2022 Scarecrow - Cabernet Sauvignon Napa (750ml)
Scarecrow grows from a single historic parcel in Rutherford, the J.J. Cohn Estate, which sits beside what was once Gustave Niebaum's legendary Inglenook vineyard. In 1945, Inglenook's John Daniel Jr. convinced his neighbor, film producer J.J. Cohn, to plant eighty acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on the property. Decades later, Cohn's grandson, Bret Lopez, revived that fruit and built Scarecrow around it, working with winemaker Celia Welch to craft one of Napa's most sought-after wines.
The 2022 Scarecrow is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, grown on the lower slopes of the Mayacamas within the J.J. Cohn Estate. Despite a difficult, drought-stressed growing season across Napa, careful vineyard work and selective picking kept the fruit concentrated and expressive. The wine was aged about twenty-two months in a majority of new French oak, and bottled in the summer of 2024, built to evolve gracefully over decades in the cellar.
The wine shows mixed red and black cherries, cassis, and pencil shavings, with a dusty mineral edge and touches of redcurrant and perfumed florals. Full-bodied and silky, it carries firm, structured tannins toward a long, linear finish. Pour it with dry-aged porterhouse, wild venison loin, or dark bittersweet chocolate.