2019 Shifflett Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville 750 ml

South of Yountville, where Darms Lane dead-ends against the Mayacamas foothills, the Shifflett family has been farming the same 52 acres since 1942. For most of that time, they were growers—and very good ones. Elyse, Duckhorn, Freemark Abbey, and a handful of other respected Napa producers paid for the privilege of working with their fruit. Thomas Rivers Brown still sources from the property today.

It took decades of hearing the same thing from their buyers before the Shifflett siblings decided to make the wine themselves.

The ranch sits on what is regarded as the southernmost true alluvial fan of the Mayacamas Range. The Cabernet Sauvignon blocks are rooted in Hambright Rock Outcrop—shallow, volcanic-derived soils with excellent drainage and natural vigor control. The benchland position provides exposure and airflow the valley floor can’t replicate, while proximity to the mountains brings cooling influence that preserves freshness deep into the growing season.

Winemaker Sarah Donley came to the project with credentials built at two of Napa’s most exacting addresses. She trained at Colgin Cellars, rose to assistant winemaker, then moved to Wheeler Farms—the Araujo family’s St. Helena project—as winemaker and production manager.

The 2019 growing season gave her exceptional material to work with. A wet winter and late bud break set the stage for a long, unhurried season—abundant sunshine, minimal heat spikes, and cooling marine influence that allowed the fruit to accumulate flavor complexity at a gradual pace. The Napa Valley Vintners called it a seamless season of hang time and phenolic development; Decanter called it a beautifully classic vintage defined by balance, energy, and tension.

The result is exactly what this site and this vintage should produce: polished and energetic, with dark fruit at the center—black cherry, cassis, blackberry—framed by graphite, tobacco, and gravelly earth. The tannins are fine and velvety, the acidity present and purposeful.

This is classic Napa Cabernet from a vineyard that has quietly contributed to some of the Valley’s finest bottles for decades. The Shifflett family has simply stopped being quiet about it.