Building a Great American Wine Cellar

Bloomberg

June 2025

Elin McCoy, wine critic at Bloomberg, tackles an important question in today’s wine world: Can you build a great wine cellar using only American bottles? In this article, McCoy explores the thrill of exploring wine styles around the world and building a collection that represents a wide range of styles.

“Collecting isn’t about cost at all. Rather, it’s about acquiring bottles that are special because of the tiny differences of flavor and aroma.” McCoy continues by saying that wine doesn’t just represent where the grapes were grown, but that each bottle also shines a light on the people who helped bring that wine together.

So, which wines make the cut in this exercise of building a great American wine cellar? McCoy writes, “if you’re thinking investment and want to splash out the big bucks, my Napa short list includes Dominus, Opus One, Harlan Estate, Colgin Cellars, Screaming Eagle and Scarecrow.”

“My No. 1 choice for a great collectible California cabernet is Ridge Vineyards’ Bordeaux-like Monte Bello bottling, which comes from the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco.“

–Elin McCoy

The Monte Bello vineyard, located only 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean, is part of the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, California’s coolest cabernet-producing area. It is our practice to let this unique vineyard site create the wine rather than try to steer it toward a particular style in the cellar. We accomplish this through our winemaking philosophy—which we call ‘pre-industrial’—a combination of natural, low-tech, hands-off winemaking techniques. Monte Bello has often been called America’s First Growth, as it is the finest domestic example of a classic Bordeaux blend in which cabernet sauvignon predominates.

Related Reading