Buccella house spotlight
2020 Buccella Cabernet, Napa Valley (94+JS)
Landon Donley's mid-valley Napa Cabernet, James Suckling 94, a silky 2020 you can open at ninety-nine dollars.
The 2020 Buccella is 93 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc from Oakville, Yountville, and Coombsville: cassis, ripe black cherry, licorice, and toasted cedar after 22 months in French oak, now $99.
A 680-case Napa Cabernet from the cooler mid-valley, not a smoke-year slogan
Buccella sources small mid-to-southern Napa vineyards, the cooler side of the valley, then bottles without fining or filtration. The 2020 is 93 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 3 percent Merlot, 2 percent Malbec, and 2 percent Cabernet Franc, 22 months in 80 percent new French oak, 14.5 percent alcohol, 680 cases. James Suckling 94: cassis and ripe black cherries, black licorice, toasted cedar, tobacco, medium-bodied, silky, polished tannin, try from 2026. This is the bottle that puts a cult Napa Cabernet on a table at ninety-nine dollars.
The house
Buccella is a small Napa Cabernet house. Landon Donley makes the wine from mid-valley sites instead of a single estate slogan.
The wine
93% Cabernet Sauvignon. 22 months, 80% new French oak. Unfined, unfiltered. 14.5% ABV. 680 cases.
The scores
James Suckling 94. Try from 2026.
The drinker
Cassis and cedar first. Decant an hour if opening now. Serve 60 to 64 F. Steak or lamb.
Cassis and black cherry, then licorice, cedar, and velvet
Suckling found cassis and ripe black cherries with black licorice, toasted cedar, and tobacco, then a medium-bodied, textured, silky frame with polished fine-grained tannin and a deep dark-fruited core. The house lane is plum, raspberry, cocoa, blueberry, and creamy vanilla on silky tannin.
A difficult Napa year. Buccella stayed on cooler mid-valley fruit and kept 14.5 percent alcohol. Suckling wants it from 2026. If you open it now, give it air.
Cassis, black cherry, plum, raspberry, licorice, cedar, tobacco, mocha.
Medium to full, 14.5% ABV, silky tannin, 22 months 80% new French oak.
Velvet, dark fruit, spice. Decant an hour if young. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Mid-valley fruit, then 22 months of French oak
Landon Donley builds Buccella from small Oakville, Yountville, and Coombsville lots, then ages 22 months in 80 percent new French oak and bottles unfined and unfiltered. 680 cases. The 2020 blend is 93 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with small cuts of Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc so the mid-valley fruit stays in front of the barrel.
14.5 percent alcohol. Unfined, unfiltered. Suckling's window starts in 2026.
Decant an hour if opening now. Serve 60 to 64 F. A hard-seared steak is the landing.
A small Napa Cabernet house, built for a heavy bottle and a small case count
Buccella exists to bottle mid-valley Napa Cabernet in tiny lots, not to fill a tasting-room pipeline.
The house sources Oakville, Yountville, and Coombsville rather than a single mountain slogan.
Landon Donley keeps the 2020 on the cooler side of the valley so the vintage stays silky instead of baked.
Six hundred eighty cases. This is the Cabernet for a table that wants the cult shape at a price you can actually use.
Steak on the iron, lamb on the bone
Silky Napa Cabernet wants fat, char, and herb. Cassis and cedar do the rest.
Two plates. One butter-basted steak. One rosemary lamb chop. Both can take Buccella tannin and cedar.
Decant an hour if opening now. Serve 60 to 64 F in a Bordeaux glass.
Butter-Basted Ribeye
A hard crust, butter, and thyme. Buccella's steakhouse landing.
Why it works: Fat and char cushion Cabernet tannin while browned beef pulls cassis, licorice, and cedar through the glass.
View Recipe for butter-basted ribeye (opens in a new tab)
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops
Herb-crusted lamb for Napa Cabernet's tobacco, mocha, and silk.
Why it works: Lamb fat rounds the tannin. Rosemary echoes cedar and the savory close.
View Recipe for rosemary garlic lamb chops (opens in a new tab)Put this Buccella Cabernet in the cart
Landon Donley, 680 cases, James Suckling 94. Ninety-nine dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the Napa Cabernet for a table that wants mid-valley silk, not a generic valley-floor slogan.
