The 2026 Napa Valley Fall Wine Release Begins
By Emanuel Varda, Managing Partner & Vintner
Our 2026 Napa Valley fall wine release begins in two places at once.
In the cellar, the 2026 harvest is moving quickly. Fruit is coming in, plans are changing by the hour, and the next vintage is only beginning to reveal itself. At the same time, wines from 2023, 2024, and 2025 are finally ready to leave the cellar and find their way to the table.
I have always found that overlap meaningful. A release can look like the end of a process, but harvest reminds me that wine is never really finished as a story. One vintage reaches the table while another begins.
This fall brings together four wines that show different sides of Wine & Barrel: the 2023 ROUX Proprietary Red, the 2023 ROUX Cabernet Franc, the 2024 THE NINTH BARREL Cabernet Sauvignon, and our 2025 Los Carneros Pinot Noir. They come from different vineyards and vintages, but they are connected by the same goal: balanced, small-lot Napa Valley wines with a clear sense of place and a real place at the table.
ROUX Proprietary Red and Cabernet Franc Return
ROUX Proprietary Red and ROUX Cabernet Franc return this fall because they continue to say something important about the kind of cellar I want to build.
ROUX Proprietary Red is built from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. Each variety has its own character, but the point is not to notice four separate parts. The point is the balance they create together. I want the wine to have enough structure for a special dinner and enough ease for a Tuesday night when nobody planned ahead.
ROUX Cabernet Franc offers a different kind of completeness. It has the freshness and savory character I value in the variety, but it is not meant to be an academic study of Cabernet Franc. It is meant to be opened, shared, and understood through the meal around it.
These wines have already started conversations at tables beyond ours. Bringing them back into the fall collection feels less like repeating a release and more like returning to two parts of our identity.
THE NINTH BARREL: A Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
THE NINTH BARREL Cabernet Sauvignon is the newest red wine in the collection, but the idea behind it has been with me for much longer.
The planned barrels are the foundation. The ninth barrel is the reminder to slow down, taste again, and make the small decision that brings a wine into focus. That decision may be a blending choice, a little more time, or the discipline to leave something alone. It is not about making the wine louder. It is about making it more complete.
The 2024 Cabernet came from two Napa Valley sites that did not follow the same clock. The Rutherford fruit was harvested on September 30. The Spring Mountain fruit followed on October 21. More than three weeks separated those picks.
That gap is part of the wine’s story. It reinforced a lesson I carry into every harvest: two vineyards do not become ready simply because the calendar says Cabernet season has arrived. Each site has its own pace. Our responsibility is to listen closely enough to let each one arrive as itself, then find the balance between them.
A New Los Carneros Pinot Noir
Our 2025 Los Carneros Pinot Noir is one of the wines I am most excited to share with club members this fall.
The fruit comes from Sunset Knoll Vineyard in Los Carneros, the same vineyard behind THE DAWN Rosé. Working with the same site across two different wines changed the way I understood it. For THE DAWN, we looked for brightness, delicate red fruit, and a dry finish. For the Pinot Noir, we wanted to preserve that freshness while allowing more texture, depth, and quiet structure to develop.
The vineyard did not need to become something different. We simply asked a different question of the fruit. That is one of the reasons this Pinot Noir belongs in the club allocation first. Our members have followed the Wine & Barrel story from its early chapters, and I want them to be the first to experience what this vineyard showed us next.
What Connects the Fall Wine Collection
When I look at the fall collection, I do not see four products lined up for a release. I see the harvest decisions behind them. I see the vineyard calls, the lab reports, the barrels we kept tasting, the moments when patience helped, and the moments when waiting longer would have moved the wine away from what we intended.
I also see the tables I hope these wines reach. ROUX Proprietary Red beside a relaxed family meal. Cabernet Franc with friends who stay after dinner. Pinot Noir opened because the evening called for it. THE NINTH BARREL marking a celebration without becoming too precious to pour.
That is why this fall matters to me. It is not simply the arrival of new bottles. It is a chance to share the choices, places, and people that brought them here.
Wine club members receive first access beginning September 9. The broader fall release will follow in October. Until then, we will keep sharing the stories behind the wines and the 2026 harvest unfolding alongside them.