When the Vintage is Right and the Producer is Serious, the Wine speaks for Itself
RESERVE SELECTIONS
September 2026 | For Members of the Elite and Flight Wine Club
Stags Leap District • Silverado Trail • Oak Knoll District • Napa Valley
Some bottles ask nothing of you. Others ask you to pay attention. The wines in this collection belong to the latter category — chosen not merely because they are exceptional, but because they reward the kind of guest who understands what goes into them. Each comes from a producer with a distinct philosophy, a specific vineyard commitment, and a track record the numbers confirm. As harvest season descends on Napa Valley, these are the bottles we believe deserve a place at your most important tables.
RESERVE RED WINES
2019 Waugh Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon | $125
Napa Valley, California | Multi-Vineyard Selection
96 Points
WHY WE CHOSE THIS WINE
Ryan Waugh's path into winemaking began with a single bottle — a 1976 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon that changed the direction of his life. He spent years in Napa cellars before founding Waugh Cellars in 2000, and he and his wife Crystal later established The Caves at Soda Canyon, a boutique underground operation shared with four other small family producers. This is winemaking at its most personal. The 2019 vintage is as close to perfect as Napa gets — an early wet winter, dry spring, and long warm summer with fog-shrouded mornings allowed for slow, phenolic maturity and fruit of uncommon precision. The blend — 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec — spent 18 months in a combination of French and American oak, a cellar approach built around patience rather than intervention. Production is kept deliberately small, and this wine circulates almost entirely through the winery's direct channel. At $125, it competes confidently with bottles at two to three times the price.
TASTING NOTES
Classic and well-structured, with soft, approachable aromas of black plum and a whisper of fennel on the nose. Layers of dark cherry and cassis are underscored by hints of black licorice and a gravelly earthiness. The oak is fully integrated — contributing sweet aromatics, resin, and torn mint rather than imposing itself on the finish. Refined tannins and a long, persistent close. Drink now through 2032, and likely well beyond.
2023 Baldacci Family Vineyards Fraternity Napa Valley Red Blend | $85
Napa Valley, California | Stags Leap District Estate
93 Points — James Suckling | 93 Points — Wine-Searcher Aggregated | USA TODAY #2 Best Winery Tour in the U.S. (2025)
WHY WE CHOSE THIS WINE
Baldacci Family Vineyards occupies one of the most coveted addresses in all of American wine — the Silverado Trail within the Stags Leap District, a corridor whose volcanic benchland and afternoon wind pattern produce Cabernet and red blends of uncommon elegance and structure. The Fraternity blend is the family's most expressive multi-varietal offering: a Bordeaux-anchored assemblage that reflects the full depth of what this estate is capable of producing outside of their flagship single-varietal bottlings. The 2023 vintage arrives with exceptional critical validation — 93 points from James Suckling — and sits at the intersection of immediate pleasure and genuine cellar worthiness. Baldacci's Cave Tour & Estate Tasting was named the No. 2 Best Winery Tour in the United States by USA TODAY in 2025, a recognition that speaks to the quality of the guest experience as much as the wine. The Fraternity has earned a following for good reason: it is, as one writer described it, a wine that showcases the full range of Napa Valley in a single bottle.
TASTING NOTES
Aromas of black currants, dark plums, and black cherries with underlying tones of graphite, cedar, dried sage, tobacco, and warm spice. The full-bodied palate is firmly framed by structured tannins and bright acidity, giving the wine a composed, linear feel before giving way to a luscious, savory finish. Plummy depth balanced by a floral thread and notes of mocha and grilled vanilla bean. Drink now or hold through 2030.
2019 Forthright Winery Oak Knoll District, Napa Valley Merlot | $95
Oak Knoll District, Napa Valley | ~2,000 Cases Total Production
93 Points — Sommeliers Choice Awards 2024 | Merlot of the Year — 2024 Sommeliers Choice Awards | Merlot of the Year — 2025 USA Wine Ratings | Two Gold Medals — 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards
WHY WE CHOSE THIS WINE
Forthright was founded on a quiet act of defiance. Four longtime friends — Patrick McEvoy and Rafer Caudill as winemakers, Ed Stritch in Chicago, and Sel Sanliturk in London — built a small cave operation in Napa Valley with a single conviction: that Merlot, properly sourced and properly made, is among California's most profound varietals. The name itself is intentional — in Old English, "forthright" means to move straight forward. The winery's focus has never wavered. Their Merlot comes from the Oak Knoll District, the cool southern pocket of Napa Valley where marine influence from San Pablo Bay extends the growing season and preserves the brightness that distinguishes truly great Merlot from merely good Cabernet. Forthright ages their wines far longer than convention suggests — this 2019 spent extended time in barrel before bottling and further time in the cave before release, so what arrives in the glass has already completed the hard work of integration. Total production across all wines is roughly 2,000 cases per year, handled by McEvoy and Caudill without additional staff. The accolades are extraordinary for a producer of this scale: Merlot of the Year at both the 2024 Sommeliers Choice Awards and the 2025 USA Wine Ratings, two Gold Medals at the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards, and a position among the top 10 Oak Knoll District wines by aggregated score. For members who understand what it means when a wine earns its standing entirely through merit, this is the bottle to open.
TASTING NOTES
Deep ruby and opaque, with a bouquet of remarkable distinction — cherry pie, blackberry jam, Satsuma plum, milk chocolate, mocha, and a thread of warm spice that recalls cardamom and all-spice. Simultaneously plush and bright on the palate, with dark plums, boysenberry, and a lasting note of dried tobacco leaf on the finish. The tannins are broad and gravelly, coating the palate in the manner of a serious Napa Cabernet rather than a conventional Merlot — which is precisely the point. A wine that changes minds. 15.3% ABV.
Reserve selections are available in strictly limited quantities, allocated exclusively to Premium Wine Club members. Please contact your dedicated wine representative to confirm availability and place your order.