Taste of Napa

There’s no denying that Napa Valley is America’s premier wine-producing region, and that the best wines in the United States hail from the pristine manicured rows that line the valley from the Vaca Mountains to the Mayacamas. We’ve gathered together six wines that we believe deliver the quintessential Napa experience. From bold, rich, heady, and hedonistic Cabernets to a Chardonnay from one of the valley’s greatest winemakers — this is your six-bottle ticket to getting lost in the paradise of exquisite Napa Valley wines.

Taste of Napa Set Includes: 

2014 Teeter Totter Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Out of 20,000 wines tasted, only 40 wines made the cut for our Store. And of those, the 2014 Teeter-Totter Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is our #1 hottest, client-favorite wine — a stunning value from Wine Spectator’s 2014 “dream vintage.” Eight-time 100-point winemaker Benoit Touquette leveraged his network of exceptional vineyard sources from Yountville, St. Helena, Pritchard Hill, and Calistoga to create a Cabernet that could stand shoulder to shoulder with high-priced, high-profile Napa counterparts — for under $100. Robert Parker called this opulent, lip-smacking, black-fruited gem “heady, round” and “hedonistic.” A few prominent wine directors of 3-Michelin-starred restaurants have their allocation. In-the-know collectors have already laid down cases in their cellars. Don’t be one of those who miss out. 

2014 Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Robert Parker called the 2014 Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon a “real knock-out” and a “superb example of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon” in his 94-point review. The winemaking superstar behind this praise is Philippe Melka protégé Julien Fayard, who under Melka’s tutelage made wines for Dalla Valle, Métisse, Lail, and Gemstone. His master craftsmanship is on full display with this blockbuster Cabernet fruit drawn off a quartet of all-star vineyards — Beckstoffer To Kalon, Missouri Hopper, Martinez, and Teucer. The result “hits the palate with authority, serious extract and richness,” says Parker. Napa Cabernets of this quality and pedigree usually command triple digits — this one from Wine Spectator’s “dream vintage” does not. 240 cases of the 2013 vintage disappeared in hours, and we expect the same of this 2014 beauty. Any hesitation means you could miss out.

2013 Nicholson Jones Chardonnay Dolly Hill Vineyard Carneros

Robert Parker has said of one of Julien Fayard’s Purlieu wines: It “just has it all. It is really a wine to diagram and analyze over and over to see what true perfection really is.” Critical love has established Fayard, who worked alongside Philippe Melka at Dalle Valle, Gemstone, and Lail, as a perennial 95+ scoring talent. Fayard’s 2013 Nicholson Jones Chardonnay comes from the special Dolly Hill portion of the top-flight Truchard Vineyard in Carneros, also prized by Nickel and Nickel for their $50 Truchard Chardonnay. Fayard’s deft touch has yielded a rich, mineral, yet mouth-filling unoaked Chardonnay, as he says himself, “it has the palate weight and mouth coating viscosity of a Grand Cru Chablis, and in a similar sense is both big, yet refreshingly light on its feet.” It is impossible to obtain this 2013 rare gem anywhere besides the winery and Wine Access.  

2014 Nichols Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Napa Valley

After tasting Britt Nichols’ 2013 Rutherford Cab, we didn’t think the young enologist could climb much higher. Then came 2014, the year Wine Spectator called a “dream vintage,” and Robert Parker deemed, “excellent.” Squared up against it’s older sibling, Britt’s 2014 gets the nod. Tasted in a lineup of Rutherford heavyweights with higher profiles and much higher price tags, Britt’s 2014 still holds its own. That’s because it’s made from the same heavyweight fruit — a historic vineyard just a stone’s throw from Caymus and Staglin. As Britt told us, “Cabernet bottlings from this estate reach $125...easily.”

2015 Matthiasson White Blend

The French Laundry. Gramercy Tavern. Marea. Each of these titans of the restaurant world makes sure its wine list has room for Steve Matthiasson’s coveted Napa Valley White. With his 2015 Matthiasson White Blend, The San Francisco Chronicle “Winemaker of the Year” has given ample reason why such room is made. But this rich, vivacious white is near-impossible to find — especially since a 2008 vintage that caused Robert Parker to wonder, “Why are there not more California white wines such as this?” Thanks to our relationship with Steve and his wife Jill, your search is over. The 2015 Matthiasson White Blend is coveted and extremely hard-to-find. For one of the most compelling under-$40 California whites, we strongly recommend a case-buy, because once this vintage is gone, it’s gone — and 365 days is a long time to wait for a new vintage of such a delicious white.

2013 Hall Napa Valley "Coeur" Cabernet Sauvignon

Robert Parker dubbed Napa’s 2013 vintage “the greatest vintage in 37 years.” For HALL Wines, it yielded “Coeur” — a stunning, powerhouse Cabernet Parker called “full-bodied, opulent and fleshy,” before pinning on 93 points, which sold out swiftly when we first offered it. HALL stands tall among the steadily growing number of allocation-only wineries in Napa Valley, appealing to hungry collectors with members-only wines from their stunning LEED Gold-certified, gravity-flow winery in St. Helena. Dozens of their wines have appeared on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 lists, while over 140 HALL Wines have earned scores between 90 and 100 points. That makes each vintage, especially those that have been aging in HALL’s cellars like this 2013 “Coeur” Cabernet, a rarity.