“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 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, this wine 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…

Eight years in and it sure doesn’t taste like it! It’s a POWERHOUSE vintage of structure. This big, bad, hedonistic thriller 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 2018 Napa vintage 99 Points, calling it “spectacular year, with wines that are rich and dark, but detailed, restrained in style and very terroir-driven.” At the time, it was the HIGHEST ranking vintage for the Napa Cabernet EVER.

Decanter was equally impressed: the 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet vintage belongs in an echelon with the finest of the past two decades.

Ok so …Where were we?

You’ve seen the hype, but just to give you a little more context… about where it’s from: Chiles Valley is the real deal. Tucked into the eastern Vaca Mountains and completely ringed by peaks, it sits at 600 to 1,200 feet, cool, isolated, and a world away from the Napa floor, despite being just 20 minutes from busy Rutherford.

It’s so remote that many of its oldest vines were spared entirely from the phylloxera epidemic that wiped out vineyards across the rest of Napa. It’s one of the valley’s smallest, quietest AVAs, and the wineries that call it home are the kind serious collectors already know and used by critically acclaimed names like Volker Eisele Family Estate and Brown Estate Vineyards.

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…

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, 2018 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 one opens warm and inviting, with black cherry, red currant, and cassis leading the way, backed by sweet tobacco, cedar, and a distinct red-earth minerality that speaks straight from the volcanic soil in this eastern Vaca Mountain valley. Give it a moment and dried bay leaf and a touch of leather start to show, grounding all that ripe fruit without ever tipping into heaviness. Full-bodied, but impeccably balanced, the palate carries fine, granular tannins and a char-and-vanilla frame from the oak, building through muddled bing cherry and a savory, salty mineral edge on the finish. Tasty Stuff!

Sitting higher in elevation than the valley floor, it retains nice bright acidity to counter the powerhouse of this vintage! It’s a wine that isn’t extracted showy or super obvious, but is every bit a standout from its mountain-ringed home.

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.