“A medium-bodied red, with a graphite and cigar box underpinning to the generous core of plum and cassis, which lengthens around fresh acidity, adding notes of dried sage and anise on the long finish around precise tannins.”

"The 2023 Cocodrilo is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec and 3% Petit Verdot, with 60% of the fruit from Luján de Cuyo and 40% from the Uco Valley. It opens with intense black fruit, including blackberry, soft cherry and ripe plum, framed by finely integrated oak. Broad and velvety yet grippy, it fills the mid-palate with depth and concentration and delivers sustained, expressive flavor. This is a delicious, confidently built blend that captures a rich, modern profile for Argentine reds." Drink 2026-2038

"This shows black and red berries, spices and a touch of cedar on the nose. The palate is round and succulent with plush, polished tannins and voluminous, lustrous dark fruit. Caressing texture and a generous finish. Drink now or hold."

"The 2023 Cocodrilo Corte is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec, and 3% Petit Verdot, aged in 14% new oak barrels for 15 months. Most of the Cabernet Sauvignon comes from Lujan de Cuyo, while the Cabernet Franc is from the cooler climes of Valle de Uco. This is an outstanding wine at an outstanding price point, polished with medium-bodied intensity and plenty of punch and length. Drink now through 2033 if not longer." Opening The Door To Argentina, 2020 to 2024

Viña Cobos Cabernet Franc
"Chañares Estate" 2021

The highest-scored wine on this page. Cabernet Franc off Chañares, one of the three estates Hobbs farms himself, half of it eighteen months in barrel. Suckling: “An amazing standout that contrasts beautifully with the area’s malbecs and cabernet sauvignons.” Vinous found ash, cassis, tobacco, truffle and a saline edge, and gave it until 2045.

9 Bottles Left

Viña Cobos Bramare Malbec
Valle de Uco 2021

Bramare is Italian for “to yearn,” lifted from Frances Mayes. Eighteen months in French oak, twenty percent new, bottled unfined. Vinous called it “a superlative, precise, ripe wine from a cool year.” Suckling got crushed stone, violets and blueberries, and a finish he called crunchy and stony.

4 Bottles Left

Viña Cobos Bramare Cabernet
Luján de Cuyo 2018

Seven years in and drinking exactly where you want it. Blackcurrant, ash, camphor and pink pepper over the sweet, juicy tannins that Luján de Cuyo does better than anywhere else in Argentina. Twenty-five percent new oak for eighteen months. If you like the Cocodrilo, this is the same idea — with more money spent on it.

12 Bottles Left

Viña Cobos "Felino" Malbec 2023

The way into the house, and the bottle I keep open at home on a Tuesday. Ninety-three points twice over for twenty-five ninety-nine. Nine months in barrel, only eight percent of it new, bottled unfined. The Tasting Panel: “Juicy, ripe, and ready.”

2 Bottles Left

Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon
"Nathan Coombs Estate" 2019

Five critics, none below ninety-five, and a ninety-eight from Vinous that opens “What a wine.” Three hundred and forty-four cases made. Night-harvested by hand, indigenous yeast, thirty-day maceration, eighteen months in ninety-six percent new French oak, bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is the top of the pyramid and there are two bottles of it.

2 Bottles Left

Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon
Coombsville 2022

The same cool southern corner of Napa, one tier down. Twenty months in fifty-three percent new oak, with six percent Petit Verdot — the most Hobbs has ever used. Suckling: “So luscious, balanced, vivid and deep.” The Wine Advocate called it a reasonable value in the context of Napa Cabernet, which from them is a standing ovation.

10 Bottles Left

Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs
Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Five reviews, none below ninety-two, on a fifty-dollar Napa Cabernet. Night-harvested, cold-soaked five days, native yeast, thirty-day maceration, eighteen months in thirteen percent new oak, bottled unfiltered. Joe Czerwinski of the Wine Advocate called it “a terrific bargain.”

2 Bottles Left

Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs
Pinot Noir 2022 & 2021

Both vintages, both under thirty dollars, both one hundred percent estate fruit off Hobbs’s own Sonoma Coast sites. Antonio Galloni on the 2021: “I am not sure I have ever tasted a California Pinot this good for $40 a bottle.” We are asking twenty-nine ninety-seven. The 2022 took ninety-four from Suckling off George Menini, Cleary, Goldrock and Catherine Lindsay. Six of the 2022 left, one of the 2021.

6 Left Of 2022 · 1 Left Of 2021

Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs
Chardonnay 2024

Fermented and raised entirely in steel with bâtonnage, no oak anywhere near it, eighty-one percent estate fruit. Five reviews and every one of them ninety or better, for twenty-four ninety-nine. Jeb Dunnuck: “A terrific value to enjoy now or over the next several years.”

25 Bottles Left

Alvaredos-Hobbs Mencía
Ribeira Sacra 2020

Made with the Galician grower Antonio López Fernández on terraces above the Sil. One hundred percent Mencía, native yeast, twelve months in barrel, thirty-five percent new, unfined and unfiltered. Wine Enthusiast made it an Editor’s Choice at ninety-five. Three Decanter panellists all reached for the word elegant.

8 Bottles Left

Hillick & Hobbs Estate
Seneca Lake Dry Riesling 2021

Hobbs went home for this one. He grew up on a fruit farm in Niagara County, and in 2013 he planted high-density vines on blue slate above Seneca Lake and named the winery after his parents, Joan Hillick and Edward Hobbs. Whole-cluster pressed, one hundred percent stainless, bottled unfined. Six reviews, and Decanter heard the Mosel in it.

8 Bottles Left