2023 Dominus Estate Napanook Napa Valley

This is Dominus DNA in a more accessible form. The 2023 Napanook is Cabernet-led, finely structured, and oak-polished, offering depth and balance with real drink-now appeal.

Aged for 20 months in 20% new oak.

Christian Moueix is one of the few producers to make classic wines in both the old and new worlds.

Christian Moueix is President of Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, the leading wine company of Bordeaux’s Right Bank, and owner of Dominus Estate in the Napa Valley.

Son of Jean-Pierre Moueix, the legendary Bordeaux wine merchant, Christian was born in Libourne, France in 1946. After completing his agricultural engineering studies in Paris and graduate studies in viticulture and enology at the University of California at Davis in 1968-69, he joined Ets Jean-Pierre Moueix in 1970 and, in 1991, became its President.

A viticulturalist at heart, Christian Moueix’s tenure has been marked by the introduction of revolutionary vineyard techniques including, from 1973, crop-thinning as a means to improve grape quality. Today he produces wine from ten family chateaux including La Fleur Petrus, Trotanoy, Hosanna, Providence in Pomerol and, Belair-Monange and Magdelaine in Saint Emilion.

In 1982, Christian Moueix formed a partnership to produce Dominus from the historic Napanook Vineyard in Yountville, adapting his French technical approach to Californian winemaking.

The 2023 growing season was marked by abundant rainfall, cool spring temperatures, and a delayed harvest, followed by warm summer and early fall conditions that allowed for slow, even ripening.

2023 Napa Valley vintage isn’t just another great year – it’s the year that will be etched in history. Wine experts are calling it "the vintage of a lifetime," and for good reason. The perfect blend of cool temperatures, morning fog, and balanced sunlight created conditions so exceptional that they’re being compared to Bordeaux's iconic 1961 vintage. As The Wine Independent put it, 2023 is "a winemaker's dream in terms of wine style." Wine Bible author Karen MacNeil calls it "one of the most phenomenal vintages ever in Napa Valley.

ABV: 14.5%