2022 Langtry Farms "Lillie's Feather Boa" Cabernet Sauvignon Lake County

Lake County sits just over the ridge from Napa's Howell Mountain — same volcanic geology, same high-elevation hillsides, a fraction of the price.

This is one of the wines that proves the point. It comes from Langtry Farms, a 4,200-acre estate that 19th-century stage actress and Edwardian icon Lillie Langtry bought in 1888 to make her dream Claret.

The property is now the sole winery in the Guenoc Valley AVA, with hillside Cabernet blocks running from 1,350 to 2,600 feet on red volcanic soils.

"Lillie's Feather Boa" is the youthful, drink-now tier of the estate. Wine Enthusiast's Tonya Pitts gave the 2022 a 92-point rating and called it "a youthful, more ready-to-drink bottling from Langtry, a legacy producer known for its age-worthy wines from high-elevation volcanic locations."

With the kind of heritage story most Napa neighbors can't touch, this is hard to beat.

A blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon rounded out with 10% Petite Sirah and 3% Petit Verdot, hand-harvested, fermented in stainless, and aged 18 months in French and American oak — only 10% new — so the fruit and the volcanic minerality lead, not the wood.