$110!! That was the price on this impossibly concentrated, finely crafted red from the fabled Spring Mountain. Then we tuned it down to $49, and me oh my what a wonderful day it just became! Juslyn has always been a terrific producer, but their recent vintages set the bar even higher, and “exhibit a profound rise in quality” as Robert Parker noted.

There’s a good reason for that.

With a last name like Mondavi wine is in your blood.

Four generations: Robert, Peter Sr., Michael, Tim, Robert Jr., Carlo, Dante… all carry the DNA, pretty much any project they touch turns to gold.

When it comes to winemaking excellence though, Angelina Mondavi stands alone, as a protégé of Jayson Woodbridge and Thomas Rivers Brown.

Boasting a dozen 100-pointers and over twenty 98-99+ point wines, she owns and makes Aloft, Dark Matter, Fourth Leaf… all magical wines long sold out prior to release.

With limited bandwidth to consult, there’s a long waitlist of wineries yearning to collaborate with such talent. Juslyn is one of the names she accepted to make for just a few vintages, this is one of those.

And it shows. Spring Mountain, Limited Release, Member’s Blend, that name says it all. In the glass, it’s near midnight pitch black to the core, on a moonless night, with a near neon glow on the alluringly thin rim. Drenched in ripe boysenberries, warm blackberry cobbler a la mode, it’s more of a “how come this is SO good” slow sipper/contemplator rather than a slurp me up with steak monolith. There’s somehow enough lift and freshness to the heavyweight mountain tannins with a velvety texture. A true WOW wine that could have only come together in the right hands, from the right fruit.

Oh, and being from the extraordinary 2016 vintage helps too. Better than many comparable reds 5, no, make that 10 times our price. No reviews, or scores, so under the radar it practically should not exist.

How we got our hands on what we did – and sadly it’s not enough – is a mystery, even to us!