2018 Three Wine Company Cabernet Sauvignon Suscol Creek Napa Valley

Wine Access members have long enjoyed favored status with Matt Cline’s Three Wine Co., giving the wines thousands of four- and five-star reviews. But we went well over a decade without getting a shot at Three Wine’s sensational Suscol Creek Napa Valley Cabernet.

The reason: Matt doesn’t make much. And what he does make is snapped up by his mailing list. 

But we finally have his stellar 2018 Three Wine Company Cabernet Sauvignon Suscol Creek Block 5. Grown in Napa Valley’s “outstanding” 2018 vintage on the same south-Napa site that Caymus and Fortunate Son (Hundred Acre’s second label) rely on, it hails from the same neighborhood where Cakebread grows a $130 single-vineyard wine and Joseph Phelps boosts their $250 Insignia. 

This is a broad-shouldered Napa Cab from an all-time fan favorite, and it’s showing beautifully after seven years in the cellar, with a supple and dense palate and a velvety texture toward the finish.

Cline has been working with Suscol Creek Vineyard since 2007. Here in south Napa near the Solano County line, “It’s all rock. There’s very little dirt here. Look! Stick a shovel anywhere, it’s fractured basalt,” he told us on a recent vineyard walk. “It’s a cool site, so I typically harvest in early to mid-October,” Matt said,” and 2018—which the Napa Valley Vintners described as a “seamless season of heavenly hangtime”—was especially kind to the vineyard.

When it comes to fermenting Cabernet Sauvignon, “I go low and slow,” Matt told us. “The wine gets about 18 days on the skins, but I keep the temp really low, around 62°.” These low fermentation temperatures keep the wine fresh and preserve the fruity esters that result in aromas like blackberries, black plums, and warm, inviting blackcurrants. It’s a decadent Cab with a richness that is immediately apparent and velvety toward the finish. 

When it comes to bold, concentrated reds, Matt Cline is a master, and this is a rarity we’re thrilled to share with you. His wines have racked up hundreds of five-star member reviews, and this is exactly the kind of blockbuster that will keep the streak going. Don’t miss it.

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

• ABV 15.30%
• 15 mins
• Now – 2035
• % Cabernet Sauvignon
• Serving temperature – 58°
• Cork