Sang-Froid Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena 2017

Sang-Froid (pronounced sahng FWAH) is a word that means coolness and level-headedness under pressure. What an apropos name for a cool a** cab that can compete with the best of ‘em, but at a price that won’t break the bank. Sang-Froid is a new Napa cab project that should be on any wine lover’s list. With 100-point winemaker Keith Emerson at the helm, and a revered plot next to Colgin’s Tychson Hill – the excitement here is palpable. We’re delighted to share this beauty with our best Invino friends…at a ridiculous 51% discount!

This cab is a classic, graceful, and elegant Napa cabernet. It’s loaded with black and red fruits, dark chocolate layers, baking spices, and subtly interwoven new oak flavors. This absolutely competes favorably with other Napa cabernets in the $150+ range...which is what the retail price of this is, should you try to get it straight from the winery. The fruit here hails from a single acre on Sang-Froid’s estate in St. Helena, directly across from Vineyard 29. This is the geographical heart of the Napa Valley, in what was formerly known as the James Johnson vineyard, used for a high-end, little-known production called Bisou. When John Murphy and Paula Key purchased the vineyard in 2013, the fruit was sold to their neighbors at Vineyard 29 and it was there that they got to know winemaker Keith Emerson (Martin Ray, Robert Craig, and Vineyard 29). Keith would soon receive his first 100-point score from Wine Advocate for the 2013 Vineyard 29 cabernet, and John and Paula worked out an arrangement where a single block that went into the making of this wine would be set aside for Sang-Froid, and made personally by Keith, with the rest earmarked for Vineyard 29. Their first vintage got respectable 92-point scores from Vinous and Wine Advocate, but things really took off when they scored 95 and 95+ points in 2016, from Wine Advocate and Jeb Dunnuck, respectively. 

This vineyard sits on the western edge of north Saint Helena, sharing the very same soils that make up Colgin Family’s illustrious Tychson Hill vineyard. The vine material is 100% cabernet sauvignon, with clippings of the Bouschet clone from the heralded Grace Family vineyard. Its pedigree, with the vineyard’s location and soils, as well as its winemaking and flavor profile, all point to a cult wine in the making. Thankfully, we have this at non-cult wine prices – and over 50% off the current retail. You can get in on this spectacularly made wine on the ground floor, and before this grows beyond reach. Basically, it’s now or never.

This is one you have to try to believe, and then you’ll immediately wish you got more. Drinking fantastic here at 5+ years in, but sure to excel over the next decade – easily! Less than 200 cases total produced! Do not miss out on this!