Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Insignia opens with beautifully perfumed floral, dark fruit, anise and cigar box aromatics. A wine of depth, elegance and finesse, the palate is fresh and focused with creamy texture and layers of blackberry, mocha and black cherry. The seamless tannin structure and balance culminate in an uplifting, lengthy finish.
About Winery
Joseph Phelps Vineyards is a family-owned and operated wine estate with vineyards and wineries in Napa Valley and on the western Sonoma Coast. The winery was founded in 1973 by Joseph Phelps, a successful construction executive and entrepreneur whose early interest in wine led him to establish vineyards on a 670-acre former cattle ranch in Napa Valley. Over the next 42 years Joe became one of the most respected figures in the California wine industry, building Joseph Phelps Vineyards into a critically-acclaimed winery internationally known for its iconic wines and unwavering commitment to quality.
Joe’s son, Bill Phelps, joined the family business in 1998 after a successful career in law, and as Executive Chairman now oversees Joseph Phelps Vineyards with a continued dedication to excellence.
Family owns and farms 425 acres of vines in Napa Valley on nine estate vineyards in St. Helena, Rutherford, Oakville, Stags Leap District, Oak Knoll District, South Napa and Carneros, as well as 100 acres over two vineyards on the western Sonoma Coast. Strategically chosen over many decades, each vineyard has its own personality and brings a different characteristic to our wines. Our commitment to an estate-based model is our way of ensuring consistency and the highest quality we can possibly achieve. Our estate vineyards, paired with select long-term grower relationships, give our winemaking teams unparalleled depth and diversity when it comes to producing Joseph Phelps wines.
Winemaker Notes
The 2013 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs displays a bright golden hue with fine, persistent bubbles, offering an aromatic bouquet of citrus fruits, white flowers, and subtle chalky minerality. Made exclusively from Grand Cru Chardonnay (90% Côte des Blancs, 10% Montagne de Reims), it delivers a palate that is both precise and layered, with flavors of lemon zest, quince, and green apple, evolving into almond, brioche, and smoky undertones. The cool vintage character imparts fresh acidity and remarkable tension, while extended ageing adds depth, creaminess, and complexity. The finish is long, elegant, and vibrant, confirming the 2010 as a distinctive vintage that balances freshness with richness, and one that will continue to evolve beautifully with time.
About Winery
Founded in 1729, Ruinart is the first established champagne house in the world, born from the ambition of Dom Ruinart’s true enlightened mind. His vision made him perceive before anyone else the potential of sparkling wines from the Champagne region. Each of Ruinart’s cuvées bears the distinctive signature of Chardonnay, the House’s emblematic grape variety. Elegance, refinement, purity, light and distinctive taste make Ruinart a timeless and modern icon.
2019 | D 95
The 2019 Avinodos Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stags Leap District is a powerful yet elegant Napa Valley wine, showcasing ripe dark fruits such as blackberry, cassis, and plum, layered with notes of cocoa, tobacco, leather, and smoky oak. With firm tannins, lively acidity, and a grippy finish, it balances richness with structure, making it both approachable now and age-worthy through 2038. Aged in 100% French oak (50% new), this limited-production wine (125 cases) has earned critical acclaim, including 97 points and Best in Class at the Sunset International Wine Competition, highlighting its depth, complexity, and classic Stags Leap character.
About Winery
AvinoDos Winery was founded in 2012 by Dan Dexter and his wife Julie, built on a foundation of friendship and deep agricultural roots, with a vision to craft small-lot, single-vineyard Napa Valley wines that embody both quality and community.
AvinoDos, meaning “wines from two,” reflects the partnership and shared dream of its founders, who combined Dan’s Midwestern farming heritage with Napa’s winemaking tradition. From the beginning, the winery emphasized authenticity and connection—working closely with local growers, producing varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Zinfandel, Rosé, and Sauvignon Blanc, and inviting wine lovers of all backgrounds to share in the experience. The entrepreneurial spirit of the West shaped their philosophy: to make wines true to Napa’s essence while fostering a welcoming environment rooted in friendship. With guidance from respected winemaker Gustavo Brambila, AvinoDos quickly established itself as a boutique producer known for limited-production, award-winning wines that highlight the character of Napa Valley’s terroir.
Winemaker Notes
Notes of red fruit dominate the nose. The palate is greedy and round, with crunchy fruit. A slight sweetness tempers its liveliness. An introduction to the expression of Provence rosé.
Winery History
Château Minuty was founded in 1936 by Gabriel Farnet in Gassin, on the Saint-Tropez peninsula, and quickly became one of Provence’s most respected rosé producers. In 1955, it was awarded the prestigious Cru Classé des Côtes de Provence designation, a recognition given to only 23 estates. The winery has remained family-run, with the Farnet-Matton family continuing its legacy of hand-harvesting and sustainable viticulture. Over the decades, Minuty built a reputation for crafting elegant, sun-soaked rosés that embody the Mediterranean lifestyle, and in 2023, luxury group LVMH acquired a majority stake, further elevating Minuty’s global profile as a benchmark for premium Provençal rosé.
Winemaker Notes
The 2023 J. Lohr Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon is exceptionally dark in color with aromas of blackberry, black currant, and toasted pastry crust. Dense and soft on the palate, with elegant layers of black and red currants leaving a bright finish.
THE J LOHR STORY
Fifty years ago, Jerry Lohr embarked on a career change. What followed would reshape the landscape of the California wine industry and create one of the country’s most popular wine brands.
In the late 1960s, Jerry Lohr began an extensive investigation of California grape growing regions – searching for the ideal location for his first vineyard. Jerry was raised on a South Dakota farm; his agricultural roots armed him with an innate sense for the relationship between climate, soil, and location. His research and instincts led him to the Central Coast, an area just beginning to explore its potential for winegrowing.
Four decades ago, the California Central Coast had not yet emerged as one of North America’s world-class winegrowing regions. With little history or viticultural precedent, planting on the Central Coast was a gamble. One of a handful of early pioneers, Jerry Lohr was among the first to realize the inherent potential of Monterey and Paso Robles for producing high quality grapes and superb wines.
PIONEERING MONTEREY AND PASO ROBLES -JERRY LOHR LEGACY-It’s no coincidence that the Central Coast’s emergence as a world class winegrowing region runs parallel with the establishment and growth of J. Lohr Vineyards & Winery. Founder Jerry Lohr is one of the region’s pioneers and has played a larger-than-life role in bringing the area to prominence.
Jerry’s instincts led him to two regions located about 75 miles apart. In the early 1970s, he chose Monterey County’s Arroyo Seco district for its cool, windy climate and rocky soils as ideal for Chardonnay. In the 1980s, he recognized the potential of Paso Robles for growing Bordeaux varietals, especially Cabernet Sauvignon – given the area’s rich soils and dramatic diurnal temperature swings between warm days and cool nights.
After Jerry Lohr’s nearly decade-long search for the right place to plant his first vineyard, he chose a site in Monterey County that was to become the heart of the Arroyo Seco appellation. Jerry originally planted 280 acres in 1972 and 1973 near Greenfield. Monterey County’s Arroyo Seco appellation has proved ideal for growing layered, complex Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Brisk winds and fog off Monterey Bay, stony, well-drained soils, and a lack of damaging fall rains all combine to produce grapes with trademark fruit intensity and balancing acidity. In 1974, Jerry unveiled the first J. Lohr winery in San Jose.
In the early 1980s, Jerry Lohr saw the potential for great Cabernet Sauvignon further south. Borrowing a lesson from the French—that great Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon excel in very different growing conditions—Jerry began planting Cabernet Sauvignon and other red varieties in San Luis Obispo County’s little-known Paso Robles region in 1986. With the hands-on devotion of an artisan farmer, Jerry tended to the vines while diligently working toward the creation and development of an adjacent winery and barreling cellars; J. Lohr’s Paso Robles production facility was opened in 1988.
Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Chateau Palmer Margaux offers a complex and layered palate, rich in black fruit aromas like blackcurrant, plum, and blueberry, with hints of cedar, tobacco, and dark chocolate. The wine boasts velvety tannins and a full-bodied structure, with a balanced acidity and a remarkably long, elegant finish.
About Winery
Château Palmer was established in the first half of the nineteenth century by the English general, Charles Palmer. In 1814, on his way back from the Peninsular War where he had fought with Wellington against Napoleon, General Palmer acquired Château de Gascq and gave it his own name.In 1938, the Sichel family joined forces with a group of wine merchant friends to purchase the property.
Today, the vines of Château Palmer (AOC Margaux) cover a surface of 52 hectares of croupes (knolls) of Garonne gravel and are made up of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot. This combination of soil and grape varieties has been the greatest asset of Château Palmer (3ème Cru Classé) from its earliest beginnings.
At Château Palmer, tradition and evolving techniques have always gone hand in hand, and always with respect for the typical characteristics of this outstanding terroir.
Highly reputed worldwide, the wines of Château Palmer rank among the most prestigious of Bordeaux and are coveted by keen wine enthusiasts the world over.
2013 | JS 100
Aromas of blackcurrant, blueberry, violet, and dark chocolate with a long, elegant finish.
2016 | JS 99
The 2016 growing season in Napa Valley was described as near-perfect, resulting in ripe fruit with balanced acidity.
2017 | WA 95
The wine is known for being more savory and elegant than opulent, featuring bright fruit, tobacco, and cocoa notes.
2018 | JS 99
Profuse aromas of blackberry, cassis, and black cherry, with notes of violet, white pepper, and rose petals.
2019 | WA 99
It was aged for 19 months in new French oak, exhibiting aromas of blackcurrant, violets, rose petals, and graphite, with a creamy, structured, and long finish.
2023 | JD 98 - Arriving Q1’27
Another absolute gorgeous wine from this team, the 2023 Opus One offers up cassis, black raspberries, spicy wood, flowers, and graphite in a beautifully layered, complex, nuanced bouquet. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, with a pure, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and integrated acidity, this ultra-classic, elegant Opus One will keep for 30-40 years. It's at the same level as the 2010, 2016, and 2021. Drink 2025-2065.
About Winery
Rising gracefully from the vineyards, Opus One winery stands in subtle celebration of the land and the open space that surrounds the estate. It remains an ongoing testament to the founders’ vision of a singular wine that transcends generations.
The estate vineyards of Opus One, comprised of four parcels, sit in the western portion of the famed Oakville AVA in Napa Valley. Two parcels, totaling 100 acres, are within the renowned To Kalon Vineyard. These are complemented by the combined 70 acres of the Ballestra and River parcels, which envelop the winery. In the vineyards, hand-harvesting and other traditional approaches are taken wherever they work best. When modern techniques benefit the winegrowing process, they are researched, evaluated and integrated into practice.
Winemaker Notes
Chardonnay from the Willamette Valley has this uncanny ability to combine the sweet opulence akin to California’s Napa Valley and the racy minerality of Burgundy-fame.
About Winery
What makes this wine so special is that it’s a true expression of small-lot Chardonnay in the Willamette Valley. It’s not mass-produced, it’s something that we make less than 200 cases of to really focus on bringing the best possible blend we can make.
We’re fortunate to have this sweet spot for Chardonnay in the Pacific Northwest that is a bridge between the rich, opulent wines of California and the racy, acidic wines of Burgundy that need to be heavily oaked and sit for years before they’re drinkable.
With our Kudos Chardonnay, we make a sensible, partially oaked wine and intertwine it with stainless steel during fermentation to bring a balanced, cool-climate wine with body and structure as well as some of the tasty butterscotch and vanilla notes that we love in Chardonnay.
Winemaker Notes (TP | 92)
The very essence of Provence, Minuty M wines are selected in the house’s most typical style. They unite freshness and a respect for fruit with intense flavors and a clean finish. A wine that delivers pure pleasure, Minuty M is a favorite with enthusiasts the world over, a wine to share in joyful moments of warm conviviality.
Winery History
Château Minuty was founded in 1936 by Gabriel Farnet in Gassin, on the Saint-Tropez peninsula, and quickly became one of Provence’s most respected rosé producers. In 1955, it was awarded the prestigious Cru Classé des Côtes de Provence designation, a recognition given to only 23 estates. The winery has remained family-run, with the Farnet-Matton family continuing its legacy of hand-harvesting and sustainable viticulture. Over the decades, Minuty built a reputation for crafting elegant, sun-soaked rosés that embody the Mediterranean lifestyle, and in 2023, luxury group LVMH acquired a majority stake, further elevating Minuty’s global profile as a benchmark for premium Provençal rosé.
PRE-ORDER
About Winery
Born in 1969 into a family of vignerons in Morey-Saint-Denis, Frédéric Magnien represents the fifth generation of the Magnien lineage. After working with his father Michel at Domaine Michel Magnien from 1987 to 1991, he broadened his horizons abroad, gaining experience at Josh Jensen’s Calera estate in California and Bannockburn Vineyards in Australia. Returning to Burgundy, he earned a diploma in oenology at Dijon before founding Maison Frédéric Magnien in 1995. His vision was to craft wines from carefully selected old-vine parcels (often over 40 years) in prestigious Côte de Nuits appellations, vinified with minimal intervention to highlight terroir purity. Over time, he embraced biodynamic viticulture, aligning vineyard work with lunar cycles and natural soil enrichment. Today, Domaine Frédéric Magnien is celebrated for its expressive Pinot Noirs from Grand Cru and Premier Cru sites, combining traditional Burgundian heritage with modern ecological sensitivity.
PRE-ORDER
About Winery
Maison Louis Latour, founded in 1797 in Aloxe-Corton, is a historic Burgundy négociant and producer known for its extensive Domaine, including a prestigious, traditional, and long-lived Grand Cru Clos Vougeot. The firm, still family-owned, specializes in Pinot Noir, producing a robust Clos Vougeot often characterized by notes of truffle and black fruits, maturing well for over 30 years.
2018 | Wine Independent 100
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Dark Ark is a 100-case selection derived from Ark Vineyard barrels that were notably darker and denser than the rest. Loaded with black cherries, cassis and loam notes, it's full-bodied, a bit brooding but concentrated, rich and supple, with a long, velvety finish. A true powerhouse, it's clearly one of Hundred Acre's top 2018s.
2022 | D 100
A barrel selection drawn from nine distinct blocks within the Hundred Acre Ark Vineyard, Dark Ark represents the densest and most powerful expression of this site. The wine is immensely satisfying, filled with pure cassis, red and black currant fruit, spiced plums, and seductive toasty brown oak spices, all framed by extraordinary textures that are all satiny, silky, velvety, you name it.
About Winery
Hundred Acre is not simply a winery—it is a legend carved into Napa’s hillsides. Founded by Jayson Woodbridge in 2000, its philosophy is one of uncompromising precision: fruit chosen berry by berry, wines born in underground caves called The Ring, and bottles crowned with a 24-carat gold ring as a symbol of perfection. From Morgan’s Way to Ark and Few and Far Between, each vineyard is treated as sacred ground, yielding Cabernets that have earned more than seventy-eight perfect scores. Inspired by the whimsical Hundred Acre Wood yet executed with obsessive craftsmanship, the estate has become a beacon of rarity and myth, where every release is both a treasure and a testament to the pursuit of the extraordinary.
