2018 Pope Valley Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Pope Valley Winery is one of the oldest continually operating wineries in Napa Valley, founded in 1897 and kept in business during Prohibition by one Alphonse G. Capone. Ed Haus, owner of the Burgundy Winery & Olive Factory, supplied Capone’s speakeasies and brothels with wine until he noticed that numerous creditors of Capone started perishing early. He wisely found new customers. His descendants owned the winery until 1959, and in 1997 the winery was purchased by the Eakle family and other investors.

In 2018, they brough in Jean Hoefliger, the globe-hopping savant who earned a viticultural degree in Switzerland, then did formative stints in Bordeaux at Château Carbonnieux and Château Lynch-Bages. He then turned his focus to the New World, where he has made two perfect-score wines at The Debate, another at Alpha Omega, and a slew of impressive ones for Newton as well. 

Hoefliger could not make a boring wine if he tried. This bottling is packed with incredibly pure, rich fruit we see in $60–$100 Cabs, rarely for wines we can offer for $30 per bottle on case-buys. For what some of the big-name Napa wineries charge for a single bottle of their wine, you can lay in a year’s worth of this excellent Cabernet.