Gubel Family Vineyards spotlight
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2022 Gubel Clone 6. Their published average is $85.36. Our slash is $85, matching typical retail.
2022 Gubel Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon Calistoga, Napa Valley
Robbie Meyer's Calistoga Clone 6 Cabernet, volcanic cassis from four estate acres, a 160-case 2022 at eighty-five dollars.
The 2022 is 100 percent estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Clone 6 on Calistoga volcanic soils: blackberry, vanilla, and a linear, tannic close, now $85.
Four acres of Clone 6, not a Napa brand exercise
Gubel is a young Calistoga estate with one idea: heritage Clone 6 Cabernet on volcanic ash and alluvial soil. Four planted acres. One hundred sixty cases. Night-harvested September 27, 2022. Twenty months in French oak, 60 percent new. The Tasting Panel 94. This is the bottle that argues a small Calistoga ranch can still taste like Cabernet, not like a marketing deck.
The house
Gustavo Gubel and Joanne Hoffman farm about four planted acres of Clone 6 in Calistoga. Ignacio stayed on as vineyard manager when they bought the ranch.
The wine
100% estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Night harvest September 27, 2022. 16-day fermentation. 20 months French oak, 60% new. 14.3% ABV. 160 cases.
The scores
The Tasting Panel 94: refined, linear, intense. SF Wine Panel 93: elegant, focused, slightly floral.
The drinker
Blackberry and vanilla first. Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve near 62 F. Grilled ribeye.
Blackberry, vanilla, then volcanic dust
The Tasting Panel: fresh aromas of blackberry and vanilla, teeth-coating tannins, sun-drenched boysenberry, refined and linear. The official sheet adds black cherry, licorice, dark chocolate, crushed stone, and earth.
Night-harvested September 27 to keep freshness with ripe Napa fruit. A 16-day ferment, then 20 months in barrel. Built to drink now or hold a decade.
Blackberry, black cherry, vanilla, licorice, cinnamon, clove, dark chocolate, crushed stone.
Teeth-coating tannin, linear frame, 14.3% ABV, pH 3.68, TA 5.9.
Mineral, savory, steak-ready length. Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Night harvest, then twenty months of French oak
On the Gubel sheet, the 2022 was night-harvested on September 27, fermented 16 days, then aged 20 months in French oak, 60 percent new and 40 percent neutral, at Brasswood in St. Helena. Robbie Meyer is the consulting winemaker. The numbers stay tight: 14.3 percent ABV, pH 3.68, TA 5.9. That is how Calistoga heat stays in the fruit without turning the finish heavy.
Clone 6 is a low-yielding California heritage selection, prized for small berries and varietal intensity. Gubel plants it on volcanic loam and gravelly subsoils that already restrict vigor.
Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve near 62 F. Grilled ribeye with a grain salad or a tonnato-style sauce.
Argentina on the table, Calistoga in the vines
Gustavo Gubel's wine memory starts at family asados near Buenos Aires. The vineyard is Calistoga.
Dr. Isaac Gubel's love of early Mendoza Cabernets passed to his son Gustavo. Political unrest sent Gustavo to California for architecture school. He later built hillside houses in glass, concrete, and wood.
Designing his own home meant facing a mature olive tree. Gustavo and Joanne pressed the fruit before they moved it, and that night pulled them into farming.
The Calistoga ranch is about five acres, four planted entirely to Clone 6. Fruit once went to Gamble Family. Gubel now bottles it as a 160-case estate Cabernet.
Ribeye, grain, and a savory sauce
Clone 6 tannin wants grilled beef. A grain salad or a tonnato sauce keeps the plate from turning into a steakhouse cliche.
Two plates. One ribeye on farro. One ribeye with tonnato. Both can take Calistoga Cabernet.
Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Grilled Rib Eye on Feta Farro
Charred ribeye, farro, feta, and grilled lemon give the wine enough richness and a bright edge.
Why it works: Beef fat handles Clone 6 tannin while lemon and grain keep the volcanic, mineral close lifted.
View Recipe for grilled rib eye on feta farro (opens in a new tab)
Grilled Rib-Eye Steak with Tonnato Sauce
A savory tonnato sauce gives the Cabernet a salty, umami partner without a heavy cream sauce.
Why it works: Tonnato's savory depth meets blackberry, cocoa, and crushed stone while the steak softens the tannin.
View Recipe for grilled rib-eye steak with tonnato sauce (opens in a new tab)Put Clone 6 in the cart
Four acres, 160 cases, The Tasting Panel 94. Eighty-five dollars.
Put six in the cart. This is the Calistoga Cabernet that still tastes like a ranch, not a slogan.
