Guarachi Cabernet Sauvignon Meadowrock Vineyard Atlas Peak Napa Valley 2023

At age 18, two days before the 1976 United States Bicentennial, Alex Guarachi arrived at San Jose State University from Chile, on a full scholarship to play his heart out at fútbol. To think an injury would somehow lead to this heavenly, high-scoring bottle of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from his own Meadowrock Vineyard on the venerated Atlas Peak in Napa Valley! Pure American hustle. We’ll say it right up top: this is a flat-out GORGEOUS Cab. Majorly luxurious and intense and enthrallingly yummy. But don’t worry – the 96 points from Tasting Panel and 95 from James Suckling don’t place this out of reach, because Invino is putting you on scholarship.

This is still young – a 2023 that spent 22 months in French oak – so it has some of that bucking bronco spirit. A firm grip, a little bossy and bold. There’s a knowing, sensuous fluidity that you don’t always find in Cab. Oh, the fresh espresso and juicy, bleeding mulberries and warm sunshine on granite in the Sierras! Rooibos tea and gleaming black currants and bursting blueberries, with sweet tobacco and a bendable herbal structure… it’s all packed inside an aura-bubble of soft floral perfume. This has personality. The finish is juicy and alive, with fine tannins. Bravo, winemaker Julian Gonzalez. He was a longtime key player on the demanding Paul Hobbs winemaking team, where you get precise or get out.

The fruit was farmed organically – the hard, patient, earnest work of taking care of America the beautiful and nurturing resilient vines that give their best.