Saddleback Cellars
Charbono, Vermentino and Tannat off fourteen acres on a dead-end lane in Oakville, where everyone else planted Cabernet and stopped.
Why go
Nils Venge and his father-in-law bought this property in 1976, and he put the first Saddleback label out in 1983.1 He had come up through Charles Krug, Sterling and Villa Mount Eden, with a UC Davis viticulture degree from 1967 and a tour in Vietnam as a Navy reservist between.1 From 1982 he ran Groth as a minority partner and made the 1985 Groth Reserve Cabernet that Robert Parker gave 100 points, the first perfect score for an American wine, and that bottle is Groth's rather than this winery's.1 He left Groth in 1993 to work here full-time.1 What comes off the fourteen estate acres now is Cabernet plus a list nobody else on this road keeps: Charbono, Vermentino, Tannat, Petit Verdot.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Charbono and the Vermentino. Small-lot varieties in the Oakville District are the argument for coming here rather than to Opus One up the road.2
- Avoid: taking the winery's news feed seriously. Two of its stories are about an unrelated winery entirely and are placeholder text.
What locals & experts say
- Saddleback Cellars, on its founder, in the loose version:
Nils is universally regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of the Napa Valley wine industry, garnering the first 100-point wine score on his 1985 vintage of Reserve Cabernet produced for one of our Oakville neighbors.
1 - The same page, naming the winery that score belongs to:
During his tenure at Groth, Venge became the first American winemaker to receive a perfect 100-point rating from wine critic Robert Parker Jr. The 1985 Groth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon catapulted Venge to a venerated position in the California wine industry.
1
Both lines are the winery on its own founder, and the second one is why this entry gives the score to a Groth bottle. I read no outside palate on a Saddleback wine, so I have no critic's call for you.
Good to know
- No price and no hours are established here. The winery's visit page was not read on this pass, so book before you drive.
- The site claims 90-plus point reviews and names no publication, no wine and no year, so this entry does not print it.
- Hygiene: not established. No inspection instrument for this county is on file here.
Verdict
could-visit — Nils Venge bought this property with his father-in-law in 1976 and put his own label out in 1983, and in between he was down the road at Groth making the 1985 Reserve that Robert Parker gave 100 points, the first American wine to get one. That score belongs to a Groth bottle, not a Saddleback one, and the winery's own about page says so even where its home page blurs it. The reason to drive down Money Road is what he makes here now: Charbono, Vermentino, Tannat and Petit Verdot off fourteen acres, in a district where everyone else planted Cabernet and stopped. No price, no hours and no read palate, so book before you go.