100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Food pairings: Grilled steak, roast prime rib, herb-crusted lamb, mushroom dishes and aged cheeses.

Scores:

• 95 points, Decanter

Winemaking: A 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a single vineyard, the 2023 C.C. Ranch was aged for 18 months in French oak barrels, 55% new. The winemakers describe it as all about finesse, with soft tannins supporting the wine from entry to finish and fruit that grows brighter and fresher as it goes, perhaps one of the most approachable wines of the vintage.

Vineyards and terroir: C.C. Ranch is in Rutherford, just west of the Silverado Trail, where the vines grow on a west-facing knoll of volcanic bedrock with well-drained gravelly soils. Nickel & Nickel selects specific blocks of the larger property for this wine, and the varied exposures of the knoll give it its perfumed, red-and-black-fruited character.

Family and history: Nickel & Nickel was founded in 1997 by the partners of Far Niente, including co-founder Gil Nickel, to make 100% varietal, single-vineyard wines that express the distinct personality of individual sites across Napa Valley's nested appellations, a departure from Far Niente's blended house style. The winery sits on the historic John C. Sullenger farmstead in Oakville, whose late-19th-century house and barns were restored and reimagined by the Nickels and their partners, with a state-of-the-art winery inside. Each year the winemakers select up to 20 vineyards worthy of a Nickel & Nickel single-vineyard designation.

In the pictures: The vintage barrel truck on the Nickel & Nickel farmstead in Oakville, where the C.C. Ranch wine is made, and the red barn behind the farmstead's orchard (photos: Carol M. Highsmith, 2012, public domain, Library of Congress).