Drinking Window: 2025-2055
Size: 750mL
Critic Scores: 98 DE
Region: Napa Valley
ABV: 14.8%

“Scarecrow’s M. Étain label – French for ‘Tin Man’ – debuted in 2008. “We wanted to create a companion label to Scarecrow utilizing the younger blocks, or cuts of Clone 337 that were too abundant for the flagship bottling,” explains winemaker Celia Welch. The 2022 vintage is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec, 5% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, all sourced from the J.J. Cohn estate in Rutherford, aged for 18 months in 60% new French oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered. In 2023, the wine reads as quintessential Rutherford, opening with perfectly ripe boysenberry and cherry before building into classic site signatures of dusty minerality, unsweetened cocoa powder and a hint of bergamot. As Welch notes, there is also a subtle touch of sweet basil—a detail that captures Rutherford’s terroir beautifully, that dusty earth component edged with gentle sweetness. The palate unfolds with impressive density and richness, yet retains lift, carried by blue, black and red fruit and generous cocoa-powder tannins through the expressive finish. Utterly delicious and immediately drinkable, yet firmly structured to evolve gracefully. Farming in 2023 was overseen by Domenick Bianco, formerly of Joseph Phelps Vineyards.”

* Johnathan Cristaldi, Decanter – Tasted: March 2026