The 2021 Stanton Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon was the wine we couldn’t stop coming back to. We tasted it alongside dozens of others, and this Oakville Cabernet was our favorite of the lineup. Groth, Orin Swift, Merryvale, and Stags Leap have all sought fruit from Stanton Vineyards, while the family reserves a small portion of its vineyard for the Cabernet bearing its own name. The Stanton story in Napa goes back to 1947, with the family planting vines on its 33-acre Oakville property in 1971. More than half a century later, they’re still farming the same ground, a mix of gravelly, sandy clay and loam soils that Stanton credits with giving the wines their suppleness and texture. One family, one Oakville vineyard, and decades spent learning what the site can deliver. Then came 2021. The extended growing season gave Cabernet plenty of time on the vine, in the hands of a family that has farmed this ground for decades. Oakville Cabernet rarely comes cheaply anymore, which makes $69.99 especially compelling. After tasting the 2021, it drinks well beyond the price.