New World Red Club
December 2025

2023 Noah River Cabernet Sauvignon

The story of Jamey Whetstone, the winemaker genius behind Noah River, reminds me of aspiring actors arriving on a bus to New York and ending up starring on Broadway. Born in Southern California and raised in Charleston, Jamey developed a passion for wine while working in the kitchens of luminary Holy City restaurants such as Oak Steakhouse, Charleston Grill, and as the opening Executive Chef of Husk. After his own restaurant, The Ordinary, closed, he packed up and headed for Napa Valley.

He landed a job as a server at the seminal Mustard’s Grill, where he met Larry Turley, who offered him a part-time job. Initially, he started by driving the tractor and helping around the cellar. When the assistant winemaker, Thomas Rivers Brown, left around 2000 to helm Schrader, Turley and winemaker Ehren Jordan promoted Jamey to that position. Due to the far-flung sources of Zinfandel farmed by Turley, from Mendocino County to Paso Robles, Whetstone developed an intense knowledge of the California vineyard scene. During his eight-year tenure in that position, he also spent a summer working in Burgundy for the Seysses family of Domaine Dujac. This instilled in Whetstone a deep love of Pinot Noir, and in 2002 he launched his own eponymous label. Since then, he has become one of the cult heroes of the heartbreak grape, but he also has several side projects, including our featured brand, Noah River.

To give you a peek behind the curtain of the wine world, the Noah River brand is part of a family of labels—seven in all—that produce wines targeting different price points and quality levels. It is what I call a “virtual winery” because most of the time these operations lease space from larger wineries and have no physical location to visit. This is an important part of the wine business, especially in times when there is a surplus of grapes and wine, because these operations buy unsold product and often sell it for less than if made by a classic brick-and-mortar winery. The reason is that growers want to sell their grapes, even if for less than the standard rate, to recoup farming costs. Those grapes are then made into wine by virtual wineries and bottled under their label(s) or sold in the bulk market. Thus, brands like Noah River support farmers in tough times like these and provide consumers with great value because the wines are made from grapes usually destined for more expensive wines.

If you search the web for Noah River, you will discover that in most years, this wine carries a California AVA, meaning it is made from grapes farmed across the Golden State. Going back to Whetstone’s years at Turley, he knows many growers and is able to find some really good grapes to craft this label. However, we are in unprecedented times, with even Napa growers scrambling to find buyers, so in 2023, this wine carries a Napa Valley AVA. Whetstone sources this wine from two vineyards in the north of the valley and one near Carneros. It is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and aged in 30% new French oak. There are a lot of wines like this on the market right now, and in my tastings for this selection, this was the cream of the crop.

Give this wine a splash in the decanter to release the bouquet, and you will be richly rewarded with notes of fresh-cut cedar, pipe tobacco, cherry liqueur, blackberry preserves, vanilla bean, and eucalyptus. There is ample fruit on the palate, but I find the oak a bit strong for the first 15 minutes before settling down and integrating into the wine. If you wait a few months to drink this, it will probably be more complete then. Regardless, after 15 minutes, it is a rich, soft, and complex glass that pairs well with everything from birria tacos to standing rib roast.

2017 Shelter Merlot

If you are looking for a special holiday bottle to serve to your dearest friends and family, look no further—this is it. This is a rare opportunity to taste a wine from one of the elite winemakers of Napa Valley, Bob Foley, that is perfectly aged and ready to drink. It is not hyperbole to say that no winemaker handles Merlot better than Bob, based on years of consumer and critical recognition.

Bob Foley started his career in 1977 at Heitz Cellars, working under Joe and his consulting winemaker, the legendary André Tchelistcheff. A year later, Bob began working for Brian Del Bondio as the initial winemaker for Markham Vineyards in Napa Valley. Most of you are probably too young to remember, but in the 1980s, Markham Merlot was one of the most sought-after wines in the valley, before the days when Cabernet Sauvignon dominated. In 1992, he left Markham to become the original winemaker at Pride Mountain Vineyards, where he further solidified his reputation, not just for Merlot, but also for Cabernet Sauvignon. While working for Pride, he also launched his own brand, Robert Foley Vineyards, in 1998. Under his label, he produces small quantities of red wines from vineyards across Napa Valley.
For our featured wine, the Shelter wines were created by David Stevens, the former wine director of Tre Vigne in Napa Valley, in partnership with Mark Snyder, who owns a boutique distributor operating in New York and Florida. Through David’s contacts in Napa, they purchase surplus wine from some of Napa’s most distinguished wineries and bottle small lots under this label. This 2017 Merlot was produced by none other than Bob Foley, who is also a partner with Snyder in the New York Red Hook Winery. Initially, the MSRP for this wine was much higher, in the $50s, but given its age, we negotiated a deal to make it a club selection for much less.

Sadly, there is not a lot of technical data on the winemaking, but Foley’s fingerprints are all over the wine, indicating it was picked late, with an ABV of 15.8%, and it shows a good deal of oak. Thankfully, time has allowed both the oak and alcohol to integrate, so this wine is now a showstopper. Decant for a half hour before serving, and we strongly recommend serving it at cellar temperature, 55 degrees. This wine delivers a knockout bouquet of dried red plums, black raspberries, dark chocolate, dried figs, cigar box, and black pepper. The texture on the palate is huge, thanks to the high ABV, but it is well-integrated, and the tannins are faded like an eight-year-old pair of blue jeans. Drink this wine with pot roast, steaks, or roast duck for a special holiday dinner.