83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 5% Malbec, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc

Food pairings: Beef, brisket, burgers, osso buco, seared tuna or salmon, wild rice, Parmesan, morels and garlic.

Winemaking: The fruit was hand-harvested in the cool morning hours between late August and late October and brought to the winery in half-ton bins, then double-sorted, first by hand and then berry by berry after a gentle destemming. The berries rested on their skins before a warm fermentation with gentle cap management and an extended maceration, and the wine went directly to barrel for 18 months in French oak, 32% new. The 2022 season brought warm days and cool nights, then an early-September heat wave that hastened ripening in dry conditions, giving wines with opulent aromatics and flavors.

Vineyards and terroir: The wine is 100% estate grown on St. Supéry's two sustainably farmed, Napa Green certified vineyards: Dollarhide, a former cattle and horse ranch in the northeastern hills of Napa Valley with rolling slopes, lakes and many different soils, where warm days and cool nights are accentuated by elevation; and the Rutherford Estate around the winery, on the deep, well-drained soils of the Rutherford Bench.

Family and history: St. Supéry was founded in 1982 by the French Skalli family, who bought the untamed Dollarhide Ranch with the vision of a French-style château making 100% estate grown wines, and built the winery on Highway 29 in Rutherford. Since 2015 the estate has been owned by CHANEL; CEO Emma Swain, who has led St. Supéry since 2009, and winemaker Michael Scholz have steered a transformation in quality.

In the pictures: Winemaker Michael Scholz in the St. Supéry barrel cellar; estate vineyards above one of the lakes at Dollarhide Ranch; and the tree-lined entrance to the St. Supéry winery in Rutherford (photos courtesy of St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery).