2017 Cerro Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

Even after Wine Access members gobbled up our first hard-to-get allocation from winemaker Derek Beitler, we knew our work wasn’t done.

That’s because we knew Beitler, the super-skilled young winemaker with a deep Caymus connection, had crafted a Prisoner-inspired red wine from insider vineyards located mainly in the prestigious Rutherford AVA. And we had a sneaking suspicion—based on the wine’s sources and Derek’s meticulous methods—that it would be a blockbuster.  

When we finally got our hands on the 2017 Cerro Napa Valley, the bold red wine bounded past our expectations. Packed with lush layers of fruit stacked on silky tannins, we couldn’t help feeling like it was custom-crafted for fans of Titus Andronicus, Leviathan, and the ultra-deep wines that made “Napa Red Blend” a world-famous phrase. 

Cerro is a quintessential Napa insider-wine, so we didn’t hesitate to get all we could. Since we took a good chunk of Derek’s production, we can bring this bottle to you at an incredible deal.

Like our first sell-out wine from Derek, buying plenty of Cerro is a low-risk, high-reward proposition. Expressive and majestic, it’s ideal for the barbecue, and will segue perfectly as summer days give way to the cool afternoons of fall. It can certainly go for five years in the cellar, but once you take a taste you’ll be thinking in the short term—and the price certainly won’t discourage indiscriminate bottle-popping. 

Derek’s got a bit of royal Napa Valley blood in his veins—his uncle is Chuck Wagner of Caymus, and he grew up working in the Caymus cellars—but take one taste of Cerro, and there is no doubt that Derek is doing his own thing. 

The wine grew out of another project, which had left Derek with two fantastic Rutherford Petit Verdot sources and nowhere to put the grapes. Thinking of how incredible The Prisoner was in its early days, Derek took his excellent Rutherford Petit Verdot, added some Petite Sirah and a little Zinfandel from Calistoga, and Cerro was born. 

This is a unique wine that stands apart from the rest of Derek’s lineup, but it does boast his signature: extended barrel aging. He gives the wine 30 months in oak, the kind of regimen that a cash-flow-obsessed winemaker wouldn’t dream of—even though few would argue with how it benefits the wine. 

“With most wines, that extra year does so much for integration, for maturity, for softening rough edges,” Derek told us. “If you’re taking care of your barrels, there’s no real downside. It’s all positive.” 

One sip of the seamless 2017 Cerro, and you’ll agree. This is pure early-drinking Napa power and class, and we’re thrilled to bring it to you.