2018 Editorial Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville Napa Valley 750 ml

Our journalist friend who inspired Editorial wines likes saying that he’s just another ink-stained wretch—a dinosaur biding his time in the digital age. But his Sinatra-like Rolodex and knack for making introductions tell a different story.

Earlier this year, he set the table for us on another hair-raising Napa deal. He got our foot in the door, and we bargained for some of the most famous and historic Cabernet Sauvignon in Coombsville, from an estate that’s supplied grapes to Patz & Hall, Helen Turley at Pahlmeyer, and Joseph Phelps’ Insignia.

With terroir of that pedigree, these bottles usually price out at $275 a pop—no surprise there. But we’ve tapped the same estate vineyard and brought the price on that transcendent Coombsville concentration way down.

Coombsville sits in a caldera (formed by a collapsed volcanic rock), creating a microclimate with some of the coolest temperatures in Napa, plus added refreshment thanks to its proximity to the San Pablo Bay. The growing season lasts forever, giving vines the chance to extract all the mineral tension and volcanic intensity from the soil below.

The source estate cuts no corners on farming, relying on all full-time vineyard workers, who touch every vine eight or nine times a season. That result of that careful cultivation is the kind of wine that always has our Napa value hounds hopping out of their seats and reaching for their wallets. Showing a glass-staining purple color, it’ll wow you with big, healthy tannins, loads of plum and raspberry flavors accented by cocoa and vanilla, a mouthful of acidity, and a long, chiseled finish. Just plain fun to drink—it’s the kind of Cabernet Napa purists can’t get enough of.