AMERICAN WINE

JEB DUNNUCK 96 POINTS - "A gorgeously sweet nose of blackcurrants, dried flowers, Asian spice, and loamy earth and chocolate emerges from the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard. Deeply concentrated, with a light, elegant texture, beautiful tannins, and a great finish, this stunning wine is already beautiful but will shine for 15 years or more."

The vineyards of Calistoga, located in the northern Napa Valley, are prized for helping to produce wine grapes of extraordinary flavors, complexity and quality. Frank Family Vineyards are located in this region on the original site of the historic Larkmead Winery and owned by wine legend Hans Kornell. Rich Frank and his family farm this piece of land with great fervor, and with the help of their winemaker Todd Graff, the wines from Frank Family Vineyards have become a "go to" at several of the top restaurants, hotels and retailers.

Now why is that? It's easy; Frank Family produces wine that they like to drink and they don’t charge the proverbial arm-and-a-leg like some others tend to do. What you get here exceeds what you pay! In addition to their Calistoga site, they have acquired a few other vineyards in other Napa Valley regions (such as Rutherford and Carneros) that they farm with the same intensity as their Calistoga vineyard.

Deriving from stellar vineyard sites, this beautiful wine exhibits the Rutherford appellation's signature earthy tone. Fresh, with characteristics of cassis, red currant and mocha, the 2017 is also dusty and mineral at its core. Full bodied and well structured, it shows an underlying softness and finds plenty of length and grace.

The Louis Martini winery has been crafting world-class Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa and Sonoma's finest vineyards since 1933. Founder Louis M. Martini started with this simple premise: the best grapes make the best wines. Today, this tradition carries on at their historic winery in the Napa Valley with a range of unforgettable Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

The Louis M. Martini winery is one of the original five Napa wineries founded in 1933 after Prohibition. In keeping with Louis' tradition of innovation, they pioneered the use of temperature controlled fermentation, the use of wind machines to combat frost damage, as well as studying clonal selections on specific terroirs. All of which have become industry standards.

Since then, the Louis Martini winery has gone from one level of greatness to the next. Robert M. Parker, Jr. tweeted that Martini's Sonoma Cabernet is among the best Cabernets in the world among its peers, their Lot 1 Cabernet Sauvignon has earned the perfect 100-point score, and now, their Napa Valley bottling has been one of the biggest hits in our store for the dollar!