Dancing Crow Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

In Napa Valley there is a rule of thumb that one ton of Cabernet grapes should cost 100 times the price of each bottle of wine produced from that ton.  In other words, if the bottle of Cabernet costs you $10, the grapes per ton cost $1,000.  And vice versa – a ton of $1,000 grapes should make a $10 bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet. 

 

But when is the last time anyone was able to produce a great $10 Napa Valley Cabernet?

 

Nowadays Napa Valley is one of the most expensive places to farm grapes – over $30,000 for one ton of the best grapes from the best vineyards.  This fruit makes great Cabernet – it’s just that $300 per bottle doesn’t fall into the category of a great Tuesday night Cabernet for most people. 

 

So what is to be done?  If you’re a winery, hire in some help and look for cheaper land. And in Napa, amazingly, cheaper land is not as hard to find as you might think.

 

The Napa Valley watershed is framed by two mountain ranges.  Westward rises the Mayacamas Mountains, beyond which lies Sonoma.  Eastward are the Vaca Mountains, and past them is Wild Horse Canyon, Chiles Canyon, and Pope’s Valley.  Land and grapes in these areas are cheap.  

 

And here is the rub – these valleys are not in the Napa Valley watershed, yet because of a legal quirk, the can claim Napa Valley as the source of their fruit.  In other words, if you’ve been buying Napa Cabernet for under $30 recently, you’ve actually been drinking Wild Horse Canyon, Chiles Canyon or Pope’s Valley Cabernet. 

 

And the family at Dancing Crow knows this.  They've been farming in High Valley since 2006 and own their own land.  High Valley is across the Mayacamas Mountains to the north.  And just like Wild Horse, Chiles and Pope’s Valley, High Valley is not in the Napa Valley watershed. 

 

Unfortunately for them, High Valley isn’t the beneficiary of a legal quirk that allows “Napa” to be printed on the label.  But unlike other wineries, Clay isn’t a Napa pretender, he is   proud to farm and vinify his own Shannon Ridge Cabernet, or as he calls it – great Tuesday Night Cabernet, just like he does for his ritzy friends’ Saturday Night Cabs in Napa Valley.         

 

Dancing Crow opens with aromas of ripe blueberries intermixed with blackberries and crème de cassis.  The palate is ripely expressive of Cabernet but not unctuous – it possesses a seamless purity, a lively freshness that makes it perfect for sipping in the late winter/early spring.  The finish ends with a smooth note of chocolate and mocha, a perfect vitality that makes drinking it almost too easy.   

 

The brother's at Dancing Crow have a farmer’s modesty, and sometimes that modesty gets the best of him.  They would say their Cabernet, but I think it’s great drinking on Tuesday, Wednesday, and all the way through the rest of the week!