Lot Overview
- Region: 100% Coombsville AVA, Napa Valley (estate vineyard)
- Vintage: 2023
- Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
- Oak Aging: 50–60% new French oak
- Alcohol: 15.0%
- Cases Available: ~230
- Cam Price: ~$16.50/bottle ($199/case)
- Retail Estimate: $100–300+/bottle (blended from two tiers)
- Claude’s Source Guess: Realm Cellars — Farella Vineyard, Coombsville (Benoît Touquette, winemaker)
- Wine Berserkers Guess: Paul Hobbs
- Drink Window: 2027–2042 (peak 2030–2038)
Cameron’s Release Notes
100% Coombsville estate vineyard? Check. Legendary consulting winemaker? Check. Luxury 50–60% new French oak barrel regimen? Check. $100–$150+ pedigree juice? Check.
Lot 7 2023 Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon comes to us from an estate vineyard with the classic soil substructure of cobbly loam, small volcanic rocks and ash that, along with the fantastic diurnal swing of San Pablo Bay, combine to make the wines from this region so distinctive.
The source winery offers their Coombsville Cabernet for over $100/bottle — we can see the 2020 and 2021 vintages still in the market selling between $100 and $140. The estate vineyard designate program runs well north of $300/bottle. Both programs routinely score in the 93–100 point range from the major critics. Without a doubt a Top 10 player in Coombsville.
Tasting Notes
Dark and virtually opaque in the glass, the bouquet is meaty and dense with ripe crushed blackberry, damson plum, graphite, and cocoa with a kiss of tobacco leaf and a halo of purple flowers. Ripe, delicious on entry with a luscious core of crème de cassis and blackcurrant flavors accentuated by purple flowers and sage notes over a robust yet plushly integrated tannin structure accented by crushed volcanic rock minerality that gives the wine some real energy. Exceptionally pure and surprisingly drinkable now.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status
Bottled June 27th. Allow 60–90 days minimum. 15% alc and 50–60% new oak need integration time.
Claude’s Source Guess: Realm Cellars — Farella Vineyard, Coombsville (Benoît Touquette, winemaker)
Realm Cellars’ Farella Vineyard is one of Coombsville’s most celebrated estate sites, farmed in partnership with the Farella family since 2003 and under a long-term lease agreement since 2018. The vineyard sits in the foothills of the Vaca Mountain range at 300–500 feet, featuring “volcanic tufa, red decomposed rock and ashy deposits from ancient landslides” — a soil description that matches Cam’s “cobbly loam, small volcanic rocks and ash” almost verbatim.
Realm’s winemaker Benoît Touquette qualifies as “legendary” without qualification — he has earned more 100-point scores than almost any consultant in Napa, and his name carries enormous weight with collectors. The two-tier structure Cam describes fits Realm’s portfolio: their appellation-level “Moonracer” proprietary blend incorporates Farella fruit at ~$100–125, while the Farella single-vineyard designate retails at ~$225–295 through their allocation list. Cam describes the designate as “well north of $300” — the winery DTC price and collector market pricing for recent vintages sits at that level.
The soil description, elevation profile, “diurnal swing of San Pablo Bay” language, and “Top 10 player in Coombsville” designation all point directly at Farella Vineyard. Cam received both the appellation component (~75%) and a small lot of 3 barrels from the vineyard designate program (~25%), blended them into a unified 100% Coombsville CAM X bottling.
✅ Confidence: High — soil profile, AVA, winemaker pedigree, two-tier pricing structure, and 93–100 point scores all align with Realm Cellars / Farella Vineyard. The strongest open question is whether Cam’s “well north of $300” language precisely matches Realm’s DTC Farella pricing.
Drink Window
Early: 2027 — 15% alc and significant new oak need 3–4 years post-bottling.
Peak: 2030–2038. Farella Coombsville Cabs have a documented 15–20 year arc.
Hold: 2042+. Realm’s Farella regularly ages beautifully for two decades.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2027–2042 (peak 2030–2038)