Volker Eisele Family, Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2018

Volker Eisele Family is a small, family-run estate tucked away in Napa's cooler, higher Chiles Valley District. Founded by Volker Eisele in 1974 and farmed organically from the very beginning, the estate is now run by son Alexander and his wife, Catherine, who continue the founder's vision of restrained, food-friendly Napa wines. Their Cabernet has long been one of the most quietly classical reds in Napa: balanced, savory, never overdone, made for the dinner table rather than the trophy shelf. The 2018 is from one of the great recent vintages, a near-textbook Napa year, and it shows: cassis and black cherry framed by cedar, tobacco, and graphite, with fine-grained tannins and the kind of fresh acidity that lets you actually finish a glass with food.