2019 Blackbird Vineyards Contrarian Napa Valley 6pk 6x750ml

Blackbird Vineyards started with a love letter to Pomerol — estate Merlot from vines originally planted by Trefethen. Contrarian flips the script. Named for its defiance of the house style, it leads with Cabernet Sauvignon instead: 70% Cab, 29% Cabernet Franc, 1% Merlot, aged 21 months in French oak. The most powerful wine in the Blackbird lineup, built for structure and depth where the flagship chases elegance.

Aaron Pott and Kyle Mizuno shaped the 2019 vintage into something restrained and serious — Napa Cabernet with the aromatic complexity of the Right Bank. Savory notes run through the core: tobacco, cedar, black truffle, coffee. The fruit is there — black cherry, plum, black currant — but it's framed by those darker, more interesting layers. The tannins are plush but firm enough to carry this wine into the 2030s.

Two 96-point scores — Wine Advocate and James Suckling both — land on a wine with 1,100 cases made and a price that undercuts what comparable Napa Cab commands at retail. This is the bottle for the table where someone asks what you're drinking and you get to explain why Cabernet Sauvignon from a Merlot house hits different.

Pull the cork now if you want the fruit and the structure in conversation. Cellar it a decade if you want to see what happens when the savory notes take over completely. Either way, it's already proving why Pott's name on the label matters.