Ladies and gentlemen, Operatives recent and ancient, please welcome…

CAROL SHELTON!!!

And her stunning Rockpile Reserve Cabs, PLUS THIS RARE TREAT we won at SoCoBa (Sonoma County Barrel Auction) for you!

If you haven’t heard of Carol, not to be rude, but what rock have you been living under?

Here’s a must-watch ZAP panel on the “Queen of Zinfandel” along with fellow luminaries Joel Peterson, Larry Turley, and Kent Rosenblum:

We really don’t have the space here to list all her accolades. She’s a true legend. A few noteworthy ones include The André Tchelistcheff Award in 1993, Winemaker of the Year by Press Democrat in 1999, San Francisco Chronicle in 2005, and NorthBay biz in 2022 and 2023.

“A winemaker since 1978…” expounds Wine Industry Advisor “…Shelton is well known in the industry as a maker of world-class single-vineyard Zinfandels as well as a variety of other exceptional wines, including a number of bold Cabernet Sauvignons…”

So, Napa Cabs, there is a new sheriff in town. And it’s packing an abundance of crème de cassis, plum preserves, Black Forest cake, cigar box, and pencil shavings. Full-bodied, with a solid line of chewy tannins and lively acidity, there are plenty of black fruit and earth layers, all culminating on an exotically spicy mineral-laced finish. So much to love here, and a few years of age has done wonders in attaining the irresistibly silky texture.

We’ve been begging for a feature from her for decades now, and finally, here it is. While Rockpile spans over 15,000 acres across vast rugged terrain, only 150 of those acres are planted, and of those Cabernet is just a tiny portion. That explains why Carol Shelton makes 7-8 barrels tops of this beauty every vintage…

And why we ended up with just a handful of cases from their library stash!

Don’t fret, when this is gone, we have a tiny bit more of the 2016…

93 Points, Gold – Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge