2019 Nine Suns Sunbird Red Napa Valley 750 ml

Nine Suns has only made their Sunbird Red for two years, but it’s an instant classic—already one of the must-own bottles for in-the-know Napa drinkers—and it’s easy to see why.

Made entirely from Nine Suns’ Houyi Vineyard—a world-class Pritchard Hill site that supplies reds for Bevan, Realm, and Vice Versa, as well as Nine Suns’ own coveted bottles—and crafted by legendary winemaker Phillipe Melka, it’s a rare opportunity to access this coveted terroir.

Walking through the 22-acre Houyi Vineyard, it’s easy to see why the sole source of Nine Suns’ wines is so sought-after by Napa Valley’s top vintners. The site boasts everything that makes Pritchard Hill one of the top grapegrowing sites in California: deep-red iron-rich soils, hunks of volcanic rock, and a 1400-foot perch above the fog line that blesses it with abundant sunshine. 

Consisting of steep, beautifully drained slopes that offer a stunning view down the Valley, Houyi’s vines are tended by viticulturist David Abreu—who replanted Screaming Eagle and has farmed grapes for Staglin, Colgin, Bryant Family, and Harlan Estate—and they produce pristine fruit, year after year. 

For the decade since the Chang family founded Nine Suns, the Cabernet and Bordeaux grapes from Houyi have gone into the family’s own Nine Suns Red. But the property also has tiny blocks of Grenache and Syrah that thrive in the high-elevation sunshine of Pritchard Hill, and in 2019, Melka and Nine Suns Director of Winemaking Lloyd Matthews blended them in with Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc to produce a full snapshot of this one-of-a-kind plot.

It’s an extraordinary bottle from one of Napa Valley’s most precious terroirs.