That this is such a success would be a surprise—except that Keep Wines has been one of our favorite wineries for just this sort of thing. But it also happens to be one of the hardest to get a hold of.

It’s been six years since we last secured an allocation, and the plaudits for Keep have been pouring in: The San Francisco Chronicle listed the winery in a “Winemakers to Watch” feature. Bloomberg included them in a round-up entitled “Meet the Hottest New Names in Napa Wine.” A Keep bottle appeared in Bon Appétit’s “The New Rules of Wine.” We haven’t even gotten to the sommeliers’ love for Keep, with bottles showing up on lists at Eleven Madison Park, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Bar Boulud, and more.

To that acclaim, add some serious winemaking pedigree: Jack Roberts, former assistant winemaker at Matthiasson, and his wife Johanna Jensen, who earned her chops at Broc Cellars and Scholium Project, have entrée into some of the most coveted sites in the North Coast.

Yount Mill Vineyard is farmed by the Hoxleys, one of the first families of Napa wine—and it was one of the first certified organic sites in Napa Valley. Largely dry-farmed and caressed by cool winds, the vines are famed for the freshness and purity of the berries they produce. Pinot Meunier is typically grown and used in Champagne for blending in sparkling wines, but when handled with expert care, it can achieve a kind of exquisite, weightless beauty on its own.

Keep channels that delicacy onto the palate with its sleek, gentle tannins and crystalline acidity. The skill involved in maintaining that litheness while keeping enough structure and firmness to carry it through to the graceful finish is astonishing. That’s why this is a new Napa favorite.

About Pinot Meunier