2023 Castiel Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

When Atelier Melka’s winemaker Maayan Koschitzky took the reins at Castiel Estate, he took over from one of the most legendary winemakers on Earth: Celia Welch, the force behind Scarecrow, Staglin, Buccella, and Hartwell.

Impossible shoes to fill? Not for Maayan—a mutli-100-point winemaker and Screaming Eagle alum—and he’s raised Castiel’s game even further, their 2023 Napa Valley Cabernet is a serious blue-chipper.

This 2023 Castiel Estate Cabernet, from one of the greatest Napa Valley vintages of all time, JUST earned a stunning 98-point score from Jeb Dunnuck, who called it “pleasure-bent” and “incredibly complete.” Here’s a smattering of the other 98-pointers on Dunnuck’s list: Fairest Creature Sine Fine ($1,000), Lokoya Howell Mountain ($550), and Fairchild Stones No. 1 ($400). In fact, the Castiel Napa Valley is clearly the most affordable bottle on Dunnuck’s list of 98-pointers. 

Castiel Estate proprietor Kathleen DiCesaris has a long history in the wine world, starting in the business in the 1990s as a wine educator at Freemark Abbey. Her husband Dave was a college basketball star who played at Pomona under future NBA Hall of Fame coach Greg Popovich. It wasn’t the wine-loving Pop who turned Dave onto wine, but a colleague in Los Angeles, who recommended Dave unwind from a stressful week by heading to Napa (and bringing back some 1985 Cabernet, while he was at it).

Dave whipped up a list of wineries to visit, and when he glimpsed Kathleen at Freemark Abbey—BOOM, love at first site. Fast forward to Dave and Kathleen honeymooning at Meadowood. Then, in 2014, they purchased a site on Howell Mountain, a stone’s throw from CADE. Famed viticulturist Jim Barbour told them about the site. Deal done. 

For over a decade now, the DiCesarises have made a Howell Mountain Cabernet that stands with the absolute best of the AVA. In 2023, under their auspices, Maayan Koschitzky combined 65% Howell Mountain fruit with 35% Cab from Yountville’s Red Hen Vineyard, aging the wine for 22 months in French oak. The result is a wine that must even have shocked the Castiel team, with how quickly it rocketed into the Napa Valley elite. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.60%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2039
• % Cabernet Sauvignon
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork