Welcome to another edition of CLASSIFIED wines with Wine Spies!

For reasons that will soon become clear, these wines are so good, so in demand, and so exclusive, that they must hide behind a closely guarded veil of secrecy.

You rarely, if ever, see these bottles at a discount. And because some wineries are very price-sensitive, their mailing list members would go ballistic seeing a deep deal on it.

Unless…

We go full redaction – CLASSIFIED – über-top-secret under the moonless black night with it. Or a sun-drenched Friday morning as is the case here.

Revealing the name would put our livelihood at stake. Our industry is built on relationships and not wanting to ruffle feathers, sometimes it’s a necessary precaution to redact some of the information.

HOWEVER… we can drop a little trail of hints, and the savviest of you may figure it out. With that preamble over, let’s dive in - it’s a GOOD one.

Let’s start with the location. It comes from a hot new estate up on Pritchard Hill aka the Rodeo Drive of Napa Valley. It’s their “second” wine to their 95-100 point flagship Cabernet. Originally designed for slightly earlier enjoyment, but as the younger vines grew older, it came into its own, showing a deeper reflection of the terroir, vintage, and blending dynamics.

There’s a lot to uncover here, so let’s begin with the winemaker.

Made by a Cabernet crafting TITAN - Phillipe Melka. With countless 95-100 point wines under his belt, he’s among the Napa Valley Triumvirate of winemakers. The Bordeaux-born winemaker started his career at Château Haut Brion, moved to Château Petrus, then to Dominus in Napa Valley. From there his trajectory continued to soar as he consulted with a who’s who of the valley (Quintessa, Lail, Seavey, Bryant, and more.)

And the numbers?

Released at $110 from the winery. It sold for upwards of $130 on other sites we won’t mention by name (hint: it rhymes with fine dot com). And a bit of sleuthing shows $99 as the absolute lowest price anywhere else.

Which means our price at $50 absolutely CRUSHES the competition by a wiiiiide margin.

What about scores?

At least three outstanding ones from prominent critics. Few choice snippets say it’s “a joy to drink…” “such a beautiful and expressive wine.” And for what it’s worth, we think at six years old it’s on an upward trajectory and EASILY surpasses most Napa Cabs at our price.

Onto the wine…

The composition is roughly 90% Cabernet, with the balance of Petit Verdot. It’s a big, brawny, inky and sappy Cab front-loaded with plum, blackberry, and dark cherry fruit. Violets and sappy, snappy black licorice, toasty spices, and cedar ride along a bed of dusty, mountain-bred tannins. This packs all the full-bodied goodness you want in a Napa Cab, with the pedigree, price, and shelf stability to outlast many a millennial. As one of the pros noted, you’ll want to give this an hour or two of breathing time after uncorking for maximum pleasure.

There you have it. Put your detective skills to the test. Or just put your order in, kick back, and treat yourself to a surprise. When it lands on your doorstep, tear open the box and revel at your good fortune and infinite purchasing wisdom.