2016 Storybook Mountain Vineyards Zinfandel Mayacamas Range Napa Valley 750 ml

Storybook Mountain Vineyards makes arguably Napa’s most coveted Zinfandel, "representing the pinnacle of wine quality in California,” in the words of Robert Parker. In 2019, Wine & Spirits lauded Storybook’s Zin as “among the greatest wines of the Napa Valley.”

Given our deep passion for classic Napa bottlings, we couldn’t be happier to make this legend available today. If you want to understand the wine that led Napa’s most discriminating critics to fall in love with Zinfandel, make this purchase a priority.

Our own Master Sommelier Sur Lucero used to pour Storybook Zinfandel at The French Laundry, and the wine’s purity and racy verve continue to astound us today. It sets the benchmark for the variety, whether served at the White House (by Presidents 42-44), with Michelin-star cuisine, or simply sipped on your back porch.

None other than André Tchelistcheff, the most influential winemaker in Napa history, advised Storybook founder Jerry Seps to cultivate the special plots that produced this release. He called these hills above Calistoga, rich in red clay-loam soils with wide swaths of eastern exposure, the best place in California to grow Zinfandel.

Countless factors—from the way the oblique angle of the vines deflects heat spikes, to how the cool, moisture-retaining clay soils eliminate the need for irrigation—make for a Zinfandel that completely enchants. Every Napa fan must try it at least once, especially at today’s decidedly un-Napa price.

Composed of a grape known for its earthy richness, the 2016 Mayacamas Range is surprisingly Pinot Noir-like, graceful as a swan. Yet the weighty, mouth-filling center, dressed with raspberry preserves and plum and dripping with woody, sappy tones of resinous herbs, is pure California Zin, done with sublime precision.