A Famous Napa Winery Had Two Extra Barrels...

This is it. I don't know, Patrick, we've done a few really great architects and this opportunity was one of those opportunities that we do not see. For those of you unfamiliar, Architect is our own little in-house private label here at Spectrum. Trish and I and Patrick conceived, built, and designed this concept. When was the first one? Ten years ago? Yeah. So almost a decade now. And the thing is, with the Architect, there is no plan, there is no structure. So it's kind of ironic that there's no structure with the Architect. But the whole thing is, it's about if something moves us. If we have a moment with a particular wine or a lot of wine or a barrel selection and it but I mean our ears have to Stick straight up right it has to be like goose pimple type stuff and then at that juncture we can enter the discussion of do we want to bottle this under the art under our architect label and This was a this was one of those goose bump lines long story short one of our agents Happened to be at a shall we say very famous Winery up on Howell Mountain. For those of you that don't know Howell Mountain, Howell Mountain is my favorite place for Cabernet Sauvignon in America. Santa Cruz Mountains might be second. I don't know, man. It's like right there. But Howell Mountain is number one for me for great, great Bordeaux varietals. It's a very special place. High elevation. Beautiful soils, it makes some of the most profound Bordeaux varietal wines in California, and the world for that matter. It's a very, very special place. And one of our agents was actually tasting out a barrel at a very famous winery up there, and found out that this particular winery had a little extra Cabernet Franc. Rewinding, 2023 is an abundant harvest. It is a brilliant harvest. It is a great vintage in the Napa Valley, and particularly in the mountains. There was a lot of fruit, and at the same time, we're seeing some of these wineries with their direct-to-consumer business taking a little bit of a hit. You know, some folks age out, Silicon Valley buys less wine, opportunities appearing in the Napa Valley for us to go in and do some real business. In this case, the winery had two barrels of Cabernet Franc that they couldn't work into, in the end, they couldn't work into their $150 plus. Bordeaux blend wine that they produce at their winery. That wine gets 96 points, 98 points every year with a bullet, okay? It is a high-scoring, super reputable wine. There are two barrels of Franc that didn't make its way into that project for whatever reason. We will not conjecture. Our agent tasted both the barrels and said, holy crap, called us, got us a sample of the barrels. We tasted the sample, went, holy crap, and bought both barrels and bottled them up immediately. So this is it, the Architect 2023 Cabernet Franc Howell Mountain. Now, the deal with Cabernet Franc is Cabernet Franc can be even more. Even more than Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon was popular, became popular in Napa for a number of reasons. One of them, easy to grow, makes big wines, very flexible. Cabernet Franc, who is a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, right? Cabernet Franc is essentially Cabernet Sauvignon's dad. Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc got together, had a wine baby, and that baby was Cabernet Sauvignon. Just to get the record straight. Now, Cabernet Franc is a little more fickle, a little more higgledy-piggledy in the vineyard, and needs a little more specific growing conditions to make fabulous wine. But when you get a long, cool, extended growing season at elevation, Cabernet Franc can produce mammoth, prolific, beautiful, yet immensely fragrant wines. And that's the difference. Usually Cabernet Franc isn't as... Full body isn't as heavy as Cabernet Sauvignon. But in certain years, Cabernet Franc will get that weight in the center palate. Just ask the folks at Chateau Cheval Blanc, at Chateau Figeac, at Chateau Pavie. Cabernet Franc gets that center. And when it does, unbeatable. Because beyond, now you have the center of Cabernet Sauvignon. But now you have the aromatics of Cabernet Franc. Flowers, black tea, spice. Tobacco, you know, some people call it like, you know, real sweet leaf tobacco. Let's go. Let's go. If you've had the luxury of tasting Chateau Figeac, Let's go. Let's go. or Cheval Blanc, they're heavily Cabernet Franc-based wines. Let's go. And you feel it in this wine as well. But you feel the richness and sunshine of the Napa Valley. And you feel a long, cool, extended growing season of 2023. And you feel the mountain. You feel the mineral. A little touch of that peppery spice from the Howell Mountain coming into here. We'll This wine just floored us like we were we were blown away and then uh when we said okay be yeah let's let's okay how much do they want for these barrels because again this is a winery that right produces like all hundred dollar plus gear you know 95 to 100 points they made 100 point wines before this is a serious gig and they told us the price of the juice and we were like back. It's like. and we did a little dance I danced with Patrick Not close, but we did dance together, I think. Yeah, there was some room, and it was good. It was good. The wine's bottled. It's here, and it is outrageous. Dark, inky, beautiful, but spicy, fragrant. This is easily $100-plus gear. Easily. Easily. No question. Dude, how good is that? Silky. The tannins, when you have a—I'm sorry, extending it a little bit. When you have a long, cool growing season, you have finer tannin. There isn't these heat spikes that rush the tannin, that rushes the maturity. So you get these long, silky, creamy tannins in extended growing seasons. And this wine has that too. With that little leafy, black tea, black cherry, blackberry, compote finish. Wow, this stuff's sick. One of, if not the best architect bottling at this level we've ever done. We've done some reserve wines and capstones, but... For a straight architect, this is the best one I think we've ever made. So, coming to you, remember, Howl Mountain, $29.98. This is 30 bucks a bottle, 10% off if you buy six or more. Like, ridiculous. There's nothing from Howl Mountain under $60? Well, except for the thread feather stuff that we sell, which, you know, thread feathers is banging. So, thread feathers aside, which is also atypical, there's nothing in Howl Mountain under 100 bucks. What do you got? There's nothing. La Jolla's over, yeah, there's nothing. This is Howl Mountain, single vineyard, 95 to 100 point winery here at 30 bucks. 10% off six or more. Only 50 cases. I think this stuff is going to fly, Patrick. I think we did really well with this one. Kudos to you, brother. I love the green, sharp, tight. Click down below to buy this wine quickly. Other people will be clicking and you don't want to be left out. Beyond that, sign up for our daily email offers. You'll see that down below as well. And then subscribe to our YouTube channel. It is one of the best in the business and a complete no-brainer if you want wonderful, factual, real information, no BS from complete hosers like myself and Patrick over there. Thank you for watching. Cheers, and make it an architect afternoon.