Lewis Cellars New Releases from One of our Favorite Producers
“Mr. Mel Dick asked me about 18 years ago what wines I like to drink.” I told him “I like to drink the wines my friends make.” “Wine is more personal to me. I don’t seek out what new wine might get a 96 point scores for there are a ton of great wines.
Stylistically I like some better than others and in my portfolio there is room for all different styles as long as they are well made with the integrity and effort of the winemaker.” - Jimmy Mancbach
I would agree with the late great Jimmy that there is a unique connection with a wine when you know the person who’s sweat and passion went into producing it. Wine is nature and human perception of an art form that is as ancient as our society.
We have three chances for you to come out and experience some wine art this week at the Wine Bar.
Thursday, July 27, 2023 - 07:30 PM
DOMENICO CLERICO PIEDMONT WINE TASTING WITH SPECIAL GUEST ALEJANDRO ORTIZ. One of the to producers in the Piedmont and we have a great collection of Barolo on the table tonight going back to the 2003 vintage. Check out the line-up at: https://www.winewatch.com/wine-events-d6/july-events-c61/domenico-clerico-piedmont-wine-tasting-with-special-guest-alejandro-ortiz-e3188/
Friday, July 28, 2023 - 07:30 PM
VINTAGE CALIFORNIA WINE TASTING WITH SPECIAL GUEST DR. ROBERT MALINER. We have an incredibly diverse selection of older vintage wines from the cellar of collector Dr. Robert Maliner tonight. Check out the line-up at: https://www.winewatch.com/wine-events-d6/july-events-c61/vintage-california-wine-tasting-with-special-guest-dr-robert-maliner-e3142/
Saturday, July 29, 2023 - 07:30 PM
BORDEAUX WINE TASTING BACK TO THE 1929 VINTAGE. We just hosted a Burgundy tasting back to the 1929 vintage and the 1929 was the WOTN! Check out the line-up for this vintage Bordeaux experience at: https://www.winewatch.com/wine-events-d6/july-events-c61/bordeaux-wine-tasting-back-to-the-1929-vintage-e3177/
Some of my favorite wines are made by my good friends and Randy and the late Debbie Lewis are some of my oldest friends in the wine business. I met Randy and Debbie my first year working at Café Maxx in 1990. I could not have been happier to hear that their 2013 vintage Napa Cabernet Sauvignon was the #1 Wine in the Wine Spectator’s illustrious top 100 in 2016, even though it had been sold out for more than 6 months when the Wine Spectator bestowed them this honor. I was also glad to know that Debbie saw them reach this incredible achievement before she passed away. God bless and that’s why I always say “drink the good stuff first” as you never know when your last day is so there is no reason to drink anything but KILLER juice! (KILLER is my highest score)
The only problem is that like so many great small producers Lewis Cellars only make a small amount of wine with less than 1000 cases of most of the reserve Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings and their largest production wine being only 1700 cases and when you are one of 40 wines to have every achieved this accolade in the world’s most recognized wine publication you know that the wine will only sell out faster this year so you may not want to wait too long to respond to this e-mail if you want the 2020 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, this is a very short vintage for Napa.
New Releases from Lewis Cellars!!
2019 LEWIS CELLARS DEBBIE'S CUVEE SAUVIGNON BLANC NAPA
List Price: $52.50 Your Price: $46.20 Quantity in Stock: 12
Debbie loved Sauvignon Blanc. We celebrate her spirit every year with this extraordinary and very limited wine. Lime skin, guava, candied mango and candlewax aromas are threaded with Hawaiian spice and plumeria blossom. Wide-ranging, silky-rich with great structure and drive; the wine shows elements of wood and steel, with a finishing touch of fleur de sel.
2018 LEWIS CELLARS DEBBIE'S CUVEE SAUVIGNON BLANC NAPA
Price: $72.00 Your Price: $63.36 Quantity in Stock: 4
2018 Debbie's Cuvee Sauvignon Blanc Debbie loved Sauvignon Blanc! She enjoyed a glass while cooking most nights. We celebrate her spirit with this special wine. Please raise a glass to Debbie! 100% Sauvignon Blanc French oak aged 14 months.
2021 LEWIS CHARDONNAY NAPA
Price: $70.50 Your Price: $56.40
WINERY NOTES From the standout 2021 vintage our Napa Valley Chardonnay is showy, serious and seductive. Green pear, white flower, vanilla custard and a hint of flint on entry, the palate expands with creamy texture and a touch of butterscotch. Framed with native acidity and integrated oak this wine leaves you with a long, languid tail.
2021 LEWIS CHARDONNAY SONOMA
Price: $70.50 Your Price: $62.04
A soaring, sensational wine the 2021 Sonoma Russian River Chardonnay is our best in years. Shot-through with citrus and tropical fruits, blossoms and exotic spices the fragrance is sublime. Casting a wide arc of vibrant fruit, mineral intrigue and vivid detail the wine comes full circle with a superb succulent finish.
2021 LEWIS CELLARS RESERVE CHARDONNAY NAPA VALLEY, USA
Price: $87.00 Your Price: $76.56
Winery Notes- Spectacular aromas open with spiced pear, white blossom, glazed pecan, and lots of flinty mineral that persists into the palate. Densely constructed and rich yet focused, the wine builds tension with toasty brioche character and a delicious, succulent finish.
2020 LEWIS CELLARS CHARDONNAY RESERVE NAPA VALLEY
Price: $85.25 Your Price: $75.02 Quantity in Stock: 5
Lime skin, fig and green pear, followed by balsam and toasted brioche, our 2020 Napa Reserve Chardonnay opens with enticing aromas. Loaded with tree fruit and generously proportioned the palate is luxuriant and long with vanilla-laced lees at the finish.
2015 LEWIS CELLARS BARCAGLIA LANE CHARDONNAY RUSSIAN RIVER
Price: $102.00 Sale Price: $86.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
2021 LEWIS CELLARS BARCAGLIA LANE CHARDONNAY RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY, USA
Price: $87.00 Your Price: $76.56 Quantity in Stock: 6
Our 2021 Barcaglia Lane Chardonnay evokes Botticelli’s Renaissance painting “The Birth of Venus” and there’s plenty to love in this beautiful wine. Waves of citrus orchard spices and fruits with toasty tropical overtones drift into mesmerizing layers of flavor. Supported on a shell of sea foam and native acidity the wine glides ashore on a long gentle breeze – a masterpiece.
2020 LEWIS CHARDONNAY BARCAGLIA LANE RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
Price: $85.25 Your Price: $75.02 Quantity in Stock: 3
Showy and lifted with jasmine, tangerine peel, shortbread and stone our 2020 Barcaglia Lane Chardonnay is a stand-out vintage. Subtle spice permeates the palate which is silky, lustrous and finely detailed en route to a delicious succulent finish.
2020 LEWIS ALEC'S BLEND NAPA
Price: $83.75 Your Price: $73.70
Super saturated and packed with enticing aromas our 2020 Alec’s Blend is 75% Syrah, 22% Merlot and 3% Petite Sirah. Wild black cherry, plum and fig fruits are threaded with toffee, cinnamon and subtle savory notes. Ultra-plush on entry the palate is full of fresh, broad-ranging fruit punctuated with espresso, fine-grained tannins and a long juicy finish.
2020 LEWIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA
Price: $130.50 Your Price: $114.84
Opening with dusted truffle, toffee crunch and a broad band of currant and black fig fruit our 2020 Napa Valley Cabernet is dark and delicious. Chocolatey character infuses the wine from start to finish with elements of loam, cedar and beeswax. Finely woven with metered intensity the palate gathers weight at the finish for a lasting impression
2019 LEWIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA
Price: $107.25 Your Price: $94.38
(94 Points) The deep purple-hued 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is a rocking fruit bomb of a wine that boasts loads of cassis and jammy berry fruits, notes of graphite, scorched earth, and tobacco, full-bodied richness, and a great finish. Drink this sexy, pleasure-bent beauty over the coming 10-12 years. Jeb Dunnuck
2020 LEWIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVE NAPA
Price: $199.00 Your Price: $175.12
Vibrant bright color and fresh ripe fruits sing from the start with melted currants, rose petal and cassis. Juicy, fresh and youthful in character with a rich berry core the wine stays rooted with softly polished tannins and tailing café macchiato flavors. Only 300 cases produced!
2019 LEWIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVE NAPA
Price: $202.50 Your Price: $178.20
(96 Points) I loved the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, a big, opulent, full-bodied beauty that boasts a vivid purple hue, gorgeous aromatics of cassis, spring flowers, classy oak, and spice, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. This is one of those round, seamless, incredibly sexy wines that could come from nowhere else outside of Napa Valley. Drink this killer bottle of wine over the coming 15 years. Jeb Dunnuck
2018 LEWIS RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON NAPA MAGNUM
Price: $387.00 Your Price: $340.56 Quantity in Stock: 4
2018 LEWIS CELLARS CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVE NAPA
Price: $186.00 Your Price: $163.68 Quantity in Stock: 18
From an outstanding vintage, our 2018 Reserve Cabernet is a full-throttle bottle, packed with fruit yet balanced with a fine-tuned chassis. Showy and complex, the wine is obsidian dark, layered with black currant, berries, coffee and sweet oak spices. Fleshy on entry, the palate soars with brazen youth in a firmly framed structure that tails away with chocolaty fine-grained tannins.
2007 LEWIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVE NAPA
Price: $250.00 Your Price: $220.00 Quantity in Stock: 3
1997 LEWIS CELLARS RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON, NAPA VALLEY, USA
Price: $235.00 Sale Price: $175.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
2018 LEWIS CELLARS CUVEE L NAPA
Price: $275.00 Your Price: $242.00 Quantity in Stock: 5
Think of Cuvee L as a supercharged rendition of our Reserve Cabernet, with a swimsuit model at the wheel. Spectacularly ripe fruit laced in sexy clove and oak spices, this wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and total seduction. Youthful and forward with juicy blackberry, silk-skinned plum and rich, malt chocolate, ample tannins bring maturity, depth and heightened experience to the wine. 150 cases produced.
A bit more about Lewis Cellars:
Their story one of the most interesting in the wine business and one of the most unique because Randy and Debbie do not own a single grapevine and they have managed to produced consistently excellent wine for over 30 years! And we have been on the Lewis bandwagon since day one.
I remember the first time I met Randy and Debbie, they stopped by Café Maxx to say hello and introduce me to their Oakville Ranch wines as I was setting up the bar. I was probably a bit rushed that evening as I looked at my watch and asked, "Do you have an appointment?" They added me to their Christmas card list that year and continued to come back every year to visit with me and taste the current releases.
Randy also liked to challenge himself by ordering a glass of each wine that we were serving “by the glass” and then say- "don't tell me which one is which, I want to see if I can figure it out." The thing that impressed me the most was not that Randy would pick out each wine correctly it was that he could drink the entire glass of each wine after his blind tasting was over.
After only a few visits we had everything from Oakville Ranch Winery on our wine list and then shortly after that Randy and Debbie formed the Lewis Cellars label.
We have watched the Lewis's grow and grow as they went through the valley's top vineyard sites to find fruit and contract the services of some top name consultants like; Joe Cafaro, Helen Turley and Paul Hobbs. Today, they are making some of the best wines coming from Napa and Sonoma with each varietal being at the top level of quality at any price range.
Every year we conduct a California “Cult” Cabernet Sauvignon tasting featuring some of the most expensive and the highest rated wines from Napa Valley. We have included this wine as a ringer in the past and it has come in first place among the likes of Harlan Estate, Colgin, Araujo, Bryant Family and yes…Screaming Eagle!! All of these sell for over $500 a bottle today!!!
Lewis Cellars is an offspring of Oakville Ranch Vineyards, which burst on the scene as one of Napa Valley's most exciting new wineries of the late 1980's. It all began when Bob Miner (the founder of the highly successful Oracle computer software company) and his wife Mary bought Oakville Ranch in 1989. Longtime friends, Randy and Debbie Lewis, were brought in as limited partners to launch and manage the brand. Lewis has a background unique among vintners in the Napa Valley. From 1970 to 1991, Lewis drove all sorts of race cars and raced in five Indianapolis 500 runs, where he once finished 14th. Debbie, his wife since 1985, is a former wine retailer - she once managed the London Wine Bar in San Francisco and also helped Lewis' race-car career by working with sponsors. Lewis admitted that winding up in the wine business is an unusual turn of events for a guy who has competed with the best from Monte Carlo to Laguna Seca. Born and raised in Atlanta Ga., Lewis came from a family of doctors. Lewis got his bachelor of science degree at San Jose State and then received his master's degree in business administration at UC Berkeley in 1970. "I always wanted to race cars but my family wouldn't let me," he admitted. "By the time I had just about finished college I figured it was an opportunity for me to do what I wanted. I didn't start racing until '69 - I was a late bloomer. But then I couldn't get enough of it, so I started racing full-time." With an advance from a professional team, Lewis took off for Europe in the winter of 1970. "My first race was in Monte Carlo," he said. "I was a bit nervous as there were 125 drivers for 24 slots. Nevertheless, I did all right. I finished 12th." Lewis spent three years in Europe. It was there that he got a bit of education - not only on the track, but in the European lifestyle as well. He learned a great deal about wine and developed a palate for a wide variety of varietals and winemaking styles. "For 23 years I had a great career. But now I can't think of anything I'd rather do," said Lewis.
After the winery was formed, Lewis and Miner decided to go looking for a winemaker. They turned to one of the best in the business - Joe Cafaro. Cafaro was the founding winemaker at Keenan and later worked at Acacia. Since 1985, he has served as consultant to the Jaeger Family Winery, Dalla Valle Vineyards, and Robert Sinskey Vineyards. He is also the founder of Cafaro Cellars, noted for fabulous Merlots and Cabernets. At Oakville Ranch Cafaro practices minimal winemaking intervention and utilizes lots of new French oak barrels to produce a singularly unique Napa Valley hillside Cabernet. From the outset Oakville Ranch Vineyards was a Cabernet star - its debut was one of the best wines produced in the Napa Valley in the very difficult 1989 vintage. The 1990 Cabernet was broad, rich, lush, and complex - ample evidence that great wines can and would be produced at Oakville Ranch. The 1991 vintage, however, heralded the true arrival of Oakville Ranch as a Cabernet superstar. The winery produced three Cabernets in that vintage: a regular bottling, a Reserve, and a Lewis Select. The latter was a really special wine and a significant notch up from the other two Oakville Ranch Cabernets - it was easily one of the top stars of the 1991 vintage. Although only 450 cases were produced, it garnered significant attention for Randy and Debbie Lewis. The Lewis Select was their own personal statement as vintners and set the stage for the Lewis’s to break away on their own venture.
Within a year after the release of the first Lewis Select Cabernet under the Oakville Ranch label, Randy and Debbie's tenure came to an end. In November of 1994, their business partner, Bob Miner, lost his battle with cancer. Shortly thereafter the Miner family decided to resume full control of the property. Randy and Debbie had accomplished their objective of piloting the Oakville Ranch brand to 4,500 cases and achieving almost overnight recognition for Oakville Ranch among connoisseurs of Napa Valley wines. Bob Miner's nephew Dave assumed management responsibilities; and Randy & Debbie Lewis decided to form their own brand utilizing Oakville Ranch fruit. A long term contract with the Miner family guaranteed the Lewis’s as much as half of the grapes from Oakville Ranch, thus ensuring them a high quality source of fruit for the foreseeable future. Although the picture is still somewhat muddled, the final split between the Miners and the Lewis’s may not have been completely amicable. Firstly, Randy and Debbie have earnestly been combing the Napa Valley for new vineyard sources that will make them less dependent on Oakville Ranch. Secondly, though they continued to utilize the services of winemaker Cafaro (who was still making the wine for Oakville Ranch), within eighteen months of the launch of Lewis Cellars, Joe Cafaro was gone. In his place arrived the leading winemaker in the entire state of California, the inimitable Helen Turley. Although Turley had responsibility for the 1994 Lewis Cabernet and the 1995 Lewis Chardonnay, her relationship with the Lewis’s was short-lived. In early 1997 Lewis Cellars hired another superstar winemaker, Paul Hobbs. Hobbs has his own very successful and consults for a number of other properties both in California and South America.
The winemaker today is James McCeney. From a young age James tended vines in his home state of Maryland with colleagues who would become lifelong friends. After college he worked harvests internationally – in the Barossa, Hawke’s Bay and Burgundy – while earning a degree from UC Davis and pressing cuvée at Domaine Carneros.
Before joining Lewis Cellars, James gained experience on the winemaking teams of Donum, Dutton Goldfield, Patz & Hall and Acacia.
James has followed the Tour de France by bicycle and loves to peddle commute to Lewis Cellars on his uncle’s Colnago.
back