672 Napa Valley Wine Club Is Shipping 3 Superb Reds in Fall 2026
The only wine club that exclusively features Napa Valley red wine, Robb Report 672 Napa Valley Wine Club is currently sending its members three outstanding reds. Consisting of two bottles each of a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a Napa red blend, and an Oak Knoll District Merlot, this quarter’s selection is another perfect example of wines from family producers that are every bit as good, if not better than, some of the famous names that sell for far more. One of the four shipments that members receive throughout the year, this lineup is the fruit of the labor of club director Dave Shefferman, who has been busy for months leveraging his insider wine country contacts to bring members delectable bottles from producers who are mostly known only by habitual visitors to Napa Valley rather than the wine world at large.
Taking its name from the number of bottles contained on a standard pallet of wine, Club 672 works with wineries who source their grapes from top sites throughout the valley, whether making a top tier cuvée or an extraordinary single vineyard expression. All are made in very small quantities, sometimes just a handful of perfectly aged barrels. As always, Shefferman explored a wide array of winemakers, vintners, and brokers in his search to present bottles that usually would be snapped up by wineries’ private club members. The continual tasting process involves meeting with winery owners, pouring with winemakers, and attending events in the search for special selections each quarter. While many wine clubs employ a single buyer with a one-size-fits-all palate, Shefferman tastes the best wines with a committee consisting of sommeliers, winemakers, and industry members with WSET credentials, always in a blind tasting format, which removes preconceived notions about the brand, winemaker, or even label design, narrowing the focus to wine quality and nothing else. From hundreds of original bottles, the panel winnows down the offerings so that only the cream of the crop makes it to the final round of possibilities.
After Shefferman and his team have reduced the potential selections to around 20 options, we taste the wines—also blind—to help decide the trio that will be sent to members. (Full disclosure, we also write the tasting cards that are included with each shipment as well as the club site producer profiles, but we do not receive any additional compensation from the wine club.) This quarter’s choices are the type of reds that those with a taste for the bold Napa Valley style crave, but with a twist, as there is a Merlot, a Cabernet, and a blend. Each six-bottle pack, shipped four times a year, is priced at between $550 and $650, including shipping, for an average price of $100 per bottle. With two bottles of each on hand, you can open one now and lay the second down in your cellar to enjoy in years to come. Scanning prices of so many Napa Valley reds, this is an almost impossible deal for limited quantity, under-the-radar bottlings. Here’s what’s on tap this quarter.
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Baldacci Family Vineyards 2023 Fraternity Red Wine
Image Credit: Baldacci Family Vineyards Made with grapes sourced from seven vineyards in five Napa Valley appellations, Baldacci Fraternity is crafted under the hand of winemaker Michael Baldacci, whose parents Tom and Brenda purchased their Stags Leap District property in 1998 after falling in love with the beauty of the land. The 2023 growing season was offered mild temperatures and steady vine development throughout the season; it is highly regarded one of the most cellar-worthy vintages from Napa Valley. A blend of 98.7 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with less than 1 percent each of Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and MalbecBaldacci Family Vineyards 2023 Fraternity was aged for 15 months in medium toast French oak barrels. It offers aromas of black raspberry, brown baking spices, graphite, blueberry, and black currant. Full-bodied in the mouth, it has flavors of black plum, blackberry, and cassis and notes of cigar box and saddle leather. Fine grained tannins dissolve into a bright finish.
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Forthright 2019 Merlot Oak Knoll District
Image Credit: Forthright The 2019 vintage is known for a long, mild Napa growing season that delivered even ripening, bright acidity, and mature tannins. Winemaker and owner Patrick McEvoy, who studied enology and viticulture at Napa Valley College after participating in a winery project early in his career where he learned from winery professionals, cellar hands, and mentors, did a cold soak on his Merlot to encourage color and tannin extraction from the skins before fermentation. Aged for 40 months in neutral French oak barrels, this big, bold wine is framed by gorgeous touches of oak rather than being dominated by it. Ruby colored in the glass, it offers complex aromas of freshly sliced strawberry, red plum, Mission fig, and a whiff of juniper berry. It is rounded in the mouth with juicy flavors of plum, raspberry, and a touch of finely ground black pepper in the finish. Velvety smooth tannins linger on the palate.
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Waugh Cellars 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon
Image Credit: Waugh Cellars Ryan Waugh attended Santa Clara University with the intention of becoming a doctor but decided that Napa Valley was where he really wanted to be. After working in tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma he headed to Australia’s Hunter Valley and McLaren Vale, where he worked in vineyards and cellars and learned how to make wine. Harvested from estate vineyards in Oakville, Rutherford, and Mt. Veeder, this 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon underwent malolactic fermentation neutral oak barrels and was then aged in French oak barrels before bottling. Deep garnet colored to the eye, it has aromas of red raspberry, blackberry, cassis, brown baking spices, and a touch of lifted balsa wood. It is bright and balanced on the palate with flavors of Oolong tea, black currant, and red cherry with smooth, soft tannins. The finish has a bright splash of acidity and an enduring feeling of warm spice.
