OVID
NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA 2021
We're on a constant quest for perfection, and we exult when we find it... especially when it comes from one of Napa Valley's most visionary estates.
Clock it: OVID's flagship Red 2021, a perfect 100-point masterpiece from both Decanter and Jeb Dunnuck, a rare double perfect score that places it among the pantheon of Napa Valley's greatest.
And, as a bonus — and nearly its rival in quality and character — we’re bringing you the Hexameter Red 2021, which Decanter lavished with 98 points.
Both wines hail from the remarkable 2021 vintage, both were crafted by the same brilliant winemaker, and both are expressions of OVID's exceptional Pritchard Hill terroir.
Decanter seldom drifts into lyrical indulgence, as you know, but it delivered a clear and unequivocal judgment about both wines, declaring OVID’s 100-point Red 2021 "a pedigreed wine characterized by balance, intensity, and complexity” and hailing the 98-point Hexameter Red 2021 as “polished … fine-grained … delicate."
So what cosmic alignment created these extraordinary wines?
The 2021 growing season in Napa played out like a winemaker's fantasy: perfect conditions, ideal ripening, the kind of year that makes even the most stoical of vineyard managers crack a smile.
But Mother Nature only sets the stage; it takes so much more than that to create perfection.
Austin Peterson, the winemaker, approaches the vineyard at Pritchard Hill like an improvisatory musician, letting each vintage dictate the shape of the composition, as opposed to forcing any sort of formula. For these 2021 releases, he made a small but significant change to his method. His meticulous process still involves optical sorting, gravity flow, and minimal intervention during the 20-month aging in French oak, but for the first time he refrained from cold soaking or extended macerations, marking a transition to a more hands-off approach.
While the OVID Red will forever be the estate's flagship, the Hexameter (named for the poetic meter used by the Roman poet Ovid) began as a simple experiment in 2005 — a simple what-if. "How compelling,” Peterson asked, "can a Cabernet Franc-focused wine from our site be?" The 2021 vintage (half Cabernet Franc, the rest composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot) answers clearly. And emphatically.
Peterson is more artist than artisan, understanding that greatness emerges from hundreds of tiny, almost invisible decisions. We can't wait for you to taste for yourself what has us so excited.
Both bottles will reward the patient collector who enjoys delayed gratification and also those, like me, who can't resist easing back the corks now.
And remember, as always, we only buy and source directly from the estate, to ensure perfect provenance.
But act quickly to secure yours — with OVID’s pedigree, and the superlative scores for these two beauties, you better believe they're going to disappear from here *like that*.
*Offer NOT valid in-store. This offer is made pre-arrival, with wines estimated to be delivered to your preferred store in Summer 2025. All sale prices are the lowest available at Total Wine & More and ONLY valid through Concierge Sales. No further discounts or coupons may be applied. The price reflected on your order form is subject to change after the order is placed in the event of a change in tariffs or taxes that are imposed by the U.S. government, or in the case of currency fluctuations of 10% or greater. Offer not valid in GA, KS, MI, NC, NE, NY, OK, TN, or VA. This offer is valid for TWO WEEKS, or until sold out, and will expire on Sunday, May 11th, 2025.