2017 Wolfe Grade Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 750 ml

The wine that inspired an Indiana Jones-style adventure to secure, our very own Holy Grail Cabernet, is back.

We knew the rich, dense, and supremely balanced Wolfe Grade Cabernet Sauvignon was something special when we first offered it this past June, but the overwhelming feedback we received prompted us to fast-track the next vintage from the same 100-point vineyard source to (re)deliver to you ASAP.

The Wine Access member reviews keep pouring in daily from the last vintage: “Excellent.” “Great price for an outstanding wine.” “Very solid wine! Complex, and would put up there with almost any of the big names from California.” “We loved this wine! “…a little bit of heaven!” “Such a fabulous wine and the price was so reasonable.”

And our favorite: “Add another star, please… but keep the price down.”

Done and dusted.

From the same 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 2017 powerhouse shows the terroir complexity of perfect-scoring, cult California Cabernets.

The 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!” 

We still can’t name the estate flagship that this Cabernet is usually meant for, but the wine is fantastic: Gorgeous blackberry, plum, and licorice aromas lead into a palate of purity and full-throttled opulence, driven by mineral-laced exotic spice, cassis liqueur, and fresh earth. Irresistibly concentrated already, the endless finish ensures this will cellar for decades right alongside Parker’s “legacy wine from Sonoma” for which its grapes were intended.

After risking our lives in true Raiders of the Lost Ark fashion last spring, dodging black bears and teetering over the steep, unpaved slopes of the Sonoma border of Spring Mountain to get to its 100-point terroir, we saved ourselves the heart palpitations with the 2017—yet could still detect the wine’s craggy mountain origins in every sip.

Planted at 1,700 feet, the precipitous vineyards were planted in the 1990s and could never be planted under 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 translate into complex Cabernet that could come from no other place.

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 we ended up with this kind of deal.

Ironically, fans of Wolfe Grade may recall it was Parker’s laudatory reviews of this estate that proved the catalyst for our original deal. Before it was a glimmer in our eye, those perfect scores caught the attention of others eager for a deal, who somehow managed to convince the team to set a Cabernet parcel aside to market at twice its going rate.

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

Rather than confusing their built-in fan base with a one-off vintage of very similar Cabernet, they called us. And after tasting how great the 2016 was, we had to go back again. 

We didn’t have to brave the same sheer cliffs and wild beasts to procure this 2017 Wolfe Grade, but we still consider it liberated from the clutches of slick opportunists who wouldn’t dream of offering such pedigreed Cabernet.

Our dreams, on the other hand, are made of deals like this on such a staggeringly delicious wine.