Chappellet, Napa Valley (California) Malbec 2019

 This is a red wine that is special in many ways including its label which is the most recent entry in the ongoing series of whimsical “Dragon” images created by Carissa Chappellet, artist, lawyer and daughter of Chappellet’s founders.  Wines bearing the dragon labels first appeared during the pandemic but quickly became popular collectors’ items.  This Malbec is appropriately dark in color, as Malbec tends to be, and has juicy tannins, lush blackberry and blueberry flavors, plus hints of smokiness, black pepper and a smidge of vanilla.  The vineyard sits on Pritchard Hill, which Google informed me is a site that dates back several million years to the days when a 14,000-foot volcano dominated what is now the eastern range of Napa Valley.  The Chappellets were early proponents of sustainable farming including the use of cover crops, bird boxes, composting and organic farming, and they were early supporters of maintaining several hundred acres of uncultivated land as a buffer around the vineyard.