2005 Penché Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2005 Penché Cabernet Sauvignon — Wine Spectator’s “Rising Star,” Jay Buoncristiani

Last month we spent a couple of days knocking on Napa Valley cellar doors, looking for small batches of library wines. While many of the Cabernet Sauvignons we tasted from the 2005-2007 vintages are aging effortlessly, showing no sign whatsoever of their 5-7 years of bottle age, the price tags — often 2-2.5x the release price — scared us off. 100-point winemaker Jay Buoncristiani’s 2005 Penché Cabernet Sauvignon was the diamond in the rough. Twelve cases remained in Scott Asbill’s cellar. We took them ALL!

Lots of successful people dream of buying a property in Napa Valley, living the good life as they tend a few acres of world-class Cabernet. Unfortunately, many quickly learn that the “good life” and wine-growing don’t always go hand in hand. Such was the case for Bay Area orthodontist Scott Asbill.

In 2002, just a short time after the Asbills purchased this small property where a 250-year-old oak tree leans precariously over the house, an insidious rumor made its way up the valley. Word had it that the vine mealybug was infesting the fine, nutrient-rich soils of Oak Knoll. Paula Asbill was concerned. Scott couldn’t sleep. One morning, Paula awoke early and made her way to the kitchen to perk the first pot of coffee of the day. She found her husband sitting at the breakfast counter, already on edge, loaded for bear. An hour later, armed with just two toothbrushes, they walked each row and inspected every plant, pulling back bark on anything that looked suspicious, then scrubbing the wood with toothbrushes to remove any trace of the mealybug.

Obsessive grape-growing stories like these have a way of making their way into the Napa Valley underground, often drawing the attention of the most innovative winemakers on the Silverado Trail. Soon after Jay Buoncristiani heard the story, he made his way to Oak Knoll to meet the orthodontist-turned-grape-grower, hoping to buy some fruit for his family’s Buoncristiani Winery. But when “J-Bone” saw first hand how meticulously Scott Asbill was farming his vineyard, the winemaker decided to do one better. He and Asbill agreed to team up to make just a few hundred cases of Cabernet. Asbill named his brand Penché for the leaning oak tree.

The Asbills’ vineyard sits in the middle of one of the wider points of the Napa Valley. Like most of the valley floor in the surrounding Oak Knoll District, the vineyard is planted on alluvial soils intermixed with gravel and clay. As the Oak Knoll District is far enough south to take full advantage of the morning fog that drifts in on summer mornings from the San Pablo Bay. That moderating influence takes the sting out of the summer sun, allowing Asbill to delay harvest in a cool year like 2005 until mid-October, making for this sensational 2005 Jay Buoncristiani special.

The 2005 Penché Cabernet Sauvignon is opaque purple. Still youthful on the nose, just beginning to show signs of secondary aromas, infused with black cherry, blackberry, dark chocolate, and coffee, tinged with new-wood cedar. Rich, soft, and supple on the attack, filled with black cherry and black raspberry preserves, finishing with beautifully resolved dusty tannins. Drink now-2020.

92 points from Wine Enthusiast. $80 from the library. Just $32 today only on WineAccess. 144 bottles are up for grabs.

• ABV 14.80%
• Enjoy right away
• % Cabernet Sauvignon