Timbre Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Rare Groove #5 Happy Canyon 2021

Josh Klapper is a musically inclined winemaker who’s always chasing harmony – and he caught it here. We LOVE this lighter-weight, savory Cabernet. Love love love. Coveted vineyard, tiny production, at an incredible price, with shipping included on three or more!

For his Timbre Winery, Josh sources fruit from some of California’s most prized sites, and in this case, it’s Tommy Town Vineyard, a parcel in Santa Barbara’s famed Happy Canyon AVA. Fun fact: Tommy Town also happens to be one of the state’s top thoroughbred breeding operations and racing stables. And this Cab is a ride. Josh named it “Rare Groove #5” – a rare groove being a record that’s musically unique and difficult to find. This bottle isn’t as hard to pin down as an original pressing of Roy Ayers’ Virgo Vibes, but Josh only made EIGHT barrels, and this exact wine will never be made again – wine’s as fleeting as a concert without iPhones. We were lucky to get some. Antonio Galloni awarded it 94 points, saying it’s “packed with Happy Canyon character.” 

It tastes exciting from start to finish. If you haven’t discovered the Happy Canyon region yet, this is a “super-classic” intro, as Galloni said. You might wonder at first sip: Is this even a Cab? No politician’s handshake structure or lantern-jawed tannins here. It pours a medium brick-red, and the nose is an extremely pretty tangle of minerals, red cherries, jasmine, earth, and chewing tobacco. On the palate, we get cherry Tootsie Pop with that crackling glassy shell. More red fruits like pomegranate, a hint of mandarin orange… then things turn savory and intense. Sage, satiating black olives, light leather. It stays red-toned throughout, somehow both raw and polished, and finishes lip-licking and beautifully balanced. Mmm!

Rare Groove has that holy-grail quality winemakers look for, where the wine changes with every sniff and sip, thus building your thirst and obsession.

This spent 17 months in 25% new French oak, and sits at 14% alcohol – all refreshingly restrained and modern for a California Cabernet.