Did you miss out on the Seiler 2023 last month? Or you grabbed some, popped the cork, and went WHY DID I NOT GET MORE?!

Cause Anton K. is right when he said, “I have yet to taste a better QPR @$49.”

Per Decanter “2023 is the vintage of a lifetime in Napa Valley they explain because “The finished wines possess deep crimson colors, yet striking luminosity, layered fruit purity, and silky, finely structured tannins supported by vibrant acids and graphite-tinged minerality.”

Like this Seiler 100%.

No doubt, we are in the presence of EXTREME QPR.

This reserve bottling brings a very real $175 release price, and while the producer’s website still has a “coming soon” on it, we’re dropping it today for under $50. Now, public math isn’t my forte, but Claude tells me that’s at least $125 less and “solid math on paper.”

So, a worldwide exclusive, first-to-market score for a wild discount. And speaking of scores, while this isn’t yet rated, the previous releases earned 94-96 points from the critics. While this is yet to be scored, my money says it lands in the 96+ range - especially given it hails from the mythical and awe-inspiring 2023 vintage. At the very least, it’s what previous releases offered: “bold and powerful… exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon” (IWR) with “complexity and finesse… beautifully balanced” (JD) that’s evidently “well made from start to finish” as we now expect from every one of these!

Seiler Estate is a rare gem in the world of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Still family owned and operated, small batch and highly sought after.

Proprietor Lewis David Seiler bought a small vineyard perched on Glass Mountain in St. Helena. His neighbors? Amulet Estate, Merus, Failla, and Hundred Acre. He’s been supplying some of Napa’s best with fruit while continuing to focus on his art career. A very successful art career, mind you. As a sculptor, photographer, and environmental benefactor, his work has been highlighted at the Museum of Modern Art, Tiffany, Cartier, and the Vorpal Gallery.

And that’s how he connected with 4th Generation Napa winemaker and Denis Malbec protégé Mario Sculatti, of ROAM and Kanamota (a few loyal Ops will remember that one) and also the VAULT in Calisota, where they collect art and artifacts while pouring some great wines. Mario has a knack for making some well-balanced and richly textured wines. Oh, and pampering these grapes is no ordinary viticulturalist; Francisco Alfaro has an illustrious past growing grapes that supplied the likes of Harlan Estate, Araujo, Ovid, Arrow & Branch, and Drinkward Peschon.

Enough name-dropping, though. What’s inside this glorious bottle? With some airtime, it starts to unravel like my 6-year-old son’s lies about the candy hidden in his room. Heaps of black fruit, mocha, truffle dust, sweet/candied walnut, and glorious nuances of slate and minerals from the obsidian-packed volcanic soils. Blackcurrant and dusty blackberries galore and just good ol’ PROPER Napa Cab, I tell ya! Decant it and enjoy now, but it’s still young, and a few years to a decade will do wonders to this one.

Just around 400 cases are made each year, and the small portion we fought for will go fast!