Inside Cardinale Winery’s New Hilltop Tasting Room in Napa Valley

Cardinale, one of Napa Valley’s leading producers of Cabernet Sauvignon, has been a darling among serious collectors since it was founded in 1982. Despite producing only a single wine annually, it possesses one of California’s deepest cellars of library vintages—bottles held back well after their initial release, reserved for uncorking years or even decades in the future.

Befitting such coveted stock, the winery has unveiled a renovated hilltop tasting room—appointed with stylish furnishings from the likes of Sonoma Millworks and Charleston Forge—that elevates what was already an exclusive drinking experience. The three appointment-only tastings available showcase the award-winning skill of winemaker Christopher Carpenter, who has worked there since 1998. Introductory sessions offer four glasses of its current releases; the Reserve Estate tasting puts the spotlight on its 10-year library collection; and the most expensive option, the Winemaker’s Library Experience, curates far older pours from 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Each of the tastings, paired with a seasonal menu of small dishes, begins with a glass of Cardinale’s latest release, Intrada 2022, a sumptuous and elegant Sauvignon Blanc. “It’s an incredible wine on its own,” Carpenter says, adding that “it helps to calibrate your palate before diving into wines that could easily overwhelm your taste buds without a little primer.”

Overwhelming is indeed the right way to describe sampling some of these vintages, especially for the first time. Cardinale’s blends are often referred to as mountain wines because of the predominance of high-altitude fruit in their compositions. The grapes are harvested from some of Napa Valley’s finest sites, including vineyards on Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Spring Mountain, Diamond Mountain, St. Helena, and Stag’s Leap. The point of sourcing from multiple plots is to create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. “The complexity of Cardinale—its many layers of aromas, flavors, and textures in each vintage—sets it apart from single-vineyard or single-appellation wines, offering a sense of the entire Napa Valley in every taste,” Carpenter says. We’ll raise a glass to that.