Scarecrow 2018 - the Crow-Storm Cabernet Bacchus Bottled for Lightning-Fast Gains

Cult Napa royalty crowned with 100 and 99-point reviews, up 80-100 percent since release, and fewer than 900 cases for investors quick enough to strike

The crow-storm that woke the vines

On a moon-dark equinox in 2018 a vortex of shadow-crows - spawn of Oizys, spirit of drought-despair - descended on Rutherford, draining color and perfume from the valley’s old Cabernet vines. Bacchus charged into the J. J. Cohn Estate, cloak lashing in the gale. From broken canes and copper trellis wire he spun a towering effigy and waited as the murder dove. The instant talons touched fruit, he hurled his ivy thyrsus skyward: lightning pierced the straw sentinel, ricocheted crimson through every row, and blasted the crows to ember ash. Dawn found the vineyard pulsing with storm-charged berries that became Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon 2018.

Numbers that back the legend

Released to the mailing list at $450–500 per 750 ml, bottles now list $750–950 and routinely hammer above $900 at Sotheby’s and Zachys - a solid 80–100 percent gain while the California 50 Index trails behind. Production is tiny - roughly 800–900 cases - and magnums fetch up to double the per-bottle price. Critics form a near-mythic chorus: 98 points Wine Advocate, 100 points Jeb Dunnuck, 99 points James Suckling, 98 points Vinous, and a 97-point CellarTracker community average. At 14.8 percent ABV and built for 20–30 years, the value curve has only begun its climb.

Why investors chase the storm

• Scarcity - allocations vanish on release, forcing secondary buyers into bidding wars.
• Prestige - Scarecrow stands with Screaming Eagle and Harlan yet still sits one price tier lower, giving headroom.
• Vintage quality - 2018 delivered textbook ripeness without heat spikes, adding classical cachet.
• Liquidity - steady two-way flow on Liv-ex, WineBid, and Cult Wines, especially for pristine OWC lots.

Squalls to watch

Entry near $800 is steep, and ultra-premium Napa can wobble in macro shocks. Counterfeits shadow every blue-chip label - stick to vetted merchants and digital provenance. Yet with output under one thousand cases, genuine supply squeezes historically push prices upward, not down.

Cellar playbook

Anchor holdings with tissue-wrapped three-packs or OWC sixes; store at 55°F and 70 percent humidity in bonded storage. Add a magnum or two for scarcity torque. Schedule your first valuation in 2030 when tertiary cedar and cigar-box emerge and decade retrospectives hit the press - sell a tranche to recoup cost, then ride the rest into the 2040s.

Bacchus’ toast

Raising a glass that crackles with faint sparks, he laughs: “I turned a crow-storm into living lightning - cellar this Scarecrow 2018 and watch your balance sheet flash as bright as a Napa sky in vintage thunder.”