2016 Watkins Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Atwood Ranch Sonoma Valley 750 ml

No winery hits the bullseye with our members more consistently than Watkins—and we’ve got the keys to their cellar. That chilly space contains some of the most exquisite under-the-radar Cabernets in Northern California.

We now have his 2016 Watkins Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Atwood Ranch Sonoma Valley, which he makes in an absolutely MINUSCULE quantity: Just three barrels’ worth exists of the ‘16. 

For the uninitiated, Watkins is our go-to source for the kind of wines that are getting harder and harder to find: meticulously crafted California Cabernets released not when the winemaker needs cash, but when they’re drinking at their peak. This one shows off the pitch-perfect 2016 vintage in a 100% Cabernet that’s just starting to beautifully unfold. 

The 70-acre Atwood Ranch property sits at the foot of the Mayacamas, looking west into Sonoma Valley. Randall Watkins was actually married at Atwood Ranch, which grows only Cabernet—the rest of the space at the ranch is taken up by cattle, horses, a lake, and a barn that’s the site of some of the area’s greatest get-togethers. 

The Cabernet vines are tall and sprawling, and they produce some tiny, blueberry-sized grapes. “Cabernet is usually small, but these are even tinier than the grapes I usually work with,” Randall told us. With that small size comes outstanding concentration and a high skin-to-juice ratio, making the Cabernet from Atwood Ranch akin to the ones he makes from vineyards high in the mountains, especially in structure. 

Now, after six years in the cellar, Randall’s 2016 Atwood Cabernet is softening, growing lush and seductive. It’s a generous and seductive Cabernet that shows off an ideal growing season and an excellent vineyard.