2018 Omen Rorick Heritage Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Sierra Foothills 750 ml

Standing as tall as its Napa Valley counterparts in terms of ripe, terroir-driven, mountain Cabernet quality, this 2018 Omen undercuts them in price. From the Sierra Foothills AVA’s famed Rorick Heritage Vineyard in Calaveras County, Wine Enthusiast dubbed this Editors’ Choice Cabernet “one of the best Calaveras wines in memory.” 

That’s one heck of an endorsement for an up-and-coming label, considering the 100-point talent mining the Sierra Foothills for incredible grapes. Screaming Eagle Alum Andy Erickson, Winemaker of the Year Helen Keplinger, and phenom Philippe Melka have all launched ultra-sought-after projects in the storied region.

Rivaling the power, structure, and delivery of Napa Valley’s luxe mountain-grown Cabernets, this single-vineyard red is especially attractive when you factor in its price—just $30 per bottle.

Complex undercurrents of coffee, black tea, vanilla,  and smoke hint at the full year this wine spent aging in French oak. The generous finish is both long and memorable, a hallmark of winemaker Alexandre Remy, whose superpower is making $30 wine taste three times as expensive. 

It had been a while since we’d seen Rorick Heritage Vineyard, the Sierra Foothills vineyard in the sky, so we made the windy two-and-a-half-hour drive east to check in on the site’s own-rooted, alpine vines. In this pocket of the Sierras, Cabernet doesn’t just undergo “hydric stress” to produce ripe, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon—the grapes fight for every degree of warmth, and every ounce of snowmelt. Their roots crack volcanic flows that modern rock drills can’t open, and shatter Devonian marble and limestone slabs to produce grapes with gritty, authentic, powerful mountain character.

After an arduous hike to the top of the ridge, Remy looked out over the sprawling organic vineyard and said, “This vineyard feels like home to me.” 

Strong sentiment from a globetrotter who’s made wine in eight countries, including at one of France’s best wine co-ops in the Northern Rhône. As a top consultant, he was called upon by the likes of Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Moët & Chandon in France, and Mumm Napa in California. But his true passion is for great vin de table—everyday wine.

Feeling jaded with what he saw as California’s prohibitive vineyard real estate, he made it his mission to prove to his new American wife that wine can be an everyday extravagance. 

Looking in the Sierra Foothills AVA for a less pricey zip code that would allow him to do just that, he stumbled upon Matthew Rorick’s jewel of a vineyard. “I stayed up all night drinking wines grown right under my feet with salt-of-the-earth grape growers from all over the world.” Remy found the wines remarkable in such a profound, terroir-driven way, that he fell deeply in love with California. 

But before Remy had that distinguished company and his Editors’ Choice review from the Wine Enthusiast, all he had was great wine from a little-known AVA. Now that Rorick Heritage is a well-established goldmine for sensational, site-driven Napa-level Cabernets, we don’t expect values like this to remain values for long.