Greetings!
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to 2026 as a member of our community of Mountain Cabernet aficionados here at Robert Craig Winery.
After the flames of 2020; severe drought, tiny yields and shocked vines of 2021; and heat-challenged yet ultimately rewarding 2022 vintage, this year I’m beyond thrilled to introduce you to the 2023 releases from Robert Craig Winery. At last we experienced a long, cool, even growing season that yielded some of the most compelling, structured, and vibrant finished wines we have yet produced at our winery. (This is according to me and our winemaking team as well as from the most discerning press, where our high scores on the 2023’s land us at the top of the charts for the Napa Valley once again.)
It strikes me that the ethos of value is still alive on Howell Mountain where Napa’s highest quality, most site-expressive wines are available at prices well below lesser producers on the valley floor. Whether it’s Robert Craig wines or Outpost, O’Shaughnessy, Cimarossa, Dunn Forman and more, Howell Mountain continues to offer more for less. I would include La Jota, but their price nearly doubled (!!) in the 2021 vintage.
With the well documented contraction of the wine and spirits business, we continue to thrive at Robert Craig Winery due to a four-legged foundation for our chair: a Mountain Cabernet niche (a growing category), sane pricing, continued exceptional third party endorsement from the wine press, and customer loyalty and support.
We were not even fully recovered from the financial repercussions of the 2020 fires that devastated our infrastructure and our fiscal well being when one person’s staggering irresponsibility set Howell Mountain on fire in August and burned it all down again … leaving us and our mountain neighbors to pay the price. We are staring down the barrel of a huge loss even after what little insurance we have eventually pays out. To all of our Cabernet Clubbers, Craig Nation, mailing listers, neighbors, purveyors, and friends who came out of the woodwork to support us through ordering wine in August through year end, I have no words to express my gratitude. You have given our winery a lifeline at a critical time in our thirty-four year journey as a business. Thank you.
We plan to honor our commitment to producing world class wines in a sustainable manner (organic farming, lighter weight bottles, no tin capsules to ensure recyclability etc.), and we plan to honor our commitment to provide you with the highest quality people to enhance your experience with our Winery on the Mountain. There are many producers making great wines in the Napa Valley, but few who can match us at Craig for knowledge, hospitality and SOUL.
To that end, we welcomed Chuck Spelman as Vice President of Sales just over a year ago, and then Pam Novak joined us in September to take charge of consumer operations after Scott Johnson departed to join his family’s real estate brokerage. Chuck and Pam each possess a resume riddled with accomplishments, but more importantly, each came to RCW out of a desire to play an active roll in the direction and culture of our enterprise. I’m looking forward to their positive influence in what we do and how we do it in the years to come. Robert Craig Cabernet available at your favorite restaurant? Thank you Chuck. Food truck Friday? Live music on the patio? More tasting experiences from which to choose? Streamlined online shopping experience? Thank you Pam.
We keep making strides forward in the Craig Crew. In the cellar, Mack Gentry joined us as cellar master up top. Mack comes to us from Quintessa Winery under the guidance of Rebekah Wineburg whom many of you met in our virtual tasting last March. The pursuit of quality continues here at Craig, and the having people to make the vision a reality is a critical piece. Mack is a Bengals fan, so maybe give him a minute in your prayers for a decent offensive line in 2026.
I can’t tell you how energized and motivated I am to welcome 2026 here on Howell Mountain. The rain and cold this winter have been terrific for our grape vines, though less so for margaritas on the porch at La Hacienda. The 2023 and 2024 vintage wines are just monumental examples of what is possible from mountain vineyards and wines in the Napa Valley; they are stunning in scope, balance, and intensity. Our crew is hitting on all cylinders as the days grow longer, and my Hoosiers, the losingest team in the history of division one college football, are favored to win a national championship on January 19. It’s time to buy a lottery ticket.
This “New Year’s Greetings from Howell Mountain” is foremost a letter of love and gratitude to you, our exceptional customer. Thank you for your loyalty and encouragement for these wines which are the exact opposite of the “readily-available” and the “easy-drinking” categories. In a world of Applebees we’re a St. Elmo Steakhouse (iconic, 100 years plus in Indianapolis), we do what we do, and it’s not for everyone.
From all of us here at Robert Craig Winery we wish you a healthy, prosperous and adventurous new year filled with family dinners, furry friends, live music, time outdoors, and of course, mountain wines. Thank you for your patronage and please don’t hesitate to drop me a comment about what you would like to see from us at any time. Now make those plans to see us on the mountain or downtown for a glass in person.
Love and peace,
