2020 LOLA Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

We know a lot of people in Napa Valley. We don’t know anyone else like LOLA founder and winemaker Seth Cripe.

A high-school dropout, he trained his palate while washing dishes at one of Florida’s best restaurants. At age 17, he saved up $1,200 and drove clear across the country to Napa and managed to score coveted jobs at classic Cabernet houses like Swanson Vineyards and Caymus.

A contender for the hardest-working man in Napa Valley, Cripe has a reputation for a lot of things, but in the context of today’s blockbuster LOLA Napa Cab offer, it boils down to this: Few American winemakers are as driven to make fantastic, masterfully crafted California wines that are as modestly priced as possible.

This showstopping 2020 LOLA release is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a single vineyard located on Zinfandel Lane in St. Helena, around the corner from iconic properties like Joseph Phelps, Hall, and Quintessa. Because the plot is in high demand among elite Napa producers, neither Cripe nor we can share the name of it, but the vibrancy, brightness, and liveliness of the fruit speaks for itself in the glass.

Cripe achieves value by securing long-term leases on great vineyards and then doing the farming himself. It’s the kind of strategy typically pursued by big houses that can afford large staffs and capital investments. He doesn’t have those deep pockets, but he does possess an indomitable work ethic, personally tending to over 85 acres along with his tight-knit team.

The result is a Cabernet with impossibly soft tannins—at once lush and fresh—that should be absolutely irresistible to Napa bargain hunters.