NV Locations CA6 750 ml

Four Phone Calls to Dave Phinney

Four years ago we ran a story called “‘The Prisoner’ in Maury: Robert Parker’s Top Bargain Red of the Year.” You may or may not have seen it. From the minute we hit the send button to the moment we shut the offer down, all hell broke loose. We figured members would be intrigued. But not like that. By the time the dust settled, Dave Phinney, the creator of “The Prisoner”—Robert Parker’s “value winemaker of the year!”—had broken the Wine Access record for most bottles sold in the shortest amount of time. Our original allocation was 2,400 bottles. Just 15 minutes out, we called the winery and secured an additional 900. In the end, we did that FOUR MORE TIMES before Phinney said basta! The following day, the Member Services team was left picking up the pieces, issuing apologies left and right. Which brings us to today. Phinney’s latest CA6 is one of the richest, most extravagant red blends anywhere for $20. We expect that once you pop the cork, you’ll see why Locations has garnered 1,273 4-star and 435 5-star reviews for an average rating of 4.25—the highest in the last year for a $20 red.

If you’ve been a Wine Access client for any amount of time, by now you know the score when it comes to David Phinney and his Locations wines. Seven times in the last 11 years, Phinney authored wines that ranked in the Wine Spectator Top 100. Robert Parker has been consistently emphatic in his praise, famously calling Phinney “my ‘value winemaker of the year’ candidate” and challenging readers: “If there are better wines for under $20 a bottle in the world today, please share that information with The Wine Advocate… Kudos to Dave Phinney!”

After falling in love with winemaking on a trip to Florence, Italy, and doing a stint at Robert Mondavi, Phinney embarked on his own venture in 1998. The 2000 vintage, as some of you might remember, proved a struggle, seeing heavy rains and chilly temperatures. But Phinney noticed that certain lesser-known varieties such as Charbono and Petite Sirah had nevertheless performed beautifully. He decided to blend them in a small-batch red, making just 285 cases, which he named “The Prisoner.”

Massive critical and popular acclaim followed—Phinney had a bona fide hit on his hands. He would take the same approach with his Locations wines, eschewing classic blend models and strictures governing appellation in order to simply create the best wine with the best fruit available, usually in volumes vastly overshadowed by demand. The first release, F1, took us to the south of France and the schist-strewn soils of Maury. The second, I1, landed us in southern Italy, and from there we’ve gone as far afield as the foothills of the snow-capped Andes in Argentina’s Mendoza wine region.

To capture the sun-drenched, full-throttle concentration that originally made him one of Robert Parker’s favorite winemakers, he had to return to the soil that made him famous: California. Made from old-vine Syrah, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Barbera, and Grenache grown in select locations in Sonoma, Napa, the Sierra Foothills, and Mendocino, this wine bursts with sumptuous red fruit, thick tannins, and licorice—just in time for grilling season.

- Wine Access Wine Team