American Cult

Our American cult selection spans Napa Valley, Sonoma, California's Central Coast, Washington and Oregon: original cult estates, younger names already earning perfect scores, and winemakers who learned their craft at famous estates before going out on their own. The questions buyers ask most are answered below, and our Price List shows the full range. If you are looking for a wine we don't list, contact us.

Your questions answered

What is a cult wine?

A wine made in such small quantities, and so highly rated, that far more people want it than can get it. There is no official definition. The name took hold in Napa Valley in the mid 1990s for small estates selling almost all their wine directly to a private mailing list of buyers, often with a waiting list of several years. A perfect score from a critic such as Robert Parker could sell out a wine at once.

A selection we carry:

• Kobayashi Winery, Washington: Named after the family of Travis Allen's Japanese wife, Mario; began in 2014 with a single barrel of Cabernet Franc, and its releases now sell out within hours.
• Dana Estates, Rutherford: Owned by the South Korean businessman Hi Sang Lee, in a restored winery of 1883; 100 points for only its third vintage, the 2007.
• Antica Terra, Oregon: Maggie Harrison was Manfred Krankl's assistant winemaker at Sine Qua Non before moving north to make Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on an ancient seabed.
• Amuse Bouche and Au Sommet, Napa: The own labels of Heidi Barrett, who made Screaming Eagle's first vintages.
• Levy & McClellan, Calistoga: A winemaking couple's own label: Bob Levy was Harlan Estate's founding winemaker, and Martha McClellan made Sloan.
• Aubert, Sonoma: Mark Aubert made his name as winemaker at Peter Michael and Colgin before launching his own single vineyard Chardonnays.
• Cayuse, Walla Walla: Christophe Baron, from a Champagne family, planted his first vines in 1997 on a field of river stones.
• Kongsgaard, Napa: The Judge Chardonnay, named after John Kongsgaard's father, a Napa judge.
• Vineyard 29, St. Helena: Named after its address on Highway 29.
• Scarecrow, Rutherford: From the estate where J.J. Cohn, the MGM film chief who worked on The Wizard of Oz, planted Cabernet in 1945.
• Quilceda Creek, Washington: Founded by Alex Golitzin, nephew of the great Napa winemaker André Tchelistcheff; the first American wine from outside California to score 100 from the Wine Advocate.
• Abreu, Napa: David Abreu planted and farmed vineyards for Screaming Eagle and Bryant Family before his own Cabernets earned twelve 100 point scores from the Wine Advocate.
• Vérité, Sonoma: Sonoma hillside blends by the Bordeaux winemaker Pierre Seillan, with more than ten 100 point scores.
• Bryant Family Vineyard, Pritchard Hill: Don Bryant bought the land to build a home and planted vines once he learned how good the site was; first vintage 1992.
• Colgin and Schrader, Napa: Ann Colgin and Fred Schrader started Colgin as a married couple; after they parted, he founded Schrader in 1998. Colgin leans to elegance and finesse; Schrader makes big, bold, plush Cabernet from To Kalon.

Is Hundred Acre a cult wine?

Yes. Jayson Woodbridge, a former investment banker, made his first wine in 2000, and Hundred Acre's Cabernets have since scored 100 points many times. They are made in tiny quantities and are hard to find outside the winery's mailing list. The Cabernets come from three single vineyards in Napa, each bottled separately, and Woodbridge also makes Shiraz from old vines in Australia's Barossa.

Wines we carry from Jayson Woodbridge:

• Hundred Acre: Kayli Morgan, Few and Far Between, Dark Ark and Wraith Cabernets and Ancient Way Shiraz, with vintages back to 2004, and more on offer, including The Ark Vineyard and Deep Time.
• Fortunate Son: Red wines from the Historic David Fulton Vineyard, planted by one of Napa's pioneers, which Woodbridge bought to restore.

Why is Screaming Eagle so expensive?

Because there is so little of it. Screaming Eagle, a small estate in Oakville, Napa Valley, makes only about 5,000 to 9,000 bottles a year and sells them through its own mailing list, putting new names on a waiting list. Robert Parker gave its first vintage, the 1992, 99 points when it was released in 1995. In 2000 a 6 litre bottle sold for a then record US$500,000 at a charity auction in Napa Valley. With so few bottles to go round, a bottle sells for thousands of dollars.

Wines we carry:

• Screaming Eagle: Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.

Why is Harlan Estate so expensive?

Because it was made to be a California first growth, a match for the top rank of Bordeaux estates. Bill Harlan founded it in 1984 in the hills of Oakville, held back his first three vintages and released the 1990 only in 1996. Only about 40 of the estate's 240 acres are planted, on terraced hillsides. Robert Parker has given it 100 points six times, and its mailing list is closed to new members.

Wines we carry from the Harlan family:

• Harlan Estate: The estate wine and its second wine, The Maiden.
• Promontory: The family's newest estate, mountain Cabernet from clearings in a forest on Oakville's southwestern ridge.
• BOND: Five small hillside vineyards, each bottled on its own, chosen after working with more than 80 vineyards over about 25 years.

Is Opus One a cult wine?

Not in the strict sense. Cult wines are made in tiny amounts and sold mostly through the winery's own mailing list. Opus One, by contrast, has been sold worldwide through the Bordeaux wine trade since 2004, the same way as the great châteaux. It is, though, one of the most famous wines of the New World. In 1979 Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild and Robert Mondavi joined forces to create a Napa first growth. The first vintage, the 1979, was released in 1984. The wine is a Bordeaux style blend led by Cabernet Sauvignon and includes grapes from the To Kalon vineyard in Oakville.

Wines we carry:

• Opus One.

Is Sine Qua Non worth it?

Judging by its waiting list, collectors think so. Manfred Krankl, then a Los Angeles restaurateur, began in 1994 with four and a half barrels of Syrah, and Sine Qua Non became California's most collected maker of Rhône style wines, made from the grapes of France's Rhône Valley such as Syrah and Grenache. The wines are rich and polished, and Grenaches such as Stockholm Syndrome 2010 have scored 100 from the Wine Advocate. For years every release had its own name and a label Krankl designed himself, so no two were alike; recent releases share the name Distenta, numbered in sequence.

Wines we carry from the Krankl family:

• Sine Qua Non: Grenache and Syrah, with vintages back to 2000.
• Next of Kyn: The family's second label, from their home vineyard at Oak View, on offer.
• Fingers Crossed: The Ojai Valley winery of Manfred's son Nikolas, founded in 2017, with original artwork on every vintage.