Hertelendy references his Hungarian heritage on the wine’s label, which is festooned with a family coat of arms. It’s a nod to his father, who emigrated from Hungary during the onset of World War II, and to his great-uncle, Gábor Hertelendy, farmed vineyards and made wine in Hungary—and stayed on as a farmhand even after the communist regime confiscated his land. Ralph’s trajectory in wine has been considerably less fraught, of course, having started in his parents’ basement in 2006 and continued into some elite territory: In 2014, he purchased his “Rockwell Ridge” estate vineyard, which is perched on an east-facing slope at an elevation of 1,365 feet. It is technically right below the demarcation for Howell Mountain; just 35 feet higher up the slope and it would qualify for the AVA. The vines in the Rockwell Ridge site are mature (20+ years of age), giving Hertelendy and Corallo-Titus their main building block, to which they’ve added fruit from Pritchard Hill, Atlas Peak, the Silverado Foothills, and in 2015, Oakville. That extra blast of valley-floor fruit concentration on the mid-palate complements the volcanic minerality that has always been this wine’s calling card. Just 706 cases were produced.

If one-word descriptors are your thing, here’s one for this 2015: hedonism. As always, it’s a Bordeaux-inspired blend driven by Cabernet Sauvignon (77%) but incorporating all the classic varieties—7% Petit Verdot, 7% Malbec, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot. The hand-harvested grapes were sorted twice and subjected to a lengthy maceration to extract maximum flavor and color. The wine was then aged in a mixture of French and Hungarian oak barrels (90% new) for 23 months. In the glass, it’s a brooding, impenetrable purple through and through with ruby reflections highlighting the rim. On the nose, dense and polished black fruits of black cherry, blackberry, cassis, black raspberry, and Java plum harmoniously fuse with an array of baking spices, cigar box, cardamom, star anise, and dark chocolate. On the palate, the wine shows the best of both worlds, having the opulence of a Rutherford valley floor wine with a fresh, mineral finish you so often find in Howell Mountain. The immense concentration of black fruits (and a touch of blue) carries into a lingering finish laced with raw cacao, fresh tobacco and turned earth. Thanks to a distinct level of acidity, this wine doesn’t have the overly sweet, treacly finish that can weigh other opulent Napa cabs down. I foresee this wine coming into its own over the next 5-10 years, but due to its ripe and polished style, drinking now will absolutely delight. I recommend a one hour decant and consuming around 60 degrees in large Bordeaux stems. As I mentioned above, this is a red for the main course or the cheese course—a blockbuster finish to a great meal. The attached recipe has a showstopper quality to it as well, so when it’s time to pull out the stops, you’re ready to roll. Enjoy!