Ready for some monumental history behind today’s wine? Napa Valley, the 1970s. The small place it was back then, did not take long for Franciscan’s owner Ray Duncan, a restless entrepreneur, to hear about Christian Brothers’ winemaker Justin Meyer’s Silver Oak vision when they met and shook hands to make arguably the most iconic of Cabs ever. When they parted ways in 2001, Meyer Family Vineyards was born. Of all Silver Oak wines, none were as storied as the only single vineyard they ever bottled, Bonny’s Vineyard, made only 1979-1991 in tiny quantities. The Meyers kept and resurrected the vineyard in 2003, bringing it back to its days of glory and today’s wine is 100% Bonny’s!

Vibrant deep cherry red with a borderline black heart and vibrant purplish streaks throughout. Rich, pure nose of blackcurrants intertwined with scents of minerals, and Tahitian vanilla bean. The pallet offers a cascade of lavishly rich, opulently textured, chocolatey fruit with superbly balanced tannins. Remarkably long on the mouth-coating finish, this is marvelously hedonistic, a compelling silky Cabernet with no hard edges at all. Enjoy with aged rib eyes, grilled to medium-rare and served simply with sea salt and black pepper. Keep the sides simple too to allow for this multilayered, gorgeous Cab to shine through.

Bonny’s is in the sweetest Oakville spot with Saddleback, PlumpJack, Groth and Turnbull surrounding it, planted in 1974 by Justin Meyer as a gift to his beloved, who by the way is the designer the iconic Silver Oak labels. The younger vines here make two wines. Spitfire, Justin Meyer’s nickname who favored American Barrels, is 100% so, while his children prefer French Barrels for Fluffy Billows. The low yielding old vines make the American barrel-aged $150+ Bonny’s as a tribute to this legacy, available only via a mailing list with a waiting list.

Fluffy Billows may as well be Oakville’s best-kept secret and with this covert Wine Spies deal, it sure is the most affordable find we can imagine, given the pedigree. Not submitted to the wine press, production is small and the demand is high. Robert Parker’s rating for the 2015 Napa Cabernet vintage is 97 points and, in all honesty, this wine has all the hallmarks. It’s irresistible now but will age beautifully, so make sure you secure enough…