Do Frog’s Leap. A classic. Easily the best sub-$100 Napa Cab. Had the 2016 Mayacamas tonight, would take the more classic Frog’s Leap over it all day long, not to mention it is 1/3 the price.
Ok, then this gets into my favorite <$50 cab territory a bit. Frog Leap sure. DiCo yes, but more $ I think. I just had a 2016 Marietta Game Trail…Yorkshire Highlands- great for $30. Amici Napa is a blend…I love it, not sure about your terroir requirement. Beringer Winery Exclusive is $35 on sale, I believe it is from their declassified PR barrels and to me, great juice. Robert Craig Affinity, like DiCo, is SV. If I think of more, will edit them in.
Chappellet Signature, but I recently had to pay $60 in my wine shop now.
Honig is a consistently decent cab under$50.
Beringer’s Knights Valley is a bargain at $30, imo.
Another vote for DI CO from Di Costanzo. It’s spot on to your description but it is $55.
My other is Frog’s Leap. Excellent wine and great value for a Rutherford Estate Cabernet.
Kind of sad to see how FEW options are entered. Used to be back in the day that $50.00 gave you lots of choices. No wonder Napa cab is viewed as elitist juice. I will toss Flora Springs regular cab in the ring. Priced right at $50.00 from winery but I know there are better deals out there. Low key family, nice people and really have a great central valley piece of dirt. If you include cabernet blends the Trilogy can be found from retailers (at least the 2016) for $49.95. I have aged many of these wines for decades and they hold up extremely well. The Hillside Select is classic juice that does not try too hard to push things in any direction. The only thing they lack is a great PR department to hype the product…
Unfortunately this discussion would be way more interesting if we enlarge it to best $50.00 Bordeaux choices. They really have value all over the Golden State right now, at least in certain vintages.
I like to follow these threads - looking for the same thing, but am still not sure it really exists like it did in the 80s and 90s. I never buy Bordeaux futures but just picked up some '19 Domaine de Chevalier at $55 for exactly this, except for the Napa Valley part.
I understand the Frog’s Leap love given it’s restraint and accessibility. Doesn’t have much ‘graphite dryness’ though; ‘firm’ does not come to mind at all for the current release; and its uniqueness is its understated polish. Ridge is Ridge - baby Monte Bello with way too much oak and tannin for current enjoyment…still have a few 2011-2014s cellared as an experiment and expect they will need 15-20 years (which I guess is better than 30-40 years for Monte Bello).
Based on this topic I need to try Di Constanzo, and maybe the Elyse if it can be found without too much jumping through hoops. I am seeing conflicting notes on the Di Constanzo…AG says “intense with huge depth of fruit” which is normally code for something I will not like at all, but some cellartracker notes mention restraint which bodes well.
Time to open another “best $50 Bordeaux” thread I guess.
Edit: just saw Dennis’s post, looks like we may be on the same page.
Was going to ask about H&H. I think it’s available <$30. Only 40% cab so not necessarily a fit for this thread, but looked like a pretty good value if you’re into that style.