Since its start in 1998, Hundred Acre has carved an uncompromising path to cult status.
Former investment banker Jayson Woodbridge, the estate’s founder and winemaker, is among Napa’s most colorful personalities. Notorious for his gusto, perfectionism, and bold creative vision, Woodbridge’s moonshot ambition for the winery has yielded numerous Cabernet Sauvignons that rank in the pantheon of California’s greatest.
Dozens of 100-point scores attest to the iconic appeal of Hundred Acres Estate’s wines. “The wine quality continues to be among the most singular and profound in all of Napa Valley,” wrote Robert Parker. Operatic in their scale, opulent depth, and sheer volume, the wines are miniscule in quantity and often difficult to find outside the mailing list. The four releases we’re thrilled to offer today are extremely limited in supply and represent stunning prizes for any cellar.
That scarcity is a function of Woodbridge’s exacting standards in the vineyard, where he picks by the grape not by the bunch in search of flawless expressions. Fermented in French oak barrels and aged in barriques, his Cabernets, Shirazes, and Pinot Noirs emerge creamy in texture and unspool layer after layer of mesmerizing complexity.
The Ancient Way Vineyard Summer’s Block cuvée is the fruit of Woodbridge’s work with one of the oldest, most pedigreed vineyard sites in the Barossa Valley. The hedonistic 2005 entices with long, silky tannins, while the 2006 builds peppery spice and voluptuously rich berry fruit into a tour de force climax .
Our other two wines are benchmarks of the Hundred Acre California line-up. The Morgan’s Way cuvee, formerly known as Kayli Morgan, is named after Woodbridge’s daughter. Drawn off a vineyard at the foot of Howell Mountain where dark clay soils bestow mineral finesse, it’s an intensely perfumed powerhouse that, like Woodbridge himself, holds no punches.
The 2019 Ark Vineyard Cabernet, also from the base of Howell Mountain, is blended from nine different blocks of volcanic soils and aged 30 months in new French oak – a wine towering in stature and lavishly concentrated.
As rare as they are pure and profound, these wines reflect their maker’s quest for greatness.
