Behrens & Hitchcock Cabernet Sauvignon "The Producer" 2018

Behrens Family Winery is a boutique winery in the truest sense. Owned by Les Behrens and Lisa Drinkward, who’ve made wine under the Behrens & Hitchcock label since 1993, Behrens Family Winery produces small lots of six or seven wines a year at its winery perched high on top of Spring Mountain in Napa Valley.

Each wine is a low tech labor of love: crushed into one-ton T-bins, punched down by hand, gently transferred to barrel, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. One only has to look at Les and Lisa’s hands during harvest to know their wines are truly “hand-crafted.” The couple also gravitates toward small, interesting and low-yielding vineyard sites, working with growers who they know, like and trust, and who are as obsessive about quality as they are. For Les and Lisa, it’s all about letting the vineyards steal the show, and allowing the wines to speak for themselves.

The Cabernet comes from three different vineyards, Napa, Oak Knoll, and Calistoga, all on the Valley floor. The Petit Verdot comes from St. Helena. Ripe and vibrant on first pour with lots of cherry cola and chocolate taffy on the nose. (Dr. Pepper meets Tootsie Roll) Initial blueberry on the front palate dissipates and gives way to black currant, cedar, cocoa powder and cherry candy with hints of cinnamon. Approachable now. Best 2025-2030.