The name Ink Grade, to me, evokes the Heitz Cellars wines of yore. The late-great Joe Heitz made his famous ‘Port’ from the grapes up on Ink Grade and later used its Zinfandel and Cabernet in a variety of their iconic reds as well. In fact, the Heitzes eventually purchased this old vineyard estate for themselves back in 1989 and farmed it until the Heitz winery itself was sold in 2018. But the history of this very special place on the back side of Howell Mountain goes back a lot, lot longer. It was in 1873 that one Theron Ink purchased the property via a land grant from Ulysses S. Grant and first planted vineyards on the property. At 2200 feet over the Napa Valley, this is truly a unique spot and Ink began, soon afterwards, to make his own wine and was compelled to carve a road down the mountain to get them to the Valley below to be sold. Appropriately, he called it Ink Grade. When Heitz was purchased, the property, its old vineyards and winery, were spun off to become an independent project dedicated solely to using the amazing fruit from those very old, low-yielding mountain vines. The most unique wine being made at the new Ink Grade has to be the wine they call Andosol. Modeled after the historic field blends that used to dominate the California wine scene, most of it is briary mountain Zin with dark, earthy Cabernet adding to its backbone, color and providing some good ol’ Howell Mountain tannin. This is a truly fun wine to drink, certainly reminiscent of the California wines we used to drink back in the day, but with a more modern sense of panache and presence. Rich with dusky, plummy fruit, we really liked the fresh floral notes, nice, silky palate and bitter, woodsy chocolate finish. It’s an impressive amalgam of Old- and New World sensibilities that calls out for anything with grill marks- steaks, burgers, fish, pork, whatever you got! Meant to be consumed right away, it might be fun, though, to revisit with a few years in the cellar too. Note that this half-price special is limited to the one delivery we’re getting this week so our advice is to jump in now and fire up the grill tonight!  

Decanter… It’s a homage to the old tradition of blending old mountain sites. Dark berry fruit, pine forest notes, and violets. A plethora of red, black, and blue fruits with sappy tannins integrated with beautiful complexity of flavours and nuanced mineral notes. Leads to a pulverised crushed stone and cocoa powder finish. 93 points

Wine Enthusiast: Bright raspberries and red cherries in the nose mingle with riper black cherries, dark chocolate and blueberries in this abundantly fruity, but also well-oaked and well-structured wine made from mostly Zinfandel. Velvety tannins, succulent fruit and spicy oak nuances all balance nicely. Best from 2025-2033. 94 points