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Chaix Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Napa Valley 2019  - First Bottle

Reviews

94 Jeb Dunnuck -
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is terrific, with a beautifully textured, layered, medium to full-bodied style exhibiting the purity and focus that are the hallmarks of this great vintage. Currants, mulberries, scorched earth, new leather, and savory flower notes all define the aromatics, and it's balanced, has ripe, velvety tannins, and a great finish. It's well worth seeking out.

Technical Details

  • Blend100% Cabernet Sauvignon
  • WinemakerSara Fowler
  • CountryUS
  • RegionCalifornia
  • AppellationNapa Valley
  • Aging/Cooperage25 months in French Taransaud barrels (66% new oak)
  • Alcohol14.9%
  • Production521 cases

Chaix Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Napa Valley 2019

Cabernet Sauvignon  |  US
JD94

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Price drops to $59.95 per bottle when you purchase 2 or more bottles!

The Chaix family are Napa pioneers with roots that extend back to the mid-1800s. 94 POINT, single vineyard cabernet sauvignon from Rutherford is always exciting, but at this excellent price...that’s something else entirely!

For most of their history, grape growing has been the Chaix family’s trade, with a prestigious parcel of vines that sit in the heart of Rutherford, adjacent to Scarecrow no less, and passed down through the family since 1909. A century later, they bottled their first wine, and in the short time since, they’ve built up quite the reputation. A.P. Chaix, along with his brother, Jean, emigrated to Napa Valley from Provence in the mid-1800s when they were teenagers. They carried with them some clippings from vineyards in Bordeaux’s Médoc region and immediately got to work planting parcels along the valley floor. A sort of sibling rivalry grew over the years, with A.P. founding the French-American Wine Company and Jean partnering in the creation of the Nouveau Médoc winery, across the street from where the Oakville Grocery stands today.

In 1909, A.P. Chaix purchased the current Chaix Family Vineyards property in the heart of the Rutherford Bench. While much of the property was converted to orchard land during Prohibition, a section of grape vines was always maintained by the family, in a nod to their beginnings. Following the Judgement of Paris in 1976, the family decided to fully embrace their roots and converted the property back to vineyards – selling fruit to some of Napa’s top producers over the next several decades. Their first estate wine would be made in 2008 – nearly a hundred years after the property had been settled by the Chaix family.

This 100% cabernet sauvignon hails from the best lots of the family’s 40 acres in Rutherford. Their production is minuscule, as they still sell the majority of their fruit. In 2018, only 550 cases were made, utilizing two long-standing heritage clones on the property – cabernet sauvignon clones 337 and 4. The grapes are grown in the fine sandstone and gravel of Rutherford’s shattered alluvial soils – the perfect home for achieving Rutherford’s signature dusty note. Aged for 25 months in 66% new oak barrels (all Taransaud medium+ toast, for you oak geeks), this was bottled in April 2022 and has a focused purity now that is only sure to heighten with more time in the bottle.

Flavors of red currants, dusty mulberries, burnt cedar, fresh saddle leather, black pepper spice, mocha powder, and a river-rock mineral finish with accents of saline – this is an exceptionally layered and complex cabernet that drinks way above the price we have today. In many ways, this is similar to the multi-faceted elegance of BV’s Georges de Latour – with a nod to a modern opulence we’d associate with Joseph Phelps’ Insignia bottling. (Not entirely a surprise, as Phelps has long been a purchaser of the Chaix’s fruit for their top bottling.) The two-plus years' age time on oak gives this wine a graceful roundness, with soft edges that allow for early consumption. There is weight and girth to stretch this beauty over a decade or more, but truly, this is already drinking in its sweet spot...why wait? At nearly 50% off – this is a special wine that you’re gonna want in your collection!

PAIRING IDEAS: Ground beef, mixed with grated onion, turmeric, cumin, paprika, sumac, Aleppo pepper, parsley, and mint – all formed around a skewer and grilled over an open flame for Turkish beef kofta kebabs...yes! Serve it up with some pickled onions and peppers, a lemon and garlic yogurt sauce, and some Turkish pilaf on flatbread. A rich, sultry, and smooth cab like this is the perfect match!

About the Producer

CHAIX is a relatively new brand but has been selling grapes to many of Napa’s top wineries for decades (if you’ve ever had Phelps’ $365 Insignia...you’ve tasted this fruit before)! Just a few years ago they started making a little cabernet for themselves from the best lots in their fully ORGANIC estate vineyard located in western Rutherford. With neighbors like Joseph Phelps, BV’s Georges de Latour, Inglenook, and Staglin, this practically perfect plot of land is in great company. The Maestro himself, André Tchelistcheff once said, “It takes Rutherford Dust to grow great Cabernet Sauvignon”, and while there are other spots in Napa that certainly do just fine with the grape...he wasn’t necessarily wrong either!