2019 Altruria Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 750 ml

We never root for other people’s wine deals to fall through—but that doesn’t mean we’re going to sit around while someone else nabs a stunning Alexander Valley Cab never intended for retail.

The winery behind the intense, beautifully aromatic 2019 Altruria Cabernet Sauvignon produced it for a retailer in Napa Valley that was planning on selling it for $45. But the retailer disappeared into the ether, leaving 80 cases of prime Alexander Valley Cabernet taking up space in the winery cellar.

Then the winemaker, a close friend, called us up. And after tasting the wine’s stellar richness and verve, we claimed every single case—insisting on a price that would allow us to off it to Wine Access Cab-lovers at a mind-boggling price: just $25 per bottle.

This is everything we love about Alexander Valley Cabernet—dark, powerfully structured, buttressed with dusty, muscular tannins. Unless another esteemed Alexander Valley winery crafts another exclusive bottle for another client who pulls a D.B. Cooper, we might not see Altruria again.

Alexander Valley extends from the banks of the Russian River to the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains. The valley is the warmest locale in Sonoma—and an Eden for growing dense, powerful Cabernet. In great vintages, top Sonoma Cabs like Peter Michael and Jordan stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Napa Valley elite.

Few Sonoma vintages in the past two decades have been met with as much expectation as 2019. The warm, sunny, exceedingly long summer was as steady and reliable as Steve Nash at the charity stripe. Growers harvested at their leisure, letting grapes develop a juicy ripeness and complexity that would deliver richly flavored wines.