“I wish I bought 60 - it’s THAT good…“

So said Justin N. in the Operative Hangout about the now infamous Erba. That was the 2007 bottling he spoke of, by the way.

And he paid a LOT more for it from Total Wine.

Today’s 2016 from your favorite Agents of Wine clocks in at stupid-low $38. That’s down from $90 retail. For a mountain-bred cuvee made by a rockstar winemaker?

Doesn’t get much better.

Paul Erba once said, “these wines need time to come around due to being highly stressed vines from the elevation, wind and rocky soil”. And this 2016 is just rounding the bend and heading down a long straightaway of drinking beautifully.

The vines also need a skilled hand to transform them into something special.

Enter Russell Bevan.

When we got our first Erba, we weren’t sure if he did indeed make this wine. A quick text confirmed it:

“I have always loved that wine,” he told us.

Author of more 100 point wines that we can possibly count. The man lauded by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate as making “full-throttle, ultra-ripe Napa Valley Cabernets that reflect their maker’s personality and have earned their place as part of the Valley’s culture for their exuberance and bold, hedonistic flavors,”?

Later we found out he even makes a vineyard designate from their Vineyard on Atlas Peak, same vineyard as this wine, for his own label. And it’s a LOT MORE than $40!

After a healthy decant this releases a rush of blackberry and blueberry, wild herb, graphite, exotic spice, and mocha aromas. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, on the palate, it’s seamless. At once perfectly balanced and hedonistic, with age adding complex flourishes of pipe tobacco, leather, and tilled earth in a way that somehow makes the fruit and silken-smooth tannins pop like a 3-D image. The depth is beautiful.

A decade on, it’s perfectly aged, but will continue to evolve five to seven years, if you have the patience.

Not surprising, given Bevan’s well-earned reputation. He crafts some of the biggest, baddest, and most expensive wines in Napa. Whether under his eponymous label, Bevan Cellars, his latest venture with his wife Heidi, Adversity, or the other labels he consults on like Carter, Tench, Lerner, Harbison… Add to that Erba! You simply cannot go wrong with any of them.

But you can’t find any of those others anywhere near this price.

While they do not have a website, digging deep in the Wine Advocate reveals more about the winery. “This winery has been owned by Paul and Debbie Erba since 1998, when they purchased 120 acres of Napa hillside land. Their vineyards were planted between elevations of 1,100 to 1,500 feet.” They continue, “Among the many small wineries Russell Bevan consults for is Erba, named for the owner, an Oklahoma-based physician. The 20-acre vineyard is on the “back side” of Atlas Peak, looking east toward Wooden Valley, at approximately 1500 feet above sea level. The site is rocky, with ferruginous soils, said Bevan… ‘Taming the tannins up there has been a war, but I think we finally nailed it,’”

And while they did not submit this wine for review, you can trust in the SPECTACULAR 2016 vinatge. “I’m pleased to say that the bottled 2016s are showing much more nuanced… their incredible vibrancy and intensity is evident. The reds further possess beautifully soft, ripe tannins and taut, muscular (but not skinny) fruit with compelling tension. What I particularly love about the character of the 2016s is a kind of effortlessness about the wines—like a child possessing natural beauty from the get-go. What’s more, this is a fabulous vintage for expressing terroir signatures over vintage signature,” reports Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW.

If you were lucky enough to score some of their 2015 Cabernet, we know you have already clicked ‘Buy’ and moved on. But if you need more convincing, know this: This is the most affordable Bevan-made Red we’ve yet to come across!

Sadly, we have much less of this one than typical offers. Get it while you can!