$64.99 with shipping included on 6 bottles or more

Ric Forman has been making wine in the Napa Valley since 1966, cutting his teeth first at the iconic Stony Hill on Spring Mountain before bringing to prominence both Sterling Vineyards and Newton before buying his own vineyard on Howell Mountain in 1978 and creating his eponymous winery in 1983. While at Newton, Forman took an extended trip to Bordeaux, and what he found there forever changed his approach to winemaking, compelling him, eventually, to model his own business model on the traditional Bordeaux chateau. For over forty years, Ric has concentrated his efforts on making very traditional wines focused on the healthy natural acidity, firm, age-worthy structures and an emphasis on the polish, texture and balance he found in the Medoc. As such, Ric thinks it important to create a second wine each vintage that helps preserve the integrity of its bigger brother. He’s long called the second wine at Forman Chateau La Grande Roche, and lovers of Old School Napa Cabernet know it to be one of the greatest bargains remaining in the entire Napa Valley. Made solely from barrels Ric thinks don’t improve his first- and much more expensive- wine, the blend changes a bit every year, but never totals more than around 500 cases annually. The 2021 has just been released and we’re pleased to offer our modest allocation to you. Dark and intensely aromatic, there is a briary, brambly aspect to its tobacco-infused blackberry fruit that also picks up hints of cedar, graphite and mocha before its young mountain tannins kick in. There is, though, always a seamlessness and effortless sense of balance to Ric’s wines and this is no exception. Nicely made and built for both immediate gratification or even for some mid- to longer term cellaring as well, it’s, as I said earlier, this has long been one of the better deals we ever see in top-flight Napa Cab. Limited, alas. 

Vinous Media: The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Chateau La Grande Roche is fresh, vibrant and super-expressive. There's a bit more Franc here than in the straight Cabernet, which lends notable aromatic presence and energy throughout. This classy, mid-weight Cabernet Sauvignon is impeccably done. 92 points