“Who is Sarah Francis? It’s about time we all found out.” – Robert Parker, 2015

Today’s wine is a record breaker in the world of spies. We featured this wine as a special Appy Hour exclusive a few weeks ago and it sold out in MINUTES!

The Ops who scored it were obviously thrilled. Those who missed out? Not so much.

So, we went back on hands and knees and begged for access to the cellar!

And so, the gates opened, and like Moses parting the sea, we cut a miraculous path to more of this $300, ultra-premium, Sage Ridge from the epic 2019 vintage. For under $100?!

It competes and surpasses many of the very best out there - and at our price it’s in a league of its own.

Normally available only directly from Sarah via allocation, or perhaps from a small list of restaurants like Cole’s Chop House in Napa or Evangeline in Calistoga. Production clocks in at a miniscule 75 cases or so - every bottle is even hand-numbered by Sarah herself.

Sarah was born in Texas, and at a young age she felt the pull of the grapevines in her grandmother’s garden. In 2008 she sold her house, cashed out her retirement, and left her job at Johnson and Johnson to go all in on a move to the Bay area.

Her persistence paid off. She connected with Andy Beckstoffer, who refused to sell her a barrel of To Kalon juice at first. She persisted, though and eventually won him over after agreeing to make a Burgundian Chardonnay from the Carneros Lake Vineyard. Turns out he is a good person to know, and that connection led to many others!

In just five years she went from having no grapes, no label, and no actual wine to earning a perfect 100 points for the inaugural vintage of this same Cabernet from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. He praised its “100-point aromatics” and the “stunning, intense fruit and richness.”

Sage Ridge has its own prestige. Coming from high above Lake Hennessy at 1,480 feet in elevation just across from the Pritchard Hill area, this vineyard gets big scores from high end critics when made by Bevan, Geodesy, Morgado, Scattered Peaks and Argot.

Fermentation takes place entirely in the barrel. After hand destemming the fruit is put in the barrel with tops removed and punched as needed. The barrels rest on oxo rollers where they’re spun three times a day to ensure even exposure to the oak and skin contact. After, the juice is racked back into barrels for malolactic fermentation and continued aging for as long as it takes - up to 30 months in some vintages.

This 2019 from Sage Ridge is epic indeed. Fruit forward with vibrant blackberry and cherry and a mélange of spices, this wine will leave you enchanted. This one, by the taste, seems positioned to come close to that same 100-point mark and we cannot imagine it earning anything less than 96-99 points. It shines with layer upon layer of fruit, graphite, minerals, sweet violets, candied walnuts, and rich, toasty oak. A teeth-staining, mouthcoating masterpiece for sure!

Dollar for dollar this can’t be beat. As we learned when we featured this last time It will not last.