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

By now a lot you already know who she is. We had featured the 2019 Sage Ridge previously as an Appy Hour exclusive and it sold out in MINUTES. We just cleared the winery out again for this special Sarah Francis Store Takeover!!!

We have 10, yep, you read that right, TEN of her stunners up for grabs today!

A vertical of Beckstoffer Georges III from 2017 through 2022. And another vertical, Sage Ridge from 2017 to 2019. Plus, The Cowboy and some of her Faith’s Cuvée Blanc de Noirs bubbly.

The Cabs are the lowest we have ever seen, or will see them, from $300 down to $89. That’s a full 70% OFF. Gulp. Now back to bad news, THESE WILL GO FAST as they are the final bottles in her library, and the word on the street is that they are sadly pulling the plug on this project. Getting teary eyed…

Just 7 years in and it is so GORGEOUS! This elegant, classy, full bodied stunner competes with and surpasses many of the very best out there and at our price it’s in a league of its own.

Wine Spectator scored the overall 2019 Napa vintage 96 Points, calling it “concentrated berries delivering dense yet pure fruit flavors.”

Vinous landed with 96 as well, noting the 2019s turned out “a very high-quality vintage of Cabernets”

Wine Advocate ranked the vintage with a 96 too! Extraordinary.

Ok so …Where were we?

This 2019, you’ve seen the reviews for the 19’s and the pure elegance they bring, but just to give you a little more context..Sage Ridge Vineyard is a prized, hard to get Napa vineyard up on the ridges 1,480 feet in elevation above Lake Hennessey, near Pritchard Hill, close to Chappellet and Colgin. It’s a very small exclusive club of wineries that get this fruit! 🍇😊This vineyard gets big scores from high end critics when made by Bevan, Geodesy, Morgado, Scattered Peaks and Argot.

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 minuscule 75 cases or so - every bottle is even hand-numbered by Sarah herself.

Which means we have far less than the normal offer to go around…

Tasting notes for this wine are at the bottom..BUT we wanted to give you a bio on this super EXCLUSIVE CULTY wine!

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 & 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.”

By taste alone, the 2019 seems positioned to come close to that same 100-point mark and we cannot imagine it earning anything less than 96-99 points.

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 SO CLASSY! It greets you with dark plum and black cherry, wrapped in violet and a dusting of dried sage, true to the vineyard’s name. Give it air and layers of cassis, cedar, and a mineral, iron-tinged edge start to show underneath. The palate is plush and open-knit, riper and rounder than expected from this high elevation site, with polished tannins that arrive soft and settled rather than gripping. Still, there’s real depth and complexity here, a touch of loam, and a long, warm finish that lingers without heaviness. Approachable now, but with enough structure to reward a few years or decade in the cellar.

Drink this with a simple herb-crusted roast leg of lamb or a grilled flank steak 🍖 or a seared duck breast with a fruit-forward glaze (cherry, fig, or blackberry will actually amplify this wine)! 🦆

Dollar for dollar these can’t be beat. Store Takeover is for today ONLY. So beat the clock and snag all you can, while you can.