672 Napa Valley Wine Club Is Shipping 3 Superb Red Wines in March 2025
The only wine club that exclusively ships Napa Valley red wine to its members, Robb Report 672 Napa Valley Wine Club is busily preparing its first selection of the year. This quarter’s stars include a Cab-heavy cuvée from Stags Leap District, St. Helena, and Howell Mountain, and two stellar single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons. A lineup that is typical of the bottles members anticipate four times a year, these under-the-radar picks are sourced by club director Dave Shefferman, who spends his days scouring Napa for the finest wines from producers you might be currently unfamiliar with but whom you should definitely get to know.
Club 672 is named for the number of bottles a standard wine pallet can hold and is limited to that many members. Catering to what our readers love, the club is the only one around that offers nothing but Napa Valley red wine. Think outstanding examples of bottlings from Napa’s top-tier single vineyards or blends that combine the best grapes from the finest sites, all of which are produced in small quantities, often just a handful of barrels. Normally the type of wines that only wineries’ private club members or local insiders have access to, these exceptional offerings are chosen from Shefferman’s wide network of wine country vintners and winemakers. The club’s scouting process sounds like a dream job: Shefferman attends wine-country events, tastes with winemakers, and meets with winery owners throughout the entire year to bring only the best to members. While many wine clubs have a single buyer making all purchasing decisions, Club 672 has wines vetted by a tasting panel of sommeliers, winemakers, and industry members with WSET credentials. Starting with hundreds of possible options, the team narrows its list down to a few optimal bottles, which are then blind-tasted to eliminate any preconceived notions about the brand, winemaker, or even label design. The singular focal point of the tasting is the quality of the wine.
Once the panel has selected about 20 finalists, we taste the wines and help decide which three club members will most enjoy. (Full disclosure, we also write the tasting cards included with each shipment and the producer profiles on the club website, but we do not receive any additional compensation from the wine club.) Shipments include six bottles total, two of each selection, so members have one to open now and one to cellar for savoring at a later date. Curated and sent four times a year, each six-bottle pack is priced at between $550 and $650, including shipping, for an average price of $100 per bottle. This quarter’s choices are must-haves for wine lovers seeking the best Napa Valley reds. Considering the price of many Napa Cabs, this is an incredible deal for limited-quantity, difficult-to-source Napa reds. Here’s a look at what to expect in March:
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Cliff Lede Vineyards 2023 Crossfade
Image Credit: Cliff Lede Vineyards Canadian-born entrepreneur Cliff Lede established his eponymous winery in 2002, deciding to focus on estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon and proprietary blends. Made with 62 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 32 percent Cabernet Franc, 3 percent Merlot, 2 percent Petit Verdot, and 1 percent Malbec, this wine is sourced from Poetry and Rhythm Vineyards in Stags Leap District, Madrona Ranch Vineyard in St. Helena, and Lucia Vineyard on Mount Howell. Winemaker Christopher Tynan worked under Helen Turley at Blankiet Estate in Yountville and vintner Ann Colgin and vineyard manager David Abreu (who also planted Lede’s vineyards) at Colgin Cellars before joining Cliff Lede around 15 years ago. His attention to detail has earned him multiple 100-point scores from critics such as Robert Parker and Jeb Dunnuck. Aged in 71 percent new French oak barrels for 22 months before bottling, this wine is ruby red to purple colored in the glass. It offers heady aromas of blackberry, underbrush, tobacco leaf, and freshly roasted hazelnuts that aptly forecast its complex flavors of dark chocolate, roasted red pepper, cassis, and red currant wrapped in velvety tannins and stunning acidity. Drink now through 2035.
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Grassi Estate 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon
Image Credit: Grassi Estate Only 350 cases of this Cabernet Sauvignon were produced from the Grassi family’s vineyard on Soda Canyon Road in the south of Napa. Winemaking is under the expert hand of Maayan Koschitzky, the director of winemaking, general manager, and partner at Atelier Melka, as well as the guiding hand behind many of Napa Valley’s best wines, including Lail Vineyards, Plinth, Vice Versa, Tusk Estates, and his own La Pelle Wines. Considered a classic example of an excellent season by many winemakers, 2022 had a dry winter and warm spring, which limited vine growth and resulted in small but very concentrated grapes, followed by a relatively mild autumn that allowed for ideal ripening conditions and a relaxed harvest. After fermentation in stainless steel, the wine was aged for 20 months in 100 French oak, 60 percent of which was new. The finished wine is a blend of 87 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 13 percent Cabernet Franc. Garnet to the eye, this stunning wine opens with aromas of tobacco leaf, Luxardo cherry, red plum, and black raspberry with just a whiff of minerality and graphite. There is bright acidity in the mid palate and flavors of black cherry, dark chocolate, red plum, and freshly leafy herbs all deftly wrapped in velvety soft tannins. Drink now and through 2042.
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Aonair Winery and Caves 2021 Misc Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon
Image Credit: Aonair Winery and Caves Aonair proprietor and winemaker Grant Long Jr. made his first barrel of wine in his parents’ garage at the age of 18 and was genuinely pleased when friends and neighbors came back for more. After 20 years of immersion in Napa Valley, he and his wife, Megan, purchased a property at the base of Howell Mountain in 2015 that would eventually become Aonair Winery & Caves. Their dream was forged from a passion for creating wine from a specific place and time. To that end, they have endeavored to make wines that represent a unique vineyard in a single vintage. Forged in a sunny, warm summer with even temperatures and no excessive heat spikes, grapes benefited from even ripening and a relaxed harvest that yielded a relatively modest crop noted for concentrated, flavorful, small grapes. Matured in 100 percent French barrels, 75 percent of them new, for 22 months, the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered. This gorgeous 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon is ruby red in the glass with aromas of Bing cherry, black raspberry, boysenberry, purple flowers, and cedar chest. It has a plush and voluptuous mouthfeel with flavors of dried Mediterranean herbs, blackberry, red plum, coffee, and dark chocolate, heightened by a bright burst of balanced acidity in the finish.
