🏷️ Lot Overview
Region: Yountville, Napa Valley
Vintage: 2024
Blend: 98% Malbec, 2% Petite Verdot
ChatGPT Original Source Guess: Likely from a St. Helena ultra-premium Cabernet producer (strong candidates below)
Wine Berserkers Guess: No Guess, not enough info
Alcohol: 15.0%
Oak Aging: ~75% new French oak
Cam Price: $12.42 ($149/case)
Retail Estimate: $100+ (if bottled under original label)
Drink Window: 2026–2040
🍷 Cameron’s Release Notes
By far the finest Malbec I have ever sourced, Lot 55 2024 Yountville Malbec is an absolutely fantastic wine and a mind-blowing value!
The 2024 vintage is a breakout year for both Napa and Sonoma Malbecs, having soaked up the glorious heat of the vintage better than any varietal I have tasted thus far. Unlike Petite Verdot, which is indeed a fantastic blender, Malbec plays a dual role as both blender and stand-alone varietal exceptionally well (as evidenced by the success of Argentinean Malbec). Never before have I seen such an amazing assortment of North Coast opportunities!
Lot 55 2024 Yountville Malbec is the best-of-the-best I have tasted thus far, a blending component hailing from an ultra-premium St. Helena producer whose Cabernets are priced from $150–$265 per bottle.
Needless to say, the wine is spectacular and built to the nines with 75% new French oak, easily giving the $100+ Argentine Malbecs a run for their money and, again, by far the finest Malbec I have ever bottled. It is an absolute steal at $149 per case.
Only 150 cases available!
Tasting Notes
The 2024 vintage is a breakout year for both Napa and Sonoma Malbecs, having soaked up the glorious heat of the vintage better than any varietal I have tasted thus far. Unlike Petite Verdot, which is indeed a fantastic blender, Malbec plays a dual role as both blender and stand-alone varietal exceptionally well.
Lot 55 2024 Yountville Malbec is the best-of-the-best I have tasted thus far, a blending component hailing from an ultra-premium St. Helena producer whose Cabernets are priced from $150–$265 per bottle. Needless to say, the wine is spectacular and built to the nines with 75% new French oak, easily giving the $100+ Argentine Malbecs a run for their money and by far the finest Malbec I have ever bottled.
Glass-staining, inky and dense in the glass with an almost opaque core. The bouquet is OMG good, meaty and boisterous, leaping from the glass with boysenberry purée and blackcurrant enveloped in dark chocolate and toasty French oak. With a couple of swirls, the bouquet complexes with mulberry, plum, and coffee bean notes with a hint of new leather.
The smooth, supple entry belies a robust underlying structure of chewy tannins beautifully enveloped with ripe boysenberry, blackcurrant, and raspberry liqueur, undergirded with coffee bean and dark chocolate in a long, pulsating finish that just goes on and on. Pure and perfectly integrated throughout, this is a spectacular Malbec that, while built to be an ultra-premium blender, is an absolutely fantastic stand-alone wine that will drink well in its youth but age beautifully over the next 10–15 years.
98% Malbec
2% Petite Verdot (Coombsville)
15.0% alc.
~150 cases produced
🧠ChatGPT says:
🔍 Source Guess
Most likely sourced from an ultra-premium St. Helena Cabernet house with a deep blending bench and excess Malbec held back for structure.
Strong candidates:
• Brasswood / Davis Estates–adjacent programs
• Venge–linked vineyard sources
• Revana / St. Helena bench growers
• Hall / Walt / Odette satellite holdings
🧾 Rationale
The giveaway is not Yountville branding, but St. Helena ownership. Very few St. Helena producers farm Malbec at scale, but those who do typically use it as a structural blender in $150–$250 Cabernet programs.
75% new French oak, 15% alcohol, and Cam explicitly stating this was intended as a top-tier blending component all point to a luxury Cabernet house, not a Malbec-first winery.
The wine’s density, oak integration, and ageworthiness go well beyond typical Napa Malbec releases, suggesting this was never meant to be bottled on its own—until market conditions made it possible.
Net: this is luxury Cabernet infrastructure accidentally showing up as a standalone Malbec… and that’s exactly why it punches so far above its weight.
⏳ Drink Window
Best Enjoyed: 2026–2035
Extended Cellaring: Holds easily to 2040
Style: Plush, dark, oak-polished Malbec with serious structure and longevity