“This extraordinary winery continues to produce some of Napa’s most distinguished Cabernets.” – Wine Enthusiast

Extraordinary? Distinguished? This wine is all that and more!

TODAY! At OVER $150 OFF, a jaw-dropping price for this Library Vintage Napa Cabernet. But wait – there’s a FULL VERTICAL waiting to happen HERE IN THE STORE for the day?!

As Spies, we appreciate the hidden, humble artisans working behind the scenes in the Napa Valley, enabling the success and stardom of the few and famous.

Today’s wine is the achievement of not one, BUT THREE such modest masters. Together they have well over a century of experience. Such expertise and special estate-vineyard fruit you would normally have to pay for over TWO BILLS for! NOT TODAY!

(Priced to stock up, be sure to check out their 2011 and 2013 in our STORE!)

If perfectly aged Napa Cabernet is your thing – the kind that still shows plenty of blackberry and dark cherry fruit but with super-complex spice box, tobacco, leather, and tilled loam notes that will have your nose in the glass picking out nuance in a timeless haze, then these wines are for you.

Marita’s Vineyard, for the Montes family it is their dream come true. Their legacy. The result of two brothers toiling over decades. Bulmaro ‘Maro’ Montes and his older brother Manuel moved to the Napa Valley with their father, Manuel Sr., in the late 1960’s to enter the family trade – grape growing.

Maro worked diligently, landing a job at Joseph Phelps, and in 1973 was given charge of their vineyard operations. Under the tutelage of the great Walter Schug, he oversaw the famous Backus Vineyard and was integral in developing their Insignia bottling. For over thirty years he managed their vineyard operations. From Schug and later Craig Williams he soaked up the art of winemaking. But he always wanted his father’s dream, their own property. Decades of hard work and this dream came true in 2001 when he purchased a plot in Coombsville – where he also partnered with Mark Herold on fruit for his famed garagiste project, Merus.

He named it Marita’s Vineyard, after his younger daughter.

His older brother Manuel Montes also had a distinguished career. Originally working side-by-side with the legendary vigneron Elwood Mee (as in, Mee Ln. in Saint Helena). Let’s put it this way… Mee was one of the only people Andy Beckstoffer trusted to buy vines from when replanting Beckstoffer To Kalon and his other sites. Over the years, Manuel picked up Mr. Mee’s unique craft - dowsing. He went on to help countless vineyards in the valley find water for viticulture, including Joseph Phelps, where he helped his brother tend their vines.

To Maro and Manuel, the vineyard is their garden. They dote on every single vine. In 2003 both ‘retired’ to tend Marita’s Vineyard full time. Located about a half mile north of Favia and Faust, this small plot is just over 2.5 acres on a hillside with stoney-gravel soils that yield grapes of excellent concentration. The slightly cooler climate in Coombsville contributes a freshness to the wines, giving them a pristine balance reminiscent to great Bordeaux, but with the unmistakable black-fruit core of great Napa Cabernet.

As if their storied careers are not enough, helping them with the winemaking is Kurk Niznik (Savvy Ops will remember the name from Sylvie Estate we offered). While he’s not a flashy guy, but his resumé is – after working with consultant Philippe Melka at Caldwell Vineyards to produce wine for nineteen clients, he went on to make wine for the Mondavi Family, helping them build Continuum and transition from purchased to estate fruit.

His work with the Montes family has produced this truly stunning bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Popping the bottle at HQ, we were all stunned…

2012 was the first in a string of great vintages, and this bottle has all the hallmarks. Showing a little bricking in the glass, the nose explodes with a core of ripe black fruits shrouded in tobacco and old leather like the world’s most inviting smoking lounge. The palate is supple, the wines grip showing the velvety edges of perfect maturity, but with loads of freshness to continue evolving another seven to ten years!

Don’t you forget to grab some of the equally fabulous 2011 and 2013!

Perfectly aged Napa Cabernet, made by true masters of their craft, at THIS PRICE?!

Today Only! Stock up, because we may not see it again.