2023 Star Treatment Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

We knew we needed to stay composed.

No one likes a babbling fanboy. Shoulders back, eyes focused, firm handshake, a clear “pleased to meet you,” then get down to business. We were there to do a deal.

In our heads? A different story.

We were trying to secure a tranche of NDA-protected barrels from a legend. Someone who’d made a wine—maybe the wine—that defined Napa luxury for decades, especially in our formative drinking years. And they’d helmed that program for a long time. Long enough that we were now, in some technical sense, peers.

Over the years, they’d earned some serious attention: thousands of points in scores, from all the major critics. Plus some publication-specific accolades that would give them away in an instant. They’ve been the “ah-ha” wine for countless Napa oenophiles.

So, yeah: Stay cool. Stay cool. Stay cool.

“Pleasedtomeetyouitsarealpleasure.” Technically, we got through the introduction without a problem, and once we started to talk about wine, things opened up and came naturally. They didn’t usually sell wine in barrel, but we asked a friend who worked there in marketing at the exact right moment: The 2023 vintage wasn’t just immaculate, it was abundant, as well. And the market for hyper-premium Cab had softened juuuust enough that they didn’t want to be sitting on inventory.

Listening to them describe the 2023 growing season, its all-time status was clear, even as the grapes were being harveted—as it’s only grown in estimation since. Hang-time was easy, flavors were fully developed, and vineyards came in one-by-one over weeks. 

It’s what every winemaker dreams of—and in this case, parts with very begrudgingly (with the accountant looking over their shoulder and making “ahem” noises the whole time). Star Treatment, indeed.