Lot Overview
- Region: Napa Valley (Pritchard Hill — vineyard stretching from Atlas Peak to Pritchard Hill)
- Vintage: 2024
- Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, single block, single vineyard
- Elevation: 1,500–1,700 feet
- Oak Aging: 100% new French oak
- Alcohol: 15.8%
- TA / pH: 6.64 g/L TA, 3.78 pH, malic 0.13 g/L, lactic 0.83 g/L
- Cases Available: ~130
- Cam Price: ~$33/bottle (6-pack or case)
- Retail Estimate: $250–300+/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Chappellet Winery — Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
- Wine Berserkers Guess:
- Drink Window: 2028–2045+ (peak 2032–2042)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Quite a few moving pieces in the cellar right now, so I thought I would jump ahead to Lot 75 2024 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This is essentially the 2024 version of previous Founding Member exclusive, the incredible Lot 14 2023 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Thankfully, we received two extra barrels this year and have a bit more to go around but what remains is going to go quickly…
This is the ultimate “no-expense-spared wine”, sourced from the best blocks of a legendary vineyard and raised in 100% new French Oak. Normally $250/bottle, it is now yours for just ~$33/bottle when you buy by the 6-pack or the case.
As one would imagine, this high-elevation, 1700-foot vineyard “that shall not be named” performed beautifully in the warmth of the 2024 vintage. The wines are rich, ripe, and absolutely delicious as well as remarkably approachable while still maintaining ample, energetic structures, the hallmark of 2024.
Tasting Notes
The flagship offering from this producer, Lot 75 2024 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from one of the legendary blocks of the “vineyard that shall not be named that stretches from Atlas Peak to Pritchard Hill.” Frontlining under its original label for well over $200/bottle, Lot 75 is a blockbuster mountainside 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon at an incredible price.
The 2023 vintage of this wine, Lot 14, was a dense, packed, tightly-wound monster of a Cabernet. Lot 75 is far more generous, ripe and open-knit — likely quite approachable even by Fall. It has plenty of structure and fortitude to age another 10–15 years, but the tannins are so ripe and generous, the fruit so bold and rich, that it will drink deliciously with just a couple months in the bottle.
Opaque, almost squid ink in the glass with a little bit of electric magenta bead around the rim. The bouquet is far more open-knit and more effusive than the 2023, beaming with iron and graphite with a violet-infused garrigue surrounded by intense, ripe blackberry liqueur pierced with blackcurrants, leather and cedar notes. Massive-yet-sumptuous on the palate, far more open-knit and accessible with ripe blackberry jam and chocolate enmeshed in big-grained, mineral and rock-laced tannins and pretty violet and iron retronasals.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status
2024 vintage, just bottled. 100% new French oak — allow 90 days minimum before opening. This wine doesn’t need help being approachable (per Cam), but fresh bottle shock is real at this level.
Claude’s Source Guess: Chappellet Winery — Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Every data point in Cam’s description leads directly to Chappellet. Their Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is Napa’s most storied mountain Cab, founded in 1967 on rocky, volcanic hillside terrain that rises from 800 to 1,800 feet above the valley floor. It is consistently allocated at $250–300+/bottle, sells primarily through the winery’s mailing list, and frequently earns 97–100-point scores. The geographic description — “vineyard that stretches from Atlas Peak to Pritchard Hill” — is a nearly literal description of Chappellet’s estate, which occupies the Pritchard Hill sub-region of the Vaca Mountain Range, running along the same ridgeline that includes the Atlas Peak AVA boundary to the south.
The Lot 14 / Lot 75 linkage is particularly compelling. Cam released the 2023 vintage of this same wine exclusively to Founding Members as Lot 14, describing it as a “tightly wound monster.” The 2024 as Lot 75 is described as more generous and open-knit — a vintage character difference entirely consistent with how 2023 (cool, tightly structured) and 2024 (warm, ripe, accessible) have been described throughout Napa Valley for mountain Cabs.
The tasting note signatures are Chappellet’s house style: “iron and graphite,” “violet-infused garrigue,” “rock-laced tannins,” and “blackberry liqueur” are phrases that appear regularly in Chappellet Pritchard Hill reviews across multiple vintages and critics. The 15.8% alcohol and 3.78 pH also track well with 2024 Pritchard Hill mountain fruit in a warm year.
Note: Cam also references this wine previously being sold to “Founding Members and VIPs” — Chappellet’s DTC model is heavily allocation-based, making surplus barrels available to négociant partners like Cameron Hughes entirely plausible.
✅ Confidence: High — the geographic specificity alone (“Atlas Peak to Pritchard Hill”), flagship $250+ pricing, 100% Cab single-block, mountain mineral profile, and same-producer link to Lot 74 Merlot all converge on Chappellet as the only producer that satisfies every constraint simultaneously.
Drink Window
Early: 2028 — despite Cam’s note about approachability, 100% new French oak on a 15.8% mountain Cab warrants real patience.
Peak: 2032–2042. Pritchard Hill Cabs routinely peak 8–15 years from vintage.
Hold: 2045+. Chappellet’s library Cabs from great vintages (1969, 2013, 2016) are still drinking beautifully decades out.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2028–2045+ (peak 2032–2042)