2019 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

99 points, The Wine Advocate. Three bottles available.

Donn Chappellet went up Pritchard Hill in 1967 and planted where nobody thought Cabernet would ripen. He was the first winery on the hill and, by Wine Spectator's count, the second Napa winery founded after Prohibition, one year behind Robert Mondavi. Everything that has happened on that hillside since, and it is now some of the most expensive land in California, started with him. The Pritchard Hill Estate bottling is the top of the house.

In the glass

Lisa Perrotti-Brown's Wine Advocate note gives crème de cassis, blackberry preserves, licorice and mulberries, with hints of unsmoked cigars, wild sage and tar. Suckling found blackberries, blueberries, black licorice, ink and flowers over plush, integrated tannins, and called it one of the estate's best ever. Mountain fruit: darker, firmer and more structured than valley-floor Cabernet.

Critic scores

• 99 points · Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Advocate
• 98 points · James Suckling

The details

• Producer: Chappellet Winery
• Vineyard: Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard
• Appellation: Napa Valley, California
• Vintage: 2019
• Blend: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot
• Alcohol: 14.5%
• Ageing: 22 months in 100% new French oak
• Harvest: 9 to 28 October at 25.0 to 27.0° Brix
• Format: 750ml
• Drinking window: drinking now, better from here

Serving and pairing

Decant two hours ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Grilled lamb, dry-aged beef, or hard aged cheeses.

Common questions

Is Pritchard Hill an AVA?
No. Pritchard Hill is an unofficial place name, not a federally approved appellation, so the legal designation on the label is Napa Valley. Only a handful of estates are entitled by long use to put the name on a bottle, and Chappellet is the one that started it.

How was 2019?
A cool, wet winter and spring delayed budbreak and forced heavy fruit thinning, then a warm October brought everything home. The wines have both ripeness and structure.

We have three bottles. Cold-packed, shipped from our Florida cellar, signature required. Browse more rare and limited vintages.