2015 CLASSIFIED 'Double Classified' Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

Today’s Classified comes to you with Colombian drug lord levels of secrecy and layers.

This goes beyond the normal Classified offer.

In a sense, it’s like a double classified.

Curiosity piqued?

Great - it should be. Because you’re about to lock down a special wine that sells on the producer’s website for $185. You pay $85. By our math that’s a whopper of a $100 savings.

This wine has never graced the pages of ANY other competitor. And it probably never will. Certainly not at this price.

Let’s unravel the first layer. It comes straight from the winery with an NDA saying they could not disclose the vineyard name on the label. Hence, it’s “secret” packaging.

So even when you tear open the package and realize what you scored (with utter disbelief), you won’t know the source of the fruit. If you know how the vineyard designation game is played in Napa, then you can make a strong guess as to which vineyard might be targeted here.

100% of the fruit comes from what can be described as one of Napa’s top, most coveted sites. Not 70% or 90% - the full monty. It’s all prime fruit from a place that routinely pumps out $250+ wines with 100 point scores. And if you don’t price the wine correctly, you don’t get the play the game…

The winery itself, you are probably familiar with. The packaging on this bottle is beautiful - with a stamped metal insignia, and long-shouldered “claret” style bottle. No scores on this vintage, but they never made much, and didn’t submit it for ratings until later years. Those scored 95-97 from the pros. So, you can imagine this fits a similar mold.

2015 was a near perfect vintage in Napa, and in the glass, it shows incredible age-worthiness. A touch of beautiful tertiary flavors have crept in, but overall it has a huge amount of deep, ripe fruit remaining front and center. Dark black plum and dried blueberry, licorice, violets, cassis, and toasty French oak sashaying their way through a long finish.

So, there you have. Do or don’t. But if you do, you’ll be happy you did. With so little made, and even less available to us, it’s time for a snap judgement…