Lot Overview
- Region: Knights Valley, Sonoma County
- Vintage: not stated (likely 2023 based on release timing)
- Blend: 97% Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Coombsville Petite Verdot
- Alcohol: 15.5%
- Oak Aging: 60–70% new French oak
- TA / pH: 5.53 g/L TA, 3.75 pH, 0.65 g/L lactic, no malic
- Cases Available: not stated
- Cam Price: ~$14/bottle ($169/case)
- Retail Estimate: $100+/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Robert Craig Winery — Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
- Wine Berserkers Guess:
- Drink Window: 2026–2035 (peak 2028–2033)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Lot 67 Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is from the same Napa Valley producer as Lot 61 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. These folks are renowned for their no-expense spared, sub-AVA Cabernets from various rocky, high-elevation mountain sites around Napa Valley (Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain plus Oakville and Rutherford alluvials, etc.) and selling them all through various luxury tasting rooms and wine clubs. The pricing is tightly held.
For those of you who like to guess at the producer, I wish you good luck and God’s speed — for even I, knowing the producer, have been unable to glean much information about the vineyard, pricing, etc. They play their cards very close to the vest.
Their wines have been, across the board, the most compelling portfolio we have acquired this year and their Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is no exception. Winemaker Katie, who has made a lot of wine in Knight’s Valley, upon first tasting this said “oh (blank), that’s good!” and has been after me to buy it ever since.
Tasting Notes
Deep, deep garnet with an opaque core and kiss of magenta around the rim. The bouquet is immediate, ripe and juicy with creme de mure and gobs of chocolate. With air, blackcurrant and purple flowers ride a core of black fruit and riverstone swaddled in cedar and leather. Plush, open-knit and sensuous on the palate, redolent with a ripe amalgam of blackberry jam, ripe raspberry and chocolate over super-accessible, chalky, minerally hillside tannins that beautifully resolve in a magic carpet ride of a finish. Sexy and energetic.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status
Allow 60–90 days. Best from Summer 2026.
Claude’s Source Guess: Robert Craig Winery — Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Cam explicitly states this is from the same producer as Lot 61, which we’ve identified with very high confidence as Robert Craig Winery. That’s the anchor.
What initially appeared to be a mismatch — Robert Craig doesn’t make a known Knights Valley program — actually dissolves on closer inspection. Robert Craig has historically sourced fruit from Rutherford and Oakville for their Affinity blend, and the description of “various luxury tasting rooms” is consistent with Robert Craig’s two venues: the estate winery on Howell Mountain at 2,300 feet and the downtown Napa Tasting Salon. The “plays their cards very close to the vest” comment fits Robert Craig’s DTC-only, tightly allocated model perfectly.
Knights Valley sits directly adjacent to Napa Valley’s Calistoga area — it’s volcanic, high-elevation Bordeaux territory and producers with deep Napa mountain roots routinely source there when exceptional fruit becomes available. The 15.5% alcohol and 60–70% new French oak profile matches the full-throttle mountain mountain style Robert Craig is known for, and the 3% Coombsville Petite Verdot blended in is a very Robert Craig move — Coombsville is where their Affinity estate vineyard lives.
“Winemaker Katie” is almost certainly an industry colleague of Cam’s who tasted the wine with him and gave it an enthusiastic endorsement — not the producer’s winemaker. Katie Madigan of St. Francis Winery would know Knights Valley intimately given Sonoma’s geographic proximity, and she’s exactly the kind of industry friend Cam would share a barrel sample with.
The no-malic, high-lactic numbers confirm full malolactic fermentation and full maturity at harvest — combined with 3.75 pH and 15.5% alcohol, this is a big, opulent, ripe-style Knights Valley Cab meant to drink beautifully young while the structure carries it through the decade.
✅ Confidence: High — explicitly confirmed by Cam as same producer as Lot 61 (Robert Craig). The Knights Valley sourcing is an unusual departure from their typical mountain portfolio but not inconsistent with their approach of buying exceptional fruit wherever it exists.
Drink Window
Early Enjoyment: Summer 2026 — with 60–70% new oak, this needs a few months to settle, but the plush, open-knit structure Cam describes suggests it won’t be as tight as the Howell Mountain.
Peak Drinking: 2028–2033. The chalky hillside tannins will integrate beautifully in that window.
Hold Potential: 2035. The zero malic and fully resolved pH suggest the wine is already structurally mature — this is more of a medium-term cellar candidate than the Howell Mountain.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2026–2035 (peak 2028–2033)