We have a very very special wine for you, today, from one of our favorite winemakers, Chris Markell.

Chris has made wine for nearly 4 decades, for some of the world’s best wineries in California, France, Australia, Chile. His experience at Clos du Val and others shines through in today’s incredibly aromatic and delicious wine.

Delightfully heady and aromatic on the nose, with sweet cherry, blackberry, raspberry, sweet spice, briar patch, sweet cedar, cherry tobacco leaf, toasty oak and a hint of young strawberry.

Full and lush on the palate, with flavors of black cherry preserve, blueberry jam, braised blackberry, briar, darkly toasted cedar, dark spice, graphite, oak and very subtle tar, that glide onto the palate before settling in for a long, flavor packed finish.

Winemaker Chris Markell has worked in the wine trade for the last 36 years. In that time, Chris has made wines all around the world. After leaving Clos du Val, Chris headed up winemaking operations at Taltarni Vineyards… which was owned by Clos Du Val’s owner, John Goelet. Today, Chris places all of his attention on crafting superb, well-priced wines from our new friends, Arbor Bench.

Arbor Bench grapes can be found in the finest wines from the other Clos, Clos du Bois. They’re not the only wineries though that are smart enough to source grapes from Arbor Bench. That list also includes Dry Creek Vineyard, Kendall-Jackson, Rodney Strong Vineyards and Gloria Ferrer. Arbor Bench as been crafting its own wines since 2005.

Very highly recommended.