2022 Solar Ash Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley 750 ml

The tip we got was so good, it’d be investigated by the SEC if we were trading securities.

“You’re always looking for the next big thing,” our friend said as we picked up the phone, dispensing with the pleasantries. “Well I’ve got the kind of find that comes along maybe every half-dozen years.” 

He got straight to the point: “Second generation of big-time Sonoma grapegrowers—real players in Knights Valley. These kids, Alex and Christian Ehret, they know all the right people. They’ve hung up their own shingle… and they’re doing it right.”

“Hell, they hired Josh Reynolds to make their wine.”

Our ears perked up even more. Josh is a rising-star talent, a real insider’s pick to be one of the North Coast’s Next Big Things. He’s currently the assistant to cult winemaker Jesse Katz—a Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 Tastemaker, Wine Spectator Rising Star, and was the first winemaker to land on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. In our experience, winemakers of Jesse’s caliber are shrewd judges of talent.

He wasn’t done. “The vineyard…The VINEYARD—you know how to find it? Go to Peter Michael Winery. Turn left out their door, walk down to 128, and cross the street. You’re there. They’ve supplied fruit to all the big names. Duckhorn, Far Niente, Orin Swift…”

We hung up and cleared our afternoon to go see Alex and Cristian.

The 2022 Solar Ash Cabernet was as impressive as we’d been told—one of the finest debuts we’d tasted in a long while—so we made them an offer: We’d commit to 100 cases on the spot, right now, in exchange for a big discount. It’s a win for their new label, and a huge win for our members.