2018 Off the Cuff Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

We don’t often compare ourselves to Brad Pitt. But rewatching Moneyball the other night, in which Pitt plays the real-life former Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, we couldn’t help but identify with the character a little.

Like Beane—famous for his statistics-obsessed approach to baseball roster-building—we mind every cent and look for innovative ways to get what we want. And like Beane, we often make split-second calls to beat competitors on where real value lies. Those instincts led us to nab, for the second year in a row, a wine that would normally cost $285, turn it around, and offer it to you for just $30.

The 2017 vintage of Off the Cuff Cabernet elicited a cascade of member reviews: over 100 write-ups averaging over 4 out of 5 stars. Excerpts include lines like “My only regret is not getting a full-case” and “Really a great value.”

From the same dry-farmed, 40-acre vineyard in Napa, this Off the Cuff Cabernet boasts the voluptuously concentrated berry compote core, stretched long with oak-rafter tannins and crackling with the brilliant red cherry acidity that members raved over in the last release. You could spend 15 minutes on the nose alone, saddle leather weaving into cigar smoke, violets, and freshly turned earth. But what’s really special about the 2018 is the refinement and gloss of the vintage, defined by a languorously long hang-time.

The estate that sold us the grapes, just off the Silverado Trail, sits within miles of the famous Meadowood resort in the Cabernet high-rent district of St. Helena. Their wines have won 99- and 97-point scores from Robert Parker, who has called them “full-throttle” and “fabulously rich.” Vinous’s Antonio Galloni described the small winery as “among Napa Valley’s elite.”

How we managed to get that pedigree into a private label bottle for a scandalously good deal—essentially 89% off!—is a story we can’t tell in its entirety, as we’re limited by an NDA agreement to protect the source. But it did involve a bit of the horsetrading that Beane was known to pull under a tight deadline.

When the estate called us up a second time, seeing if we had the means to take half a truckload of grapes off their hands post-haste, we couldn’t wait to get to yes. But we had to confirm we had a winemaker first. And the young star who made the last two Off the Cuff wines—a blue-jeans workaholic in the vein of Stéphane Derenoncourt, with a Philippe Melka-like touch for terroir—was on vacation. Off the grid, OOO, do not disturb.

“Give us five minutes,” we said, and were assured we had exactly that, and not much more. That’s when we made a seat-of-our-pants call to try a wild gamble, and dialed up the missing winemaker.

“So sorry to butt in on your beach time, but do you remember the barrel-age regimen used for the 2017 Off the Cuff?” we asked. He gave us the answer and we quickly said thanks and hung up. Then we stared at the phone, praying for it to ring.

Within a minute, it did. It was our winemaker, wondering exactly why were we asking. We casually explained that we’d been offered the same deal again—but wouldn’t dream of interrupting his getaway. We had someone else on it who’d been dying to take a crack at the Off the Cuff brand. Enjoy! Click.

The callback was even quicker this time. “No you don’t,” he said. “Off the Cuff is my baby. I’m the one who sniffed out those grapes last year. I’m walking to my car right now. You tell that other guy you’re talking to he needs a new project.”

No argument there!

“We’ll take those grapes now,” we told the estate manager, just shy of the five-minute deadline. The driver’s already on his way, we were informed. This purple-black Napa supernova can be on its way just as fast to you… but the clock’s already ticking.