Bevan Cellars

Bevan Cellars was founded by Russell Bevan and his then wife, Victoria De Crescenzo in 2005. In late 2025 Glencoe, Illinois based Middleton Partners acquired De Crescenzo’s stake in the company; today they, Russell and his wife Heidi are owners of Bevan Cellars. Russell’s personality is considerable; he is a straight shooter, a doer, someone who thinks outside of the box and who has brought his own style of vineyard management and wine making to Napa Valley. In contemporary Napa Valley wine making, he is leading the charge – working with some of the best vineyards in the valley and producing wines that are opulent, energetic and rich – well-textured, both on the bouquet and palate.

Russell has a led a varied life – born in Ukiah, CA he earned his Master’s in Philosophy from Gonzaga University, worked in Minneapolis selling dental equipment, wrote a syndicated column which was published in the Wine Spectator and then became a self-taught winemaker with his first vintage in 2005. He met Victoria at a dental convention in Des Moines. She introduced Russell to a number of wines early in their relationship – bringing home mostly Italian wines (which they would often try in a blind tasting). Russell’s interest was piqued, and he began to explore wines from other regions including Bordeaux and Burgundy.

As he became more passionate about wine, in 1998 he began frequenting the online public wine forums on the Wine Spectator’s website. Being a sponge and building his knowledge rather quickly, he soon became a sought-after resource on the internet for wine advice and bottle recommendations. After making their first trip to Napa Valley in 1996 Russell and Victoria returned numerous times, often hosting other wine enthusiasts for dinners or winemaker events.

As fortune would have it, Russell’s company transferred him to the San Francisco Bay Area and he and Victoria purchased a small vineyard and a home in the Bennett Valley AVA near Santa Rosa. Russell continued to develop relationships with a number of vintners he had met over the years including Kal & Dorothy Showket owners of what was the Showket Vineyard at the time (later the vineyard was sold to Peter Michael Winery). During a party at the Showkets in early 2003, Kal casually asked Russell if he wanted to purchase some of his Cabernet Sauvignon. The answer was yes. Russell’s first ‘garage’ wine was from the Showket Vineyard – with friends, the vineyard was picked by hand and the grapes carefully sorted into bins, categorized as ripe, over ripe and under ripe fruit (each of these lots was fermented separately).

When Russell presented Kal with a bottle of his home wine, Kal was duly impressed. Russell realized he was onto something good. And Kal soon hired him as the Showket winemaker, Russell’s first winemaking job in the Napa Valley. Russell then purchased more fruit from the Showket Vineyard along with fruit from the Haystack Vineyard in the Bennett Valley AVA in Sonoma County – and in 2005 made limited production vineyard designate wines from each of these sites, the inaugural releases of Bevan Cellars.

Robert Parker tasted Bevan Cellars barrel samples in 2007 and awarded them high scores. Receiving critical acclaim combined with praise from consumers, Russell and Victoria decided to take their fledgling brand to the next level. They cashed out their 401K, IRA and took out a mortgage on their home to raise capital to fund their winemaking ventures. Bad timing – the global economic downturn began in 2008 – not necessarily a good time to be building a young wine brand. But then came the Epstein Rescue. Eric Epstein, a friend of Bevan’s from New York had visited Russell previously and enjoyed the Bevan Wines; when needing capital just to finish bottling one of their vintages and keep the young brand afloat, Russell reached out to Eric asking for help. They mutually decided to host a party featuring wines from Bevan Cellars; Eric invited a bunch of his friends who then purchased wine and futures enabling Bevan Cellars to continue to grow. Today Russell produces a wine in Eric’s honor, the EE Red Wine from the Tench Vineyard.

In subsequent years, wines from Bevan Cellars began to earn scores in the high 90’s from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. Sales began to increase, and the wines gained more notoriety. And then in 2011 Russell had access to the Tin Box Vineyard (one of the vineyard sites that Screaming Eagle founder, Jean Philips acquired after the sale of Screaming Eagle). Russell’s wine from this vineyard from this vintage was the only wine in Napa that year to earn a 100-point score from Robert Parker.

In Napa Valley, Russell looks for vineyards that have what he calls the “wow factor” and more often than not, these are vineyards located in eastern Oakville, arguably one of the valley’s sweetest spots for premium red wines. This vineyard neighborhood reads like the who’s who of some of Napa’s most well-regarded producers including Dalla Valle, Oakville Ranch, the Backus Vineyard owned by Joseph Phelps and Screaming Eagle.

And in 2015, Russell and Victoria bought into this exclusive neighborhood; they purchased the 41-acre Saunders Vineyard (located on the eastern slopes of Oakville between Peter Michael’s Au Paradis Vineyard (formerly Showket) and Oakville Ranch. The site is planted to 7 acres of vines including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. NOTE: Bevan Cellars has since sold this vineyard to Miner Family.

Russell learned early on about one significant requirement for all vineyards he works with: he must maintain full control of the farming practices. And while each of the Bevan wines we tried are all unique, Russell has his own style. His wines are sturdy and concentrated yet despite these powerful attributes are remarkably approachable in their youth. One of Russell’s hallmark stylistic influences on wine is texture – how he deftly manages tannins while creating wines that feature a seamless quality, a harmonious integration between fruit and firm, yet supple tannins.

Select Wines, Bevan Cellars
Whites
The 2022 Bevan Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Stack Vineyard Bennett Valley is 100% varietal from an Italian clone. This wine is medium gold in color; our first impression is of honeyed aromatics including honeycomb and honeysuckle. The bouquet is a fully ripe expression of the variety offering additional aromas of pineapple, apple skin, yellow nectarine, ripe papaya, apricot, yellow mango and a note of vanilla. Its aromatics remind us of sitting on a beach on one of the less visited islands in eastern Thailand eating a plate full of fresh tropical fruit. Fully ripe and an expression of California warmth and sunshine, this wine tastes like pineapple guava, golden apples, white nectarine, golden plums, lychee and mandarin orange. The lightly fleshy texture is balanced by the vibrancy of the acidity. This is a ripe but really nicely balanced expression of the variety.

Reds
The 2022 Bevan Cellar Ontogeny is primarily a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon from Tench Vineyard with grapes also from the following sites: Sugarloaf, Harbison, Wildfoote, Saunders and Sage Ridge. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; its aromas include dark cherry, blackberry, dark plum, dark raspberry and Persian mulberry with a strong hit of dark cocoa powder along with mocha, chocolate and smoked cedar. This wine delivers loads of pleasure, layering and opulence in its youth with flavors of ripe blackberry, dark cherry, boysenberry and ripe plums. But also plenty of pleasing barrel influence including both milk and dark chocolate and Graham cracker. The tannins are gravelly, with most of the edges rounded already three years post vintage

The 2016 Bevan Cellars Wildefoot Vixen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal; it shows a captivating bouquet, an interesting mix of aromas including blackberry, bacon fat and dark chocolate. Very concentrated, the wine reveals flavors of plum, ripe blackberry and raspberry, anchored by long lasting tightly woven yet-fine grained tannins. This vineyard is located within the Stags Leap District. Purchased by Jean Phillips (founder of Screaming Eagle) in 2011 this 114-acre site was originally developed by Si and June Foote, the founders of the Napa Valley Land Trust. In 2022 Wildfoote Vineyard was purchased by Shafer Vineyards.

In another eastern Oakville play, Russell sources fruit from the Tench Vineyard, 42 planted acres on a site growing premium Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (and what is rare for Oakville, a small part of the vineyard is planted to Sauvignon Blanc). The soils change dramatically from the east to the west sides of the property, to the east featuring red rocky iron rich soils that are characteristic of the eastern Oakville benchlands and higher into Pritchard Hill – and to the west, the property features alluvial and clay soils. One of Russell’s favorite activities while introducing visitors to the Tench Vineyard is to throw his vehicle in reverse and show visitors how quickly the soil types change. Or simply walking through the vineyard rows, it is fairly easy to see the dividing line between these two remarkably different soil types. This is a prime part of Oakville- immediate neighbors are Screaming Eagle, Gargiulo Vineyards and Harbison.

Tench Vineyard

The 2016 Bevan Cellars Tench Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from two distinctive blocks within this vineyard and is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot. Dark, dark and darker in the glass. This wine is meaty and savory on the bouquet, with aromas of mushroom, black olive and white pepper along with blackberry and a thread of mocha as the wine breathes further. The savory aspects of the bouquet continue somewhat onto the palate – richly layered this wine showcases a remarkable depth of flavor (black fruits) without harsh structure. Juicy on the finish and mouthwatering. Dense and dusty tannins are firm yet fine grained. They complement the stature of the wine rather than detract.

One of Napa’s larger and more impressive vineyards is Sugarloaf Vineyard (at nearly 700 acres, vines flow in all directions along the rolling hills overlooking San Pablo Bay to the south and the southern Napa city limits). Bevan sources his Cabernet Franc from select blocks within the vineyard. This vineyard is predominately planted to Bordeaux varieties – growing in a part of Napa historically thought to be too cold to ripen red varieties. An important characteristic of this vineyard (despite its size) is a consistency of rocks throughout the property. Russell describes the site as a ‘no soil’ vineyard – when one has a chance to walk through block after block, one clearly sees what he means.

Piles of rock literally line some of the vineyard rows for as far as the eye can see. Despite the closer proximity to the cooling influences of the San Pablo Bay, it is this rock that actually helps mitigate some of the cooler temperatures at night. It acts as a huge heat sink or solar collector during the day and then radiates back some of this collected heat at night. Afternoon breezes often kick up – cooling things down later in the day. Fog is common in the morning. Hang time is long with harvest often occurring in October and sometimes in November.

Russell practices what he calls “aggressive farming” of the Cabernet Franc block used in the Bevan Cellars wine from this vineyard. This involves denuding (removing) the leaf canopy right around the fruit zone on the vines during fruit set (very early in the growing season). As a result, these grapes receive more direct sunshine throughout the rest of the season. When one walks this vineyard block (in stark contrast to all the neighboring blocks) one clearly sees the fruit isn’t immediately protected by leaves, leaving it exposed to more direct sunshine and air flow throughout the day.

And perception is not always reality. Several premium winemakers were offered fruit from the blocks that Russell now manages, but they turned down the offer due to the vineyard’s southern location and their perception that this vineyard is in a location that would not properly ripen every year.

Sugarloaf Vineyard

The 2016 Bevan Cellars Sugarloaf Vineyard is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. Savory on the palate, shows aromas of old cedar box, black fruit including blackberry, Graham cracker and as the wine opens a dessert spice nuance shows. Offers a remarkable intensity on the palate – one would be hard pressed to identify the majority of this wine as Merlot in a blind tasting. The tannins are slightly dusty, long lasting and without any harsh edges whatsoever. A big wine with power but also with restraint – this a very impressive showing.

Sentinel Ridge is a gorgeous 12-acre property perched on the rocky slopes of Howell Mountain at an elevation of about 1,700 feet with exceptional views looking down valley to the south. And its tiny 1.3 acre vineyard produces exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2021 Bevan Cellars Sentinel Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby and opaque; a nose full of opulence, ripe fruits and baking spices, this wine delivers plenty of pleasure in its youth. Its scents include dark raspberry, Santa Rosa plum, dark cherry, old cedar box, pepper and roasted herbs. Intensely flavored across the palate, this wine tastes like ripe blackberry, dark cherry and Satsuma plum. And its fruit is paralleled by a lasting dark, savory and what Bevan calls a ‘wildness’, characteristics of smoked cedar, smoked meats, crushed dark pepper, dried sage, dried bay leaves, tobacco and chalk. The tannins are already remarkably well tumbled, three years post vintage and linger with a gravelly and dusty character which outlasts the fruit on the extended finish. Impressive. For best results in terms of a food pairing, try a spicy dry rub Wagyu beef and a BBQ.

Sentinel Ridge Vineyard

Russell also produces extremely limited production wines from several premium east Oakville located vineyards including Tin Box (owned by Jean Phillips) and Harbison, a tiny vineyard sandwiched between Screaming Eagle and Tench Vineyard. These wines are usually only a barrel or two a year and bottles are highly allocated among their club members.

The 2018 Bevan Cellars Harbison Vineyard is dark ruby in color; initially offers a slight mushroom and earthy note before the wine has had much time to breathe in the glass. Give this wine time to open and when it does the fruit begins to show including notes of blue fruits along with a lavender/floral note. Also, some hints of dried herbs. Offers plenty of fruit across the palate and is anchored by gravelly tannins of medium grip. The finish lingers somewhat savory with darker spices and some earthy/dusty notes. Offered plenty of complexity, especially on the palate, to pique our interest.

The 2014 Bevan Cellars McGah Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is dark purple to black in color; the bouquet shows a sweet yet elegant note, a ripeness if you will but not a jamminess. Aromas of both fruit (blackberry and raspberry) and dessert spices including hints of cinnamon and brown sugar. As the wine breathes almost an iron quality comes out in the aromas, subtle, but there, nonetheless. Immediately noticeable on the palate is a density and intensity – both in flavor and in structure. Darker fruit mostly, plum and blackberry. The tannins are pronounced but without any harsh edges. They are grainier and denser in their textural feel rather than coarse and gritty. Bevan Cellars only produced wines from this particular vineyard for several years and no longer makes wines from this vineyard. McGah Vineyard was owned by the same family that co-founded the Oakland Raiders.

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FMK, The Wine Game
Heidi and her business partner Kathleen Warshawsky, both entrepreneurs created Flirt, Marry, Kill-It! (FMK), the fun and playful wine focused game. This unique game turns traditional wine tastings into fun gatherings incorporating an element of light-hearted competition.

Players will taste three wines blind (covered in the included wine sleeves and collars to prevent bias), create unconventional tasting notes and then rate your attraction to each wine as either, a flirt, a marry or a kill-it. Who knows? Perhaps this game will lead to even more fun later? For more information and to purchase the game and related accessories, visit: www.fmkthewinegame.com

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Total production is around 8,000 cases annually but varies slightly depending on the year. Bevan Cellars offers two releases a year, a Spring Release of lighter style varieties including Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Sonoma County and what they call the Bordeaux Release, Napa red wines in the Fall. As of our latest update, Bevan Cellars produces wines in two locations, one in St. Helena and the other in Oakville; visits can be arranged to taste the wines at Brasswood in St. Helena, hosted by one of their hospitality team members. For more information or to order wine, visit www.bevancellars.com

ARCHIVED NOTES
Adversity Cellars
Adversity Cellars produced their inaugural vintage in 2019 and their last vintage in 2023. Several of their single vineyard designate wines are now bottled under Bevan Cellars. The word adversity invites another accompanying word, overcome. And it’s about overcoming adversity that is at the root of Russell and Heidi Bevan’s wine brand relating to not only the types of vineyards they work with, but in one’s own life and also relating to the world of making wine in Napa Valley.

We will highlight just a few of the significant adversities the valley has had to work through in about a 10-year span from 2014 through 2023. In 2014 an earthquake caused major damage in the city of Napa as well as to numerous winery operations located around the epicenter of the quake. Fires are an inherent part of California’s landscape, but starting in 2017 through 2020, Napa Valley was subjected to a number of fire events which significantly altered the landscape. The resulting smoke created its own issues, and a number of wineries did not produce wines in 2017 and 2020 due to smoke taint problems. Having spent almost all our life in this part of California, we’ve never ever experienced such intense firestorms as during these few years. And like much of the world in 2020 and 2021, the valley dealt with the peculiarities responding to a global virus.

Similar to Bevan Cellars and his other projects, Russell is very particular about which vineyard sites he works with; Adversity Cellars focuses on primarily sourcing from mountain and low vigor sites in which vines have to struggle and overcome the adversity of their growing conditions. And he is equally as careful in the cellar where paying attention to details are among the most important overall aspects of winemaking. His godson told us one such supporting story. He began foot treading a small lot of grapes and Russell quickly noticed he was breaking too many berries and exposing the seeds (can impart a harshness into the wines) and had him stop.

Select Wines, Adversity Cellars
Chardonnay
The 2020 Adversity Cellars Chardonnay is from the 5 Wells Vineyard near Sebastopol in Sonoma County. The grapes are growing in very sandy soils. Stylistically, Russell refers to this as his perfect blend of old world meets new world – however, there is plenty of California ripeness in this bottling. This wine is deep gold in color; the bouquet is generous with aromas of warm butter (shows more on the bouquet than as flavor), caramel, ripe Golden Delicious apple and honeycomb. The honeyed flavors are of ripe stone fruits including nectarine, apricot, peaches in light syrup along with a lingering brightness of citrus like flavors (more tangerine/mandarin like than lemon/lime) and acidity. This wine is a rich texturally and fruit driven expression of the variety. It is ok to simply refer to it as, ‘liquid gold’.

Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2023 Adversity Cellars Melanson Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon; this wine is deep ruby and opaque. It is dark in terms of its fruit and spice attributes; it’s aromatics include satsuma plum, coral cherry at the peak of ripeness, blackberry and blueberry. And there is a healthy dose of oak including smoked cedar and old cedar box. It’s flavors include dark cherry, blackberry and dark plum. The oak also makes its presence felt on the finish, lingering with a note of cedar. The tannins are firmly gripping and fully coat the palate with their persistent drying and dusty character. But they hold up to the power and intensity of the fruit quite well. This mountain grown wine has plenty of girth but never feels heavy. This will be extremely cellar worthy bottle.

Sage Ridge Vineyard is located above the shores of Lake Hennessey but is not located in Pritchard Hill. It is owned by Judy Jordan (Jordan Winery) and was formerly owned by Pat Kuleto (known for his restaurants including in San Francisco and his namesake winery). This hillside property is 602 acres of which about 60 are planted to grapevines. The site ranges in elevation from approximately 800 to 1500 feet. Adversity Cellars winemaking and logistical manager, Samuel Rubbelke spends time in this vineyard during harvest and told us that the Cabernet Sauvignon produces some of the tightest bunches and smallest berries of any of the vineyards Bevan works with. Bevan refers to this wine as primal. A number of premium producers have or continue to purchase grapes from Sage Ridge including Napa Valley based Modus Operandi and Montagu Cellars.

The 2019 Adversity Cellars Sage Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (blended with a small amount of Petit Verdot) is deep ruby with purplish tinges on the rim of the glass and is fairly opaque; the sweetly fruited aromatics include ripe blackberry, boysenberry, mulberry, fresh rose petals and violets. It also smells like blackberry jam; deeper in the bouquet are notes of clove, cardamom and dark chocolate. It is highly aromatic and a very ripe aromatic expression. This wine features mouth-filling opulent fruit including blackberry and boysenberry. The tannins are ripe and polished and linger with a subtle savory note with a hint of black pepper, dried tobacco and old cedar. Of the wines we tried, perhaps this bottling is best candidate for ‘crowd pleaser’.

Adversity Cellars sourced grapes from the Erba Vineyard on the far eastern reaches of the Atlas Peak appellation including Cabernet Sauvignon. Erba Vineyard is planted in a extremely rocky soils, the site can be windy, sometimes experiences shatter and is usually among the last of the vineyards Russell works with to be harvested.

The 2019 Adversity Cellars Erba Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby/purple and nearly opaque to look at in the glass; the bouquet offers ripe and sweetly fruited aromatics of blackberry, boysenberry and mulberry. Ever smelled a ripe Santa Rosa plum developed by horticulturist Luther Burbank? Parts of this bouquet are reminiscent of that particular fruit. And there are a number of secondary aromatics including of mocha, espresso and a scent that is partially chocolate and partially old cedar box. The palate is juicy and filled with fruit including ripe plum, blackberry, boysenberry and dark licorice. The tannins offer a light to medium grip, linger slightly dusty along with a note of cedar wood. This wine finishes brightly with long-lasting fruit. Like with Sugarloaf Vineyard near the city of Napa, Russell denudes leaves on these vines to open up the canopy on the morning side of the vines to ensure maximum sun exposure during the cooler parts of the day.

Phelan Ranch is located in the hills above Lake Hennessey on top of Greeg Mountain. The property is planted to 21 acres of vines including a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, organized into 19 distinctive blocks. One of the blocks is called Jefe, the source for their wine of the same name.

The 2023 Adversity Cellars Phelan Ranch ‘Jefe’ Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby and opaque; dark fruited, this wine offers loads of aromatic depth. It smells like blackberry, dark cherry and dark plum, toasted cedar, and dessert spices including nutmeg and cardamom. It eventually opens to a layer of mocha. Hedonistic and both intensely flavored and seriously structured, this wine tastes like dark plum and blackberry; in its youth, its dark and savory spices dominate over the fruit. These include flavors of crushed peppercorns, roasted herbs, dried sage, dried bay leaf, tar and roasted meats. This is one of the darker and spicier bottlings we have had from Bevan. The firmly gripping and chewy tannins coat the palate with a pronounced fully mouth coating and long lasting presence. Time this finish; its length is absolutely remarkable. Jefe is the perfect descriptor for this wine. It is clearly the boss.

As of our latest update to this review, Adversity Cellars also produces several other very limited production Cabernet Sauvignon wines including from the Harbison Vineyard in Oakville and The Papas, a Cabernet Sauvignon dominated blend. In 2020, Adversity Cellars produced an appropriately named Cabernet Sauvignon called ‘Catastrophe’.

The 2021 Adversity Cellars ‘Catostrophy’ (as listed on the front label) Cabernet Sauvignon (or as listed on the back label the correct spelling of the word, Catastrophe) is deep purple and opaque; the bouquet is an enthusiastic celebration of both varietal opulence and contemporary Napa Valley hedonism. If offers scents of blackberry and boysenberry jam, dark cherry, wild sage, dark pepper, old cedar box, dark chocolate, toast, charred wood and deeper in the aromas, a layer of mocha. Simply smelling this wine makes us think of Russell speaking excitedly about its aromatic depth. It is richly flavored, but without any textural adversity. Rather the tannins are plush, soft and remarkably rounded for mountain fruit only 2.5 years post vintage at the time of our tasting. This bottling reveals flavors of dark cherry, blackberry and boysenberry, framed by a health portion of toasted oak, especially noticeable on the finish. Lingers with a savory character resulting from the woodsy spices. The grapes for this wine are from two vineyards including the 320-acre Phelan Ranch in the hills above Lake Hennessy and from a site in Rutherford.

Syrah
The 2019 Adversity Cellars Erba Vineyard Syrah Napa Valley is the darkest in color of any of the Adversity wines – a dark and inky showing best described as amaranthine. This wine spends 36 months aging in oak barrels. The bouquet is dark and shows plenty of aromatic depth and character. It is a bit brooding and offers scents of grilled meats, a light touch of black pepper and black olive. But there is plenty more to describe here including aromas of ripe blackberry, plum, dark chocolate, old cedar box, Graham Cracker and dark fig. This wine is rich and dark fruit flavored including of plum, blackberry and boysenberry. Its intensity is clearly felt but without any accompanying heavy structural component. Rather the tannins are plush and rounded with a lingering light gravelly-like texture. The finish continues to persist for quite some time with both fruit, a woodsy spice and a warmth of alcohol.

All their wine labels were unique works of abstract art by German born and based Christian Hetzel.