Dolum Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

Let me be direct with you, because this situation calls for it.

Chad Alexander has been making wine for 30 years. He is the winemaker behind Dolum Estates — an operation that sources Cabernet Sauvignon from some of Napa Valley’s most celebrated sub-districts, including Oakville and the Stags Leap District, and also farms its own 47-year-old estate vines on the Oakville Cross Road, originally planted in 1979 and now tended by the second and third generations of the founding family.

His philosophy centers on what he calls “total vine balance” — precise soil selection, careful canopy management, traditional winemaking and maturation in French oak. His wines have earned 94, 95 and 96 points from serious critics across multiple vintages. The single-vineyard Oakville bottling has been compared favorably to wines from producers in the same neighborhood whose bottles cost three and four times as much.

The 2023 California Cabernet — the accessible entry point into this world — just received 94 points from Decanter, which called it “a full-throttle, blackberry-driven red, laden with chalky minerality and layered with robust tannins.”

The release price is $60. We have it at $14.99 a bottle by the case. That's not a typo.

Thirty years of winemaking experience. Estate Oakville vines. Fruit from Napa’s finest sub-districts. Traditional French oak maturation. 94 Decanter points. And only $14.99 per bottle by the case.

The arithmetic here is either embarrassing for someone or extraordinarily generous to you.

Blackberry, dark cherry and mulberry on the nose, rich and supple on the palate with chalky minerality and well-integrated tannins, finishing with the warmth and persistence of California Cabernet handled by someone who has been doing this for three decades.

Either way, we're pouring it this week. Come taste it for yourself.

By the case, it's $14.99. This week only! Don’t miss it.