We rarely feature Napa Valley Cabernet these days; the unfortunate reality is that the wines we love are now generally way too pricey, and the ones that fit the “bill” almost never deliver the goods. But we’ve found an exception! A very small production, handmade masterpiece from a single vineyard in Coombsville. No, it’s not inexpensive–top local restaurants have it on their lists for upwards of $200–but we have a special connection with the family who founded the winery and they agreed to let us offer a few cases to our loyal subscribers (that’s you!). Katali is not in any retail shop anywhere, has never been featured in an email offer, or ever even been online. It’s a true “insider” wine for the lucky few who have access to bottles direct from the Downer family, or who visit Napa’s finest restaurants. And given the quality and pedigree, it offers excellent value. We have just a few cases, so don’t wait to pounce!
California’s Napa Valley needs no introduction, even to the most casual wine drinkers. Grape growing and winemaking have been here for 150 plus years, but it was in the last 50 that it became a world famous wine destination. Jackie and Michael Downer source their fruit exclusively from the Caldwell vineyard in the Coombsville AVA, located in the southeast corner of the valley. The vineyards sit at about 600 feet above the valley floor, and are planted on rich, volcanic soils. The Downers met at Linfield College, in the heart of Oregon’s wine country, and moved to Napa in 1989. Jackie has been in the wine business ever since, and while Michael’s day job was in banking, he has always been a wine enthusiast and even an amateur winemaker. Napa is in his “blood,”–his grandfather first bought a house here back in the 1950s. Katali is named after their two daughters, KATie and ALlie. They are joined by esteemed Napa winemaker Richard Sowalsky.
Sourced entirely from the Caldwell vineyard in Coombsville, the 2019 Katali is 100% hand-harvested Cabernet Sauvignon. A near perfect growing season in 2019 led to pristine fruit, and those bunches were whole-cluster fermented in tanks before pressing with a special basket press that allows for good extraction without heavy force. The finished wine was racked into French oak barrels from top coopers for 20 months, and then bottled in the summer of 2021 with a very light filtration.
Though it has plenty of power, this is no over-extracted, jammy fruit bomb. The excellent structure tells you that this is a wine made to last, but if you do want to crack open sooner than later give it a nice long decant, and then serve in large Bordeaux stems. A rush of cassis, blackberry, spiced cherry, and plum skin is followed by more savory notes of cocoa powder, dried lavender, graphite, vanilla bean, cedar, and baking spice. The deep, black and red fruits confirm the nose, and the oak spice is in perfect balance with the savory minerality and volcanic terroir. It’s certainly full bodied, but never out of balance, and it deserves a perfectly grilled or roasted steak.
