2020 The Big Ticket Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley 750 ml

The 1960s and 70s saw the rise of the very first cult Napa Cabernet, a wine that remains one of the most collected American bottles in the world. The iconic Oakville estate behind the 2020 Big Ticket Cabernet supplied most of the grapes for it—and since then, it’s been a source for the likes of Araujo, Cakebread, Lail, Mondavi, and more. 

This estate has engineered a spectacular run as one of California’s great Cabernet growers. Vinous praised their estate wine as “one of the benchmark Cabernets in Napa Valley today.”

In this NDA-shrouded coup, the vineyard that’s supplied to a who’s who of famous Napa winemakers is now supplying us. We got a butcher’s cut of magnificent, marvelously lush Cabernet from their latest vintage, sharing a pedigree associated with French Laundry placement and 100-point praise.

A friend of ours who joined the estate’s winemaking team a few years ago got us on their list of names to call when there’s a little extra volume to offload. When the good news on this small allocation came through, we had no doubt: If anything was a Big Ticket wine, this was.

The vineyards are situated where the Valley floor meets the Mayacamas Mountains, and the wines derive their dazzling complexity from the diversity of terroir present here. Higher blocks show concentrated, brooding richness with earth tones and thick tannins, while the flatter plots produce Cabernet that wows with vibrancy and fresh, juicy fruit. We closed the deal with 18 months aging in French oak, 35% new.

This is a historic Oakville estate cherished and coveted by nearly every serious Napa winemaker. The Big Ticket Cab is a rare chance to see why.