We’re thrilled to see three VINTUS winery partners–Far Mountain, Frog’s Leap, and Marietta Cellars–featured in VinePair’s newly released “The 30 Best Cabernet Sauvignons for 2026.” The roundup highlights the continued strength and evolution of California Cabernet, celebrating producers that balance power, site expression, and authenticity in a category that remains one of the most important in American wine.

Among the standouts, VinePair praised Frog’s Leap’s Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 as “one of the purest expressions of Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon” for its “rustic elegance and power”. Far Mountain’s Montecillo Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 earned recognition in the top tier of Cabernet selections over $100, underscoring the winery’s rising reputation for site-driven mountain wines. Marietta also earned a place in the conversation with its Old Vine Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that reflects the winery’s long-standing commitment to minimal-intervention winemaking and expressive California fruit. We’re proud to see these producers recognized alongside some of the most celebrated names in the world of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Check out the full list HERE.

Frog’s Leap La Grenouille Rouganté 2025 and Marietta Cellars Old Vine Ranch OVR Rosé 2025 both earned 92-point scores on VinePair’s “30 Best Rosés of 2026,” landing at No. 14 and No. 12 respectively on the publication’s annual ranking of their favorite pink wines. Frog’s Leap impressed with its Provence-inspired old-vine Mendocino Carignan, delivering “fuzzy summer peaches, strawberry tops, and minerals,” while Marietta’s Sonoma-based Syrah-Grenache blend was called out for “overdelivering on character and vibrant fruit flavor.”

Check out the full round up HERE.

Frog’s Leap is featured in VinePair’s recent roundup of Napa winemakers championing a livelier, more elegant style of Cabernet Sauvignon with a deliberate return to the vibrant, rustic expressions that first put Napa on the map. The article spotlights founder and winemaker John Williams’s minimalist approach in the cellar: reduced sulfites, minimal filtration, and a commitment to letting the wine express itself naturally. The result is their Rutherford Cabernet that VinePair describes as “powerfully rustic with notes of wild berries bouncing on the palate, slightly mellowed by a forest-floor undertone.” This is a rich and elegant cab, with tannins balanced by bright acidity. A well-deserved recognition for Frog’s Leap, and in excellent company alongside the likes of Corison and Matthiason.

Check out the article HERE.

VinePair rounds up the year’s best bottles in “The 30 Best Sauvignon Blancs for 2026,” and two picks stand out for their distinct takes on the grape.

Frog’s Leap Winery Concrete Aged Sauvignon Blanc 2024 ($60, 94 points) earns some of the piece’s highest praise, with Keith Beavers calling it, “This is one of the most unique American wines.” Sourced from Napa’s Rutherford AVA and produced by one of the country’s most sustainable wineries, the wine shows a soft, creamy nose of lemon curd and fresh herbs, with a palate that balances real depth against an angled acidity that never overwhelms the fruit.

On the Loire side, Domaine Hubert Brochard Sancerre 2025 ($45, 94 points) is singled out as a smart pick in a crowded, increasingly pricey category. VinePair notes it’s soft, juicy, and vibrant, with an even palate. While the flavors are subtle, the wine’s rounded, textured mouthfeel is what sets it apart from the sea of Sancerre on shelves.

Check out the full story HERE.

The New York Times’ Eric Asimov makes the case for a much-maligned grape in “Standing Up for Cabernet Sauvignon,” and Frog’s Leap earns a spot among his favorite mid-range picks in Napa.

Asimov argues that cabernet’s reputation has suffered less from the grape itself than from one particular style, heavy, oaky, alcoholic, and extravagantly fruity, that dominated from roughly 1985 to 2010. He makes clear he objects to that style too, but sees real beauty in Cabernet done well, preferring wines that are savory rather than sweet, often with floral aromas, closer to what he calls “great drinks” than fruit bombs.

On pricing, Asimov points to Frog’s Leap, alongside Matthiasson and Smith-Madrone, as one of his three favorite mid-range Napa Cabernets, each retailing around $75, a fair splurge relative to pricier favorites like Ridge Monte Bello or Mount Eden. He notes that while many top Bordeaux and Napa Cabernets are tannic when young and need a decade or more to soften, wines in this range are often approachable much sooner.

Read the article HERE (paywall).

Food & Wine’s Ray Isle makes the case for a new generation of California Zinfandel in “Zinfandel Lightens Up,” arguing that the grape has shed its reputation for heavy, high-alcohol, oak-soaked styles in favor of something leaner and more food-friendly, and Frog’s Leap and Marietta both land among his picks from the category’s established producers.

The 2023 Frog’s Leap Napa Valley Zinfandel draws on dry-farmed vines planted nearly 50 years ago, the heart of the winery’s Zinfandel program. Isle describes a nose of juicy red berries with a hint of clove, noting that “those berry flavors continue straight through, ending on leather and dried orange peel.” The 2022 Marietta Román Zinfandel, meanwhile, gets its character from small percentages of Barbera and Petite Sirah in the blend, which Isle says lend the wine a sweetly resinous aroma, plenty of juicy blue and red berry flavor, and a sweetly herbal, almost Christmassy finish.

Check out the full article HERE.

VinePair’s tasting panel rounds up the year’s standout wines in “The 50 Best Wines of 2026,” and Far Mountain and Frog’s Leap both crack the top 12, a strong showing for two VINTUS producers in a list that spans everything from grand cru Burgundy to upstart Santa Cruz Mountains projects.

Far Mountain earns well-deserved praise at #2 overall with its Montecillo Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, scoring an exceptional 98 points. It’s a remarkable showing for a winery that’s quickly become one of the most talked-about labels in California – Far Mountain was also recently named an emerging producer to watch by Vinous critic Antonio Galloni. Founded by Chilean winemaker Rodrigo Soto and his wife, Mai Errazuriz, the project centers on the historic Montecillo Vineyard, a dry-farmed, organic site sitting 1,800 feet up in Moon Mountain’s volcanic soils. VinePair highlights spiced plums, Alpine herbs, and cassis, framed by a firm structure, calling it “an impressive site-specific example of California Cab that reflects the strong potential that Soto and Errazuriz see in Sonoma’s mountainous terroirs.”

Frog’s Leap also earns an impressive spot at #12 with its Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, scoring 97 points. VinePair points to the winery’s decades of organic farming and dry-farming leadership in Napa Valley. This bottling, from the estate’s Rutherford AVA vineyard, is exactly the kind of refined, old-school Napa Cab that wine professionals rave about, coming in at a restrained 13.8% ABV with savory notes of cedar, anise, and smoke alongside wild berries and ripe plums.

See the full list HERE.