99-Pt Vintage, 3 Barrel Production Cali Cab—Under $20 & ONLY HERE!

background:
What a find this Phamus Winery was for us! Phamus Wines was founded by Chris Klein and his wife Tandy with their first vintage in 2016. Chris was born in Napa and raised in St. Helena. His family has been involved for many years in the wine industry including an aunt, who worked for Grgich Hills. His parents founded Allora Vineyards, which is where Chris learned winemaking, especially from their winemaker at the time, Rudy Zuidema. Rudy got his first cellar experience at St. Clement Vineyards, where he worked with local winemaker Dennis Johns. From there he climbed the industry ladder with positions at Cuvaison, Honig, Robert Craig, Ehlers Estate and White Cottage Ranch. The name Phamus is an homage to Tandy whose maiden name was Pham. Of course when you add the 'us' to the end, it makes these wines 'Almost Famous'!

This is one of those tiny production wineries that we were lucky enough to find a couple of samples to try in our tasting room. As we dug a bit more, we learned that Phamus Wines typically produces between 150 to 200 cases each year. Each wine is produced in lots of only a few barrels at a time... talk about a passion project! The result is a finely crafted Cabernet Sauvignon.