2019 Serene Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak 750 ml

When you’re the “wine guys” to all your friends, you get given some pretty “interesting” bottles, and you get dragged to some pretty dubious events.

But sometimes it pays off. Big time.

We hit the jackpot with the 2019 Serene Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak. From a winery that was brand new to us, it hails from a great vintage, plus a section of Napa that’s earning superstar status. Once it hit our palate, it was easy to see why the winery charged $135 for the bottle.

This glorious Napa Cab is showing a beautiful bit of bottle age, and it has all the bells and whistles—bold, dense fruit, beautiful hints of espresso and chocolate, and a lush palate leading to a long finish. Time has been exceptionally kind to the Atlas Peak tannins, and this wine is absolutely in full flight. 

This whole thing probably wouldn’t have happened if things had gone according to plan.

We were heading down from Napa to Monterey for an event that night, and the original plan was to meet some old friends in Santa Cruz for an afternoon hanging out at Mitchell’s Cove. We’d packed a cooler with picnic provisions, and things looked perfect when we arrived. But the weather in Santa Cruz is famously fickle—and localized. It soon became clear that we were going to have to pivot.

That’s when our  friends—who are not exactly wine geeks—suggested going to a tasting room they liked not far from the beach. The place also sold great coffee and had big Hawaiian vibes, not characteristics we typically associate with fine wine. But sometimes the best thing you can do in this life is say yes, so we were off to MJA Vineyards, who makes the Serene Cellars wines.

The rest, obviously, is history—serendipity at its finest. We’re so lucky to have found this bottle, and you’ll be thrilled when you taste it.