Welcome to the Wine Spies Intrigue Awards for 2016! Each year we recognize our most popular and most sought-after wines from the previous year - while giving our Operatives one final chance to secure some of the winning wines for themselves.

We may never show this wine again, so grab yours while you still can.

Today’s 92 point Maroon Wines 2011 Reserve Coombsville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is our 2016 Wine Spies Intrigue Award winner for Agent Red’s Top Selection. It’s the latest in a string of Maroon wines to knock our socks off.

Made from Cabernet grapes from an Insignia vineyard that formerly belonged to the iconic Joseph Phelps, this wine is bold, elegant and delicious.

As always, Maroon’s Oakville Cabernet delivers lush, full, nose-exciting aromatics. Today’s wine delivers aromas of Bing cherry juice, blueberry, spiced blackberry candy, earthy clay, cedar plank, cocoa powder and subtle black pepper.

This wine shows off way more fruit on the palate than your average 2011 Napa Cabernet, with flavors of black cherry juice, blackberry compote, braised plum, smoky cherry, dried earth, subtle cedar and subtle spice box.

Today’s wine is best decanted and given a chance to breathe. Once it opens, this wine will greet you with classic dark fruit, hints of terroir, and fantastic structure. This structure lends itself to many years of cellaring potential - we recommend trying a bottle now and cellaring the rest for years to come.

Maroon’s estate vineyard in Coombsville contains 18 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that, for ten years, was sold to Joseph Phelps Vineyard for their flagship Insignia. That’s a $200 bottle of Cab!

Neighbors of Robert Craig and the fabled Monticello Vineyard, Maroon made the transition from grower to wine producer in 2008. The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville is their top bottle, and 100% estate grown.

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Here’s what the wine press has to say:

92 points - Beverage Testing Institute - “Garnet black color. Rich, savory aromas of dried currant an citrus, olive tapenade, and polished wood with a silky, tangy, dry-yet-fruity medium-to-full body and a tingling, delightful, medium-long craisin and pickling spice finish with silky tannins and light oak. A supple and savory cabernet with lots of table appeal.”