2007 Fortress Special Bottling Cabernet Sauvignon

This offer is a particularly special Lot18 exclusive: It comprises four barrels hand-selected by Nils Venge, the winemaker whose 1985 Groth Cabernet was the first American wine to earn 100 points from wine critic Robert Parker. And today's Cab comes from a vintage that has been hailed by The Wine Advocate as the best North Coast Cabernet vintage since 2001. If you are a Cabernet lover, it doesn't get much better than this.

It's not every day that you get offered exclusive access to a minuscule, 100-case-production Cabernet crafted by a legend. In fact, I probably would have said that it happens only in wine-geek fantasies, except that one day late last spring it actually happened to me.

I was tasting through a lineup with Fortress sales manager Tim Snider when he pulled an unlabeled bottle out of his bag and said, "Eric, I have something special for you." Snider’s parents own Fortress Vineyards in the Red Hills Lake County AVA north of Napa, and Nils is the winemaker. Nils had been tasting through barrels from the 2007 vintage at the winery and discovered four barrels of Cabernet that were head and shoulders above the rest. The sample that Snider offered me was a blend of the four. It knocked my socks off.

The Sniders began growing grapes in 1988, when they developed their hillside vineyard in Knights Valley, Sonoma County. Ten years later, they sought a mountain site where they could grow super-premium grapes, and they ultimately purchased and developed Fortress Vineyards in the Red Hills Lake County AVA.

Fortress is dedicated to producing handcrafted wines that express the land's unique terroir, while maintaining strictly sustainable vineyard and winemaking practices. The Sniders employ a range of ecofriendly practices, from using biodegradable corks to spreading rice straw in order to insulate the vineyards and reduce water usage. Their commitment – in combination with Nils's talent – results in stunning, cellar-worthy wines.

Tasting Note
This 2007 Cabernet displays a beautiful, bright-ruby color. The powerful nose expresses black currant, Bing cherry, candied flower petals, whole nutmeg and toasty oak. In the mouth, the wine is medium- to full-bodied and well balanced, with plush fruit framed by firm tannins. I love the power and delicacy it maintains. It paired beautifully with a delicious Dry-Aged Rib Eye Steak by DeBragga, NY's Butcher.

—Eric Lawrence Brown

Eric Lawrence Brown has 10 years of wine experience, with five years as Sales Manager at renowned Los Angeles retailer, Wally’s Wine & Spirits. Since relocating from the East Coast eight years ago, this formerly devout Europhile was converted into an avowed proponent of the region as one of the world’s finest – thanks to frequent tasting expeditions to California’s Central Coast, not to mention proselytizing by local wine gurus. Eric holds certifications from the Court of Master Sommeliers, as well as the Society of Wine Educators.