PRIMA’s founder and then-owner Michael Verlander first introduced me to his good friend Nils Venge back in, I dunno, 1994? Those two were truly birds of a feather, both larger than life and chock full of personality. I soon came to learn that Nils’ wines were much the same. A winemaking pioneer who cut his teeth during the seminal years of the Napa Valley’s growth, Nils worked at Charles Krug and Sterling before landing his first full-time winemaking gig at Villa Mount Eden and making the first Robert Parker 100-point-scored Napa Valley Cabernet while he was at Groth in 1985, earning, in the process, the moniker ‘King of Cabernet.’ He used his connections in the valley to establish his own side project, Saddleback Cellars, in Oakville in 1976 and earned a stellar reputation for his distinctively powerful, personality-laden wines. Son Kirk, also born in 1976, proved to be a chip off the old block, following in dad’s footsteps and working in the family business (now called simply Venge Vineyards) after his graduation from winemaking school at UC Davis, taking over completely in 2008. Kirk’s own winemaking style mirrors his fathers. He farms organically, and what he doesn’t farm himself, he chooses very carefully, using old Venge connections to source grapes from some of the North Coast’s most iconic sites. The wine we think that ties the entire Venge legacy together is the red they call Scout’s Honor after a longtime family dog. First made by Nils in 1996, it’s a wine that brings together some of the Napa Valley and Sonoma County’s most venerable sites in a stunning amalgam of flavor and character. The grapes sourced to make the absolutely delicious 2023 Scout’s reads like a list of California’s greatest vineyards! We’re talking century-old vines in Frediani, Luvisi and Monte Rosso, old vine Zin from Grist on Bradford Mountain in the Alexander Valley and Syrah from Kick Ranch in Fountain Grove as well as fruit from the Venges’ own vineyards in Calistoga. Made in the distinctly take-me-now style the Venges are know for, this Scout’s Honor is 71% Zinfandel, 19% Charbono, 8% Petite Sirah and 2% Syrah. It bursts at the seams with plush, jammy, ripe, currant-y black fruit, a broad hint of peppery spice, a dash of hoisin, a soupcon of pipe tobacco, a spade full of loam and a dash of vanilla. Wearing its 15.1% alcohol seamlessly, it’s concentrated, plush on the palate and exceedingly fun to drink. This would be a magnificent call with that spicy-sweet grilled rib recipe you have, or how about that monster Tomahawk steak you have ready to hit the coals?