Staglin Family Cabernet Sauvignon

When the Staglin family acquired this parcel in 1985, viticultural history on the site already stretched back to the mid-1860s — they appointed David Abreu as vineyard manager from day one and farmed organically before certification was fashionable, achieving CCOF status in 2005. The 51-acre estate sits on the Rutherford Bench at the foot of Mount St. John, the tallest peak in the Mayacamas Range, where millennia of alluvial erosion have deposited deep, slightly gravelly, brownish volcanic-origin soils over a well-drained fan — the geological engine behind the textural phenomenon Napa insiders call Rutherford dust. Cool evenings driven by San Pablo Bay airflow arrest sugar accumulation and preserve structural acidity despite the site's sun-drenched days. Fermentation proceeds in a combination of stainless steel tanks, concrete vats, and French oak barrels, with the finished wine transferred to 90–100% new French oak for 22–24 months in the estate's gravity-flow underground cellar — a 24,000 sq ft solar-powered facility completed in 2002 that eliminates pump-overs entirely. The blend follows the Bordeaux template: predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon completed with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. What sets this estate apart from Rutherford peers is the absolute refusal to source outside its own 51 acres, making every bottle a single-vineyard document of one specific alluvial fan. The 2005 vintage predates the estate's CCOF certification year, landing at the precise moment organic protocols became officially verified.