“Wish I bought 60 – it’s THAT good…” wrote Justin N. in our Operative Hangout about another now-infamous Erba release once. And he had paid a LOT more for it elsewhere.

Took us a few pours since April to deplete ALL of the 2016 Mountain Cuvee (thank you) which opened the door for the pièce de résistance.

Paul Erba once said, “these wines need time to come around due to being highly stressed vines from the elevation, wind, and rocky soil.” And this 2016 is just rounding that bend, drinking beautifully today.

The vines also need a skilled hand to sprinkle the magic dust. Enter Russell Bevan. When we got our first Erba, we weren’t sure if he did indeed make this wine. A quick text confirmed it: “I have always loved that wine,” he told us.

Creator of more 97-100 point wines that one can possibly count. The man lauded by Wine Advocate as making “full-throttle, ultra-ripe Napa Valley Cabernets that reflect their maker’s personality and have earned their place as part of the Valley’s culture for their exuberance and bold, hedonistic flavors made this magnificent, too?

Not surprising, given Bevan’s well-earned reputation. He crafts some of the biggest, baddest, and most expensive wines in Napa. Whether under his eponymous label, Bevan Cellars, his latest venture with his wife Heidi, Adversity, or the other labels he consults on like Carter, Tench, Lerner, Harbison… Add to that Erba! You simply cannot go wrong with any of them. But you can’t find any of those others anywhere near this price.

Back in 2019 when it was a baby, an excited Jeb Dunnuck noted “From a site on Atlas Peak next to Pahlmeyer, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon offers a layered, medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured style as well as impressive amounts of black currants, licorice, smoked herbs, and chocolate. Drink this beautiful, layered, impressive Cabernet over the coming 10-15 years.” A decade on, it’s just hitting (Atlas 🤪) peak, and will continue to climb for another decade, if you have the patience…

While they do not have a website, digging deep in the Wine Advocate reveals that “This winery has been owned by Paul and Debbie Erba since 1998, when they purchased 120 acres of Napa hillside land. Their vineyards were planted between elevations of 1,100-1,500 feet. Among the many small wineries Russell Bevan consults for is Erba, named for the owner, an Oklahoma-based physician. The 20-acre vineyard is on the ‘back side’ of Atlas Peak, looking east toward Wooden Valley, at approximately 1,500 feet above sea level. The site is rocky, with ferruginous soils, said Bevan… ‘Taming the tannins up there has been a war, but I think we finally nailed it,’” That, he did.

Library mountain Cab + by Bevan + massive score + down-to-earth price = Get it while you can!

97 Points – Decanter (to be published soon) “At 10 years of age, tasted in 2026, this wine, crafted by Napa icon Russell Bevan, is polished, expressive, dark-fruited, with very pretty sweet oak spices from expensive oak, with rich black fruit, black currant interlaced with tobacco, and dark chocolate notes. Best enjoyed alongside well-salted cuts of steak or burgers. Drink 2026-2034.”