anise. The palate is just as exciting, each sip dripping with black fruit, cassis, cranberry, and dried tobacco. While this single-vineyard gem lasts, Wine Access members can score this Napa Valley favorite for over 60% less than the only other establishment in Napa Valley offering this wine, The Restaurant at Meadowood. 

When Silver Oak co-founders Justin and Bonny Meyer sold their half of the iconic winery to partner Ray Duncan, they kept some of the original holdings in Oakville, and it was a brilliant move: That land remains some of the best in Napa Valley. Bonny’s Vineyard, as it’s known, produces one of the most sought-after reds in the state, with prices approaching $150...if you can get your hands on it.

Right next door to that storied land is Fluffy Billows, which is on the exact same alluvial terroir. In fact, three of the ten blocks in Fluffy Billows are planted with original Bonny’s Vineyard clippings, and the Cabernet that the Meyer family grows there has become one of the hottest in Oakville. Handcrafted by Justin and Karen Meyer, today’s 2016 Fluffy Billows Cabernet Sauvignon is the family’s wine at its apex, and a one-bottle argument that the Meyer Family has eclipsed its founding story and is making serious (and seriously delicious) Oakville Cab. 

Perfectly situated in the middle of Napa Valley (growing alongside the grapes that go into Groth’s $150 Reserve Cabernet) the Fluffy Billows site still receives the cooling influence of the San Pablo Bay, but is warmer than appellations farther south. The result is a micro-climate perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon that balances depth, richness, and power with elegance and nuance… a combination the Meyer Family has mastered. Wine Enthusiast has praised previous vintages as “subtle and elegant” and “voluptuous,” and the 2016 is poised to be one of their greatest yet, at a fraction of what its neighbors cost.