Well, how about a big, brawny, drop the gloves, bare-knuckle bruiser of a Merlot next from a legendary Napa icon - Rutherford Hill Estate.

And we put the price into submission, wrestling it all the way down to $32. For reference, that’s just a shade over the price of their everyday, entry-level Merlot.

It’ll go toe to toe with many a top Merlot like Pride or Pahlmeyer. And it’ll give many a top Napa Cab a serious inferiority complex.

Keep in mind, this is the “Limited Release” Estate bottling from Atlas Peak. Normally only available from the winery tasting room - somehow, we worked our magic and brought a few cases into our warehouse to share with you. Don’t even ask how. In fact, if you search online for it, you won’t find a trace that it exists! Talk about a SPY wine.

Rutherford Hill is one of those fixtures in Napa. An old giant hanging out quietly up the Silverado trail just doing their thing for almost 50 years. You can easily miss the sign as you cruise up, but a visit to this winery will take you straight back to 1972 when they were formed. The faces have changed but the wine has been insanely consistent.

If you want a soft, supple, light, and fruity Merlot, look elsewhere. This has serious structural heft, and endless concentration with complexity to spare. Deep black/red in the glass, it’s medium to full-bodied and simply jammed with smoky blackberries and crushed plums, a dusting of dark chocolate, roasted coffee beans, and some Asian five-spice. Whatever winemaker Marisa Taylor did here, we’re loving it. This gives us serious winer-wine vibes and begs for some hearty slow cooker beef stew.

We wish they shared more with us… but we’re lucky to have any of this rare gem at all.

Get some while you can!