{"title":"Pilcrow Wines!","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSara and Jonah Beer describe Pilcrow as their love letter to the Napa Valley, and it reads like one written by people who have been paying very close attention for a long time. The two fell in love with the valley over two decades before founding the winery in 2014, drawn not to its modern blockbusters but to its earlier identity: the classically proportioned, site-specific Cabernets made in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s by the likes of Lee Stewart at Chateau Souverain, Nathan Fay, Bob Travers, and Al Brounstein. The name Pilcrow refers to the typographic paragraph symbol, a quiet nod to storytelling and to the idea of writing a fresh chapter. Sara is the primary winemaker, and her approach in the cellar is as stripped back as the philosophy that drives it: early picking for lower alcohol and higher natural acidity, cold soak before fermentation, no extended maceration, restrained new oak, no fining, no filtration. In the vineyards, the ethos is equally minimal: no irrigation, no tilling, no hedging, no thinning, a regenerative approach rooted in the conviction that the less you impose, the more the site can say. Pilcrow sources from a carefully selected group of Napa vineyard sites, including the Pym-Rae Vineyard on Mt. Veeder (formerly owned by Robin Williams) and the Ghost Block Vineyard in Yountville, and the wines have earned serious recognition, with Decanter listing Pilcrow alongside Dalla Valle, Larkmead, and Kapscándy among Napa Valley's top ten producers. For collectors who fell in love with Napa Cabernet before the scores started climbing into the stratosphere, this is exactly the kind of winery worth knowing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"pilcrow-cabernet-sauvignon-glass-rock-coombsville-2022","title":"Pilcrow Cabernet Sauvignon Glass Rock Coombsville 2022","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBumping into a serious winemaker at a grocery store in Napa Valley isn’t uncommon, but it doesn’t usually happen the way you’d expect. A few years back, when I was running purchasing for the Oakville Grocery, I was circling the floor one spring afternoon evaluating stock levels and literally backed into Sara Beer, co-owner and winemaker at Pilcrow Wines. After apologizing profusely, I noticed what she was holding: bottles of Philip Togni and Mayacamas Cabernet. Big points right off the bat. If you know those wines, you know exactly what kind of palate she has. No big blockbuster fruit bombs. Wines of restraint, purity, and old-school structure that serious buyers never stop loving.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShe mentioned almost in passing that she makes some wines, well, has been since 2014, and that given my selections on the floor, I might like them. That’s how I was introduced to Pilcrow.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe tasted the following week and I was hooked. Sara and her husband Jonah built this wine brand around a love for how Napa Cabernet used to taste in the 1970s and 80s: early-picked, lower alcohol, naturally higher acidity, no fining, no filtration, no irrigation, and the kind of vineyard restraint that lets the site do the talking. Decanter has listed Pilcrow alongside Dalla Valle, Larkmead, and Kapscándy among Napa’s top ten producers, and these 2022s are earning scores between 94 and 97 across the board. These are wines that make you slow down and think about every sip, and since you’re not fighting off heat and residual sugar, they pair beautifully with just about any meal you put in front of them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-ecd8dbbb-7fff-38eb-4dc0-ff10acc3aebb\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGlass Rock:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Cedar, dusty earth, and dark fruit with silky smooth texture and a long, softly tannic and stony minerality finish that makes it dangerously easy to pour a second glass.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"First Bottle","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54218122494249,"sku":"2000392","price":119.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0793\/2706\/8457\/files\/PilcroCabernetSauvignonGlassRockCoombsville2022_2000392_FB_Rack.jpg?v=1792515857"},{"product_id":"pilcrow-cabernet-sauvignon-ghost-block-yountville-2022","title":"Pilcrow Cabernet Sauvignon Ghost Block Yountville 2022","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBumping into a serious winemaker at a grocery store in Napa Valley isn’t uncommon, but it doesn’t usually happen the way you’d expect. A few years back, when I was running purchasing for the Oakville Grocery, I was circling the floor one spring afternoon evaluating stock levels and literally backed into Sara Beer, co-owner and winemaker at Pilcrow Wines. After apologizing profusely, I noticed what she was holding: bottles of Philip Togni and Mayacamas Cabernet. Big points right off the bat. If you know those wines, you know exactly what kind of palate she has. No big blockbuster fruit bombs. Wines of restraint, purity, and old-school structure that serious buyers never stop loving.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShe mentioned almost in passing that she makes some wines, well, has been since 2014, and that given my selections on the floor I might like them. That’s how I was introduced to Pilcrow.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe tasted the following week and I was hooked. Sara and her husband Jonah built this wine brand around a love for how Napa Cabernet used to taste in the 1970s and 80s: early-picked, lower alcohol, naturally higher acidity, no fining, no filtration, no irrigation, and the kind of vineyard restraint that lets the site do the talking. Decanter has listed Pilcrow alongside Dalla Valle, Larkmead, and Kapscándy among Napa’s top ten producers, and these 2022s are earning scores between 94 and 97 across the board. These are wines that make you slow down and think about every sip, and since you’re not fighting off heat and residual sugar, they pair beautifully with just about any meal you put in front of them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-abd262a1-7fff-ae1b-ca59-b8aedc830fe3\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGhost Block:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Ripe with bright acidity and velvety texture. Oodles of cassis, black cherry, and a subtle smoky depth that gives it just a little more muscle than you’d expect from a Pilcrow.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"First Bottle","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54218122592553,"sku":"2000391","price":119.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0793\/2706\/8457\/files\/PilcroCabernetSauvignonGhostBlockYountville2022_2000391_FB_Rack.jpg?v=1792515546"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0793\/2706\/8457\/collections\/PXL_20220901_171424917.jpg?v=1792520014","url":"https:\/\/firstbottlewines.com\/collections\/pilcrow-wines.oembed","provider":"First Bottle Wines","version":"1.0","type":"link"}