2016 Wolfe Grade Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 750 ml

“Why mess with perfection?” asked Wolfe Grade’s 100-point winemaker to his enterprising “pal.”

A couple of years later, the answer to that question is how we ended up with today’s rich, dense, and supremely balanced 2016 Wolfe Grade Cabernet Sauvignon. The flagship Cabernet from this estate earned 100 points in 2016, with critic Jeb Dunnuck urging his readers, “if you want to taste pure perfection from Sonoma, try this wine!” 

From the very same vintage, winemaking genius, and 100-point estate that delivers the Cabernet that Robert M. Parker Jr. has also described as “a quintessential example of what perfection is in my business,” this $38 powerhouse has all the terroir complexity of its perfect-scoring $300+ big brother for one tenth the price.

As the clean-handed beneficiaries of a deal gone badly, we obviously can’t name the estate flagship that this Cabernet is usually meant for, but we couldn’t believe how similar the two wines tasted. Beautifully pure deep black plum, blackberry, and licorice aromas lead into a palate of full-bodied opulence, driven by mineral-laced crème de cassis, exotic spice, and fresh earth. Concentrated and irresistible already, the endless finish ensures this will cellar for decades right alongside Parker’s “legacy wine from Sonoma” for which its grapes were intended.

Tucked over the edge of Spring Mountain, on the steep slopes of the Mayacamas in Sonoma, that 100-point terroir nearly killed us when we went to taste the 2016 Wolfe Grade at the estate. Winding our way up Spring Mountain Road past the turnoff to Pride Mountain, we barely crossed over onto the Sonoma border at the very top of the ridge when we made a sharp left onto a craggy dirt path. A harrowing, Indiana Jones-style ride commenced deep into the woods before emerging onto another terrifying cliffside “road” that likely hadn’t been fortified since the stagecoach days.

Even if we could provide directions, we’re pretty sure our memories of the trip were compromised by the multiple concussions and near heart attacks endured during the drive.

Planted at 1,700 feet, the precipitous vineyards could in fact never be planted by today’s regulations. Topping out at 55-degree gradients—the steepest of which literally match the slope of the great pyramids—the undulating volcanic knolls and ridges create variations in elevation, soils, and aspect, which translates into complex Cabernet that could come from no other place.

“You guys just missed the black bear!” is how the winemaker greeted us as he passed glasses of the 2016 Wolfe Grade into our already trembling hands. A few sips (ok, gulps) later and we remembered why we were risking our lives for this sensational wine.

From the same 100-point source that Parker lauded in previous vintages as “reminiscent of the great classics from the golden era of the Mayacamas on the Napa side” and able to “compete with very finest Cabernet-based wines in the world,” it’s incredible this wound up in a $38 bottle.

We couldn’t understand how it didn’t end up in the winemaker’s flagship blockbuster—the one that costs just over $300, because he “isn’t fond of round, straightforward numbers.”

Irreverence for numbers doesn’t always work out when it comes to contracts, though, and he admitted it may have contributed to the sideways deal that ultimately left this 2016 Wolfe Grade in our hands instead of his.

We’ve all had “friends” like this. You experience a modicum of success and they suddenly come knocking. That’s what happened with Wolfe Grade’s winemaker as soon as he earned his first 100-point score from Robert Parker, who called it “one of the most compelling and profound Cabernet Sauvignons I have ever tasted, and the first perfect wine of [that vintage].”

An old college acquaintance called him with advice which ultimately boiled down to: “double the price of your wine and hire me to sell it.” Unwilling to change his entire business model, but swayed by his pal’s convincing pitch, the winemaker agreed to instead set aside a small parcel that he would make identically to his $300 Cabernet, but let his friend do all the marketing.  

His new partner got about as far as the evocative Wolfe Grade name and label design before he chased another business opportunity to Bali and dropped his end of the bargain, forfeiting his share, and leaving the winemaker with a half-baked marketing plan for a fully-bottled Cabernet.

Rather than confusing his built-in fan base with a one-off vintage of very similar Cabernet, the winemaker called us. Or as he put it: “Bali boy’s loss is your gain.”

Driving back across that white-knuckle ridge with our allocation secured, Indiana Jones had “no ticket” on how heroic we felt. Staggeringly delicious Cabernet with this kind of 100-point, $300 pedigree was well worthy of rescue—braving sheer cliffs and wild beasts to procure.

And at $38? That’s our kind of Holy Grail.