I’m always harpin on stellar Pinot-houses who make a Syrah–almost always with exemplary results–but let’s talk about famous Zin-houses who make a bit of Cab: Meeker. Turley. Ridge. Mazzacco. Sapphire Hill. I’ll think of some more. So will you. Here’s Storybook Mountain chiming in. This thing smells like a barrel-sample: green, pungent and wiry at the front, while deep spicy fruit clamors with smoky edginess from a solidly-based foundation. It’s gorgeous, textbook–or maybe storybook–stuff true fans of classic Cab can totally get behind and presenting an incredible youngster–here at 5–with nearly indescribable aging potential.

Tasting it eviscerates the pores of the mouth with peppery splendor and mountain gravitas. Achy, thin and ridculously structured. The fruit–as deep and generous as it is–takes a few strokes to get used to, to fully comprehend the stuffing and ripeness below the kinds of things which make cab lovers toes curl. Teeth-wipingly dense late-middle-to-finish, an austere shock of tannin icing the cake and melding perfectly down the orange-rind and pomegranate-pithy finale. This is not an expensive wine, OK? So stop your bitchin about no Napa values being out there. Buy 2 cases and drink one a year.

2018 STORYBOOK MOUNTAIN ‘Four Reds’ Cab/PV/ME/CF 64/22/8/6 Estate grown Napa Valley 13.9

www.storybookwines.com/