Lot Overview
- Region: 100% Spring Mountain District (Fe Wines estate, lower slope, tufa volcanic ash soils)
- Vintage: 2023
- Varietal: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot
- Oak Aging: ~80% new French oak
- Alcohol: 15.0%
- Cases Available: ~400
- Cam Price: ~$25/bottle ($299/case)
- Retail Estimate: $250–300+/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Fe Wines — “26” Proprietary Red Blend or Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District (Aaron Pott, consulting winemaker)
- Wine Berserkers Guess: Bergmann
- Drink Window: 2028–2050+ (peak 2032–2045)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Lot 27 2023 Spring Mountain District Proprietary Red hails from a relatively new project up on Spring Mountain. From the viticulturist who planted the vines to the consulting winemaker who makes the wine, absolutely no expense was spared. Sells for well over $250/bottle and has recently scored consistent 96–98 point scores from major critics for the 2021 and even the difficult 2022 vintage.
Ethereal and otherworldly, this blend features an intensely fresh and energetic bouquet, incredible structural depth and dimension with a silky, concentrated, beautifully intense and vibrant core of fruit. Super precise, ripe, powerful and exquisitely balanced.
Tasting Notes
Dark in the glass with an opaque core and deep garnet rim. Killer bouquet of spring flowers and wild herbs swimming with black raspberry, blackcurrant, cinnamon spice and a cocoa underpinning. With air, blueberry and plum notes mingle with red rock dust and notes of forest floor. Exquisite, precise, pure. Supple entry is nevertheless robust and chewy with vibrant cherry and blackcurrant layered with loads of red-rock dusted, minerally tannins that make for a long, sustained finish with tremendous complexity.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status: Allow minimum 2–3 years. 15% alc and 80% new oak need serious time.
Claude’s Source Guess: Fe Wines — Spring Mountain District Estate (Aaron Pott, winemaker)
Fe Wines was founded in 2018 by viticulturist and owner Megan Gunderson on a lower slope of Spring Mountain, making it genuinely “relatively new” — only 5-6 vintages old at the time of Cam’s purchase. The estate sits on tufa soil — ancient volcanic ash — which Aaron Pott specifically credits for the wine’s signature minerality. Pott, who previously worked at Newton Vineyard on Spring Mountain and has been one of Napa’s most respected consulting winemakers for decades, is the “consulting winemaker” Cam references.
Fe’s two wines — the “Fe” Cabernet Sauvignon and the “26” proprietary blend — both consistently score 96–98 points from Jeb Dunnuck and James Suckling. The Fe Cab Sauv retails at $247–277, fitting Cam’s “well over $250/bottle” precisely. The 2021 Fe scored 98 JD / 95 VN and the 2022 scored 97 JS — matching Cam’s “consistent 96–98 point scores for the 2021 and even the difficult 2022 vintage” exactly.
Cam’s tasting note of “spring flowers and wild herbs” with “black raspberry, blackcurrant, cinnamon spice” is virtually identical to Dunnuck’s own notes on the Fe “26”: “incredible aromatics of red and black fruits, spring flowers, incense and tobacco.” The “viticulturist who planted the vines” reference points directly to Megan Gunderson, who designed and planted the Fe estate before founding the winery.
The blend composition varies slightly by vintage — the 2021 “26” was 66% Cab/14% Malbec/11% CF/rest PV, while Cam’s lot is 70% Cab/20% CF/7% PV/3% Merlot — suggesting Cam received either a different vintage composition or the “Fe” Cabernet Sauvignon program rather than the “26” blend.
✅ Confidence: Very High — founded 2018, Spring Mountain estate, Aaron Pott consulting, 96-98 JD/JS on 2021 and 2022, $250-277 retail, tufa volcanic ash terroir, tasting note language essentially identical to Dunnuck’s notes on Fe Wines. This is one of the strongest identifications in the catalog.
Drink Window
Early: 2028 — 15% alc and 80% new oak from mountain fruit need 3–5 years minimum.
Peak: 2032–2045. Aaron Pott’s Fe Wines are explicitly built for two-plus decades.
Hold: 2050+. Cam says “a good couple of years” but the structure suggests much longer.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2028–2050+ (peak 2032–2045)