🏷️ Lot Overview
Region: Calistoga District (Napa Valley)
Vintage: 2023
Blend: 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petite Verdot
ChatGPT Original Source Guess: T-Vine (Alt: Girard or Envy)
Wine Berserkers Guess: Venge Cabernet Bone Ash Vineyard
Alcohol: 15.0%
Oak Aging: 80% new French oak
Cam Price: $24.92 ($299/case)
Retail Estimate: $120–$140
Drink Window: Early 2026–2038
🍷 Cameron’s Release Notes
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I have a dynamite Cabernet offer for you today. I absolutely loved this wine from the minute I first tasted it. If you like it big, bold, luscious and velvety, this is for you!
Lot 25 2023 Calistoga Cabernet Sauvignon comes to us from an old wine-making family, is built for a $130/bottle, single-vineyard price point with 80% new French oak and hails from the best vintage Calistoga has likely ever seen. I am not normally a fan of Calistoga Cabernet Sauvignon but the utter deliciousness of this Cabernet is something to behold. Rich, ripe, opulent and unctuous in the best way (think glycerine mouthfeel), Lot 25 defines “magic carpet ride” mouthfeel and is the epitome of hedonistic yet-fine-tuned Napa Cabernet!
Tasting Notes
My God, I love this Cabernet!!!!
I’ve been tasting Napa Valley wines from up and down the valley for 30 years now and I’ve never seen a better vintage for Calistoga than 2023. To be honest, I’ve never been a huge fan of Calistoga Cabernet. Save for some of the upper hillside vineyards, it just a little hot for me. But for 2023, while it was quite cool in the southern part of Napa Valley, the normally very hot Calistoga vintage was absolutely perfect!
Rich, ripe, juicy, luscious, velvety and opulent, Lot 25 2023 Calistoga Cabernet Sauvignon is an OMFG delicious Cabernet Sauvignon. The mouthfeel is magic carpet ride, glycerin smooth with ample structure to support to gobs of pure fruit…this is pure hedonism combined with terrific structure and complexity!
Lot 25 2023 Calistoga District Cabernet Sauvignon is a single vineyard designated bottling hailing from old vines planted in the gravelly loam in the eastern alluvials at the foot of Mount St. Helena. Produced for a $130/bottle price point, this is a no-expense spared program raised up in 80% new French oak. They absolutely nailed it in 2023 and there is no way I would ever get my hands on this wine if it weren’t for the current sales climate.
If rich, ripe delicious Napa Cabernet Sauvignon is your thing, this is a don’t miss. BOOM BOOM stuff for sure!
Inky in the glass but immediately effusive with blackberry jam, blackcherry and raspberry kirsch surrounded by gobs of black forest cake, cedar and spicy lavender florals. Rich and plush on entry with a silky, perfectly integrated structure that unfurls waves of ripe, opulent blackberry, fig compote, and chocolate slathered over a ripe tannins. Fantastically delicious and potent at the same time, this is a magnificent mouthful of wine.
100% Calistoga single-vineyard
97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petite Verdot
80% new French oak
15% alc.
~110 cases available
🧠ChatGPT says:
🔍 Source Guess: T-Vine Winery (Alt: Girard or Envy)
🎯 Rationale:
Winemaking Style: Big, ripe, luscious, and oak-driven—T-Vine is known for exactly this kind of plush, hedonistic Calistoga Cab. They also work with old-vine vineyards near Mt. St. Helena.
Cam’s Tone: “Not normally a Calistoga fan” matches Cam’s past hesitancy about fruit from the floor—but he’s clearly won over by the vintage and this bottling. The enthusiastic tone feels in line with a winery that overdelivers for its price.
Production Size & Barrel Program: 110 cases, 80% new French oak suggests a small premium-tier program. That fits with T-Vine’s style and production levels. Envy and Girard are similar candidates in terms of scale and barrel use.
🧠Alternative Considerations:
While larger players like Chateau Montelena and Frank Family operate in Calistoga, their wines tend to be more restrained or classical in style, which doesn’t fit the decadent, hedonistic description here. The sheer lushness of the wine suggests a boutique with a plush signature.
⏳ Drink Window
- Early Enjoyment: 2026 (after bottle shock, already plush and ripe)
- Peak Drinking: 2028–2034, when tannins integrate but fruit remains opulent
- Hold Potential: Through 2038 for those who like developed chocolate, fig, and cedar tones
⏳ Drink Window: 2026–2038 (peak 2028–2034)
🧑‍🤝‍🧑🍷 Wine Berserkers Guess: Venge Cabernet Bone Ash Vineyard