2023 Off the Cuff Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

We knew we were getting hustled, and we didn’t care.

After all, you’d be hard pressed to find a worse pool player in all of Napa than we are—and we were up $20 on this winery intern. He seemed way too composed for someone losing like this. The sandbagging would stop soon.

But if he kept running his mouth, we didn’t care if he rolled us for $500 or even $1,000. Double that would still be worth it. The information he was casually spouting—about who had too much wine in their cellars, whose mailing lists were down a touch, and who was having trouble making cuts from their blend in the outstanding ‘23 vintage—was pure gold. So we kept racking and breaking.

This pool hall is a hub for industry gossip. Any place with this many tables and several scores of craft beers on tap is bound to attract winemakers, cellar hands, and tasting room workers in their off hours. It’s why we hang out there…though you’d expect we’d be able to handle a cue better at this point.

So after another hour—down about $250, we had to express our thanks somehow—we turned in with a couple of people on our “to call” list for the next morning. By the next afternoon, we had a handshake agreement for a few barrels of A+ Napa Cabernet, from one of the valley’s most respected names. It was a coup.

That’s because while 2023 might have been a “Once in a Lifetime” vintage (Wine Independent) for Napa winemakers, it was also a generous one—and their cellar and warehouse has been full for several years now. No prestigious winery wants to have even the appearance of surplus inventory (these are luxury goods, after all), and so the chance to sneak a few barrels out the back door and maintain their “sold out” status 

Make no mistake, this is prime Cabernet from one of Napa Valley’s most experienced, well-connected winemakers. He draws from sites carefully cultivated through decades of relationships—and in a vintage like 2023, his results are extraordinary. This has depth, power, and complexity to spare, with beautiful aromatics and a core of black and blue fruit that remind us of top Oakville vineyards, and tightly knit tannins that promise a decade-and-a-half of easy aging.