Charles Krug Winery Offering - Estate Grown Napa Cabernet Sauvignon at under $30!
"Now wines are wonders; great wines are magical; and winemakers are mad. Like horse fanciers, they are always trying to improve the breed." - William E. Massee
Charles Krug Winery has been on our radar for the entire 25+ years that I have owned the store and we just showed these wines at our “Best of 2023” wine tasting in January. I kept hearing the same thing all night, “those Charles Krug wines are excellent”. Many people are familiar with Charles Krug winery as it is the oldest winery in Napa Valley but a lot of people forgot how good the wines are from this Iconic producer.
Charles Krug winery is one of the best wine producers not only in Napa Valley, but we challenge you to find a better Cabernet Sauvignon or Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley or anywhere else in their prospective price points. All the wines on this offering are estate bottled and grown wines that come from not decades of experience in the wine business but generations. It is hard to find value in Napa Valley today as Napa Valley is the most overpriced wine regions on earth. There are more wineries that are charging $200+ per bottle for their first release than anywhere else which is why we are happy that one of the first families of Napa Valley still puts both quality and value as their first and foremost consideration for all the wines they produce.
I was blown away with all of the wines but the last two on this offering are two of the best Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons that I have tasted this year and that includes the wines we have shown at our “Once in a Lifetime” tasting events and both of these wines are available at under $150 per bottle! I liked the Vintage Selection just a tad bit more but the 2017 vintage is more approachable than 2018 right now but both of these are on par with the best of the best from Napa Valley. Check out the entire line-up from Charles Krug winery every wine on this offering overdelivers when it comes to value/quality.
Charles Krug – The First Winery in Napa Valley
Still Family Owned!
Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet for Under $30!!
2020 CHARLES KRUG CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA
Price: $36.00 Sale Price: $29.00
Sourced principally from our five family estates in Yountville, our 2020 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon displays red cherry, baked strawberry, and vanilla aromas with hints of fig and coffee bean. This medium-to-full bodied wine showcases a rich mix of berry, chocolate, and buttery caramel flavors set against a backdrop of toasted oak; all leading to a seamless, long finish of currant, blueberry, and warm oak.
Wine Watch Review: This wine has a forward and seductive bouquet of dark coco, black currant and hints of toasty oak spice, sweet tobacco spice and more. A balanced wine with lots of ripe berry fruit with cigar box spice, brambly notes, clove spice, lovely complexity, and good length on the finish. Finish 40+ Excellent
2022 CHARLES KRUG SAUVIGNON BLANC NAPA VALLEY
Price: $19.50 Your Price: $17.16 Quantity in Stock: 36
A clean and refreshing style of Sauvignon blanc with melon, pineapple and accents of lemon-lime. Pear nectar nuances and hints of peach skin on the tongue with a smooth, well balanced finish leaving the tongue refreshed and ready for the next sip- a real crowd pleaser style. Finish 35 Very Good
2022 CHARLES KRUG CHARDONNAY CARNEROS
Price: $23.50 Your Price: $20.68
Our Chardonnay is grown in the cool, foggy Carneros region, where Burgundian-style grape varieties maintain their balance of acidity and ripeness. This medium-bodied wine is half barrel fermented and aged sur lie; look for aromas of tropical fruit and citrus blossom with flavors of peach and pear.
2021 CHARLES KRUG MERLOT NAPA
Price: $28.50 Your Price: $25.08
Has a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot this wine has an old world flair, dried tobacco, red plum, red currant, coffee, creme soda raspberry with loamy earthy nuance. A very smooth and velvety wine on the tongue with all that spice and nuance through the finish, lovely freshness and balance. Finish 40+ Excellent
2018 CHARLES KRUG PETER MONDAVI FAMILY FAMILY RESERVE 'GENERATIONS', NAPA VALLEY, USA
Price: $67.50 Your Price: $59.40 Quantity in Stock: 18
Generations is a Bordeaux-style blend from our Napa Valley estate vineyards, created to honor our family's past, present and future. Aromas of black cherry, coffee bean and blueberry segue to a full-bodied wine with a long finish of ripe berry and toasty crème brûlée.
Wine Watch Review: The 2018 Generations from Charles Krug Winery is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petite Verdot and 6% Merlot from Yountville with a wonderful intensity, dark currant, dark plum with tobacco, bay leaf, dark chocolate, graphite and more, a very complex bouquet. A big and chewy wine on the tongue with layers of dark berry fruit, some tannins on the finish but well balanced and fresh with all that nuance and spice from the nose through the finish. Although the wine is delicious and quite drinkable it will age for 10-15 years easily in the cellar. Finish 50+ Most Excellent
2019 CHARLES KRUG PETER MONDAVI FAMILY FAMILY RESERVE 'GENERATIONS', NAPA VALLEY, USA
Price: $82.50 Your Price: $72.60
Dark currant and plum like fruit with notes of toasty oak spice coco, nice richness and complexity a big and chewy wine on the tongue with layers of dark berry fruit, an array of spice and earthy notes through the long layered finish. Finish 50+ Most Excellent
2017 CHARLES KRUG PETER MONDAVI FAMILY VINTAGE SELECTION CABERNET SAUVIGNON, NAPA VALLEY, USA
Price: $157.50 Your Price: $138.60 Quantity in Stock: 10
Wine Watch Review: Wow an incredible bouquet with dark currant and cassis berry fruit with black licorice blackberry jam, black pepper and dark chocolate, very complex and layered. A big and chewy wine with dark currant berry fruit, some dry tannins with a long-layered finish. The 2017 vintage in general is a bit lighter and more drinkable in style but this is a blockbuster, a delicious wine today but will age for 10-15 years easily in the cellar. This is one of the best Cabernet Sauvignons from napa Valley that I have tasted this year! Finish 50+ KILLER
2019 CHARLES KRUG CABERNET SAUVIGNON HOWELL MOUNTAIN NAPA
Price: $180.00 Your Price: $158.40 Quantity in Stock: 9
(94 Points) Sourced from the family's Cold Springs Vineyard on Howell Mountain, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Family Reserve features minty, herbal shadings set against a backdrop of ripe cassis and cherries. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated, this tannic but ripe, powerful but balanced effort finishes velvety and long. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2018 CHARLES KRUG CABERNET SAUVIGNON HOWELL MOUNTAIN NAPA
Price: $150.00 Sale Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 4
Rising 1,650 feet above the Napa Valley floor on the south westside of Howell Mountain, the Family Reserve Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon sits above the fog line. The distinctive climate, along with volcanic and iron-rich red soils, produce fruit with great balance and intensity.
Wine Watch Review: The 2018 vintage is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot this wine is just loaded with dark currant and cassis berry fruit, sweet tobacco spice along with a good hand of earth, graphite, crushed rock, ferrous earth, black olive and more even more complex on the second day! A big and chewy wine with lots of everything and a long-layered finish, this wine needs time but has all the right stuff in proportion. Decanter in the morning if you are drinking it tonight or put in the cellar for 10 years. Finish 50+ Most Excellent +
A bit about Charles Krug Winery - The original Mondavi Family winery in Napa
Charles Krug is Napa Valley’s first winery. Founded in 1861 by Prussian immigrant Charles Krug, he came to America at age 22 with nothing but willpower and proceeded to become a major player in establishing the entire California wine industry.
When Krug died in 1882, the winery was purchased by his close friend, James Moffitt, a San Francisco banker. Moffett was a big city banker and loved the thought of retiring to the countryside and starting a family business, but his daughters and their husbands were not interested in Krug or the wine business. Moffitt owned the winery through prohibition, then began looking for a winemaking family to carry on the Krug tradition. Both Robert and Peter drove down to meet their father at Crocker First National Bank, where Moffett was the director, and the Mondavi’s were mere bumpkins from sleepy little Saint Helena. It only took a few minutes to convince Moffitt that the Mondavi’s were a perfect fit to carry on the Krug tradition.
Cesar Mondavi was sixty years young when he and his wife, Rosa, purchased the winery for $75,000. His two sons, Peter and Robert, were both attending Stanford at the time, when they finished with school they came back to run the winery. Cesare died in 1959 and Rosa became president, then passed the torch on to Peter in 1966. With obvious differences of opinions Peter and Robert decided to take separate paths in the wine industry. The two brothers could not have been more different in terms of personality, Peter is private and relaxed and Robert inevitably attracts publicity and is constantly fired with energy. Peter was content to tend the family business, while Robert was driven by a need for attention and bravado. Peter avoids making waves; Robert rocks the boat. Peter and Robert barely spoke to each other for the better part of twenty-five years. One of the major disputes they had in the early seventies was lost in court by Peter and cost him some of his most prized Cabernet vineyards in Oakville.
On June 13th 1985 two wine collectors Tawfig Khoury and Barney Rhodes staged an improbable reunion of the two Napa Valley winemaking brothers. The two collectors had amassed a historic retrospective of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons from Charles KrugWinery, 1944 to 1965, and Robert Mondavi Winery, 1966 to 1984, and invited both Mondavis to attend. This not only brought the two powerhouse California vintners together under one roof, but had also apparently helped ease the tension that existed between the two since their breakup in 1966.
The Mondavi family is responsible for some of the most important innovations in California winemaking history. Way back in 1937 peter Mondavi, Sr. developed cold fermentation, this enabled winemakers to produce exceptionally crisp, fruity white wines. Charles Krug Winery was one of the first to use vintage dated varietal wines. They are credited with the first winery newsletter Bottles and Bins. Today, Napa Valley is the second largest tourist attraction in California, the first winery to initiate tastings on the lawn was Krug back in 1951. Peter Mondavi Sr. was the first to adapt sterile filtration to winemaking. He was also the first to use small French Oak barrels and glass lined tanks, providing safe, neutral storage for young wines. It’s no wonder to us how they became one of the twenty largest wineries in the United States.
Peter lived to be 101 years old and credited his longevity partially to enjoying a glass of wine everyday. His two sons, Marc and Peter, Jr. have taken over the responsibilities of running Charles Krug and C.K Mondavi. Marc attended UC Davis, he oversees the vineyard management and winemaking duties. While Peter, Jr. went to Stanford and manages the marketing, sales and general winery functions, sound familiar? The two have no doubt seen their father and uncle’s life change due to their differences as young men. They have learned that there is great importance in being a family winery first, but you should always follow your dreams. This family has a history that is unparalleled in the California wine industry.
Charles krug has focused on the major varietals grown in California. They make a Sauvignon Blanc from the home ranch in Napa, a Chardonnay from Fracchia and Willow Lake Ranch in Napa, a Pinot Noir from Willow lake Vineyard in Carneros, a Zinfandel from both Napa and Sonoma fruit sources, a Merlot from Krug Ranch, Voltz Ranch and Mondavi/Lincoln Ranch, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Mondavi/Lincoln Ranch and Stinsen Ranch, a Sangiovese form Krug Ranch, and a line of reserve wines in all of the above varietals when vintage permits. The “Vintage Select” designation for the best lots of Cabernet was introduced in 1946, at that time the wine was aged in old oak barrels and sometimes even in whisky barrels. In 1991 Krug introduced a wine called “Generation” this is a blend of three of the traditional Bordeaux varietals; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The term generations signifies the continued tradition of innovation and excellence of the Peter Mondavi family.
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