Long Meadow Ranch, Cabernet Sauvignon

Earlier this year, our offer on Long Meadow Ranch’s 2006 Napa Cab went, to use the technical term, bonkers. Sourcing it took weeks of searching, dozens of calls/emails, and a personal visit to their mountainside estate, but the payoff was huge. The Civil War-era history of this mixed viticulture/livestock/olive oil operation, the mindblowing scale of their organic and biodiverse farming, and their large trove of back-vintage wines—all of it was simply rejuvenating. Still, we couldn’t ignore the magnificence of their younger reds, like today’s 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.A seamless blend of new and old-school Napa, this opulent yet elegant benchmark is everything a longtime Cab lover could ask for. An organic, long-lived showstopper from a historic estate like this should easily cost $75, but today’s $50 price tag makes this one of the valley’s more price-accessible and worthy Cabs. To put it simply, this is a wine to go deep on because its combination of price and pedigree make