Home › Wine Notes › Orin Swift Cellars (Dave Phinney)

Orin Swift, Palermo Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

RedUnited States2015

By Daniel Min · Tasted 2020-03-14 · Published 2026-09-23 · Updated 2026-09-23

In one paragraphOrin Swift's Palermo Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is a Cabernet Sauvignon-led blend (with small amounts of Merlot and Malbec) sourced from top Napa Valley vineyards, at 15.5% ABV. Founder Dave Phinney discovered wine during a 1995 semester abroad in Italy, then in 2000 released just 385 cases of a Zinfandel-based blend called The Prisoner. That brand grew to 85,000 cases a year within a decade, and in 2010 Phinney sold it to Huneeus Vintners for roughly $40 million. He built a new label, Orin Swift, from his father's middle name and his mother's maiden name — and in 2016, Orin Swift itself was acquired by E. & J. Gallo. On Vivino, this 2015 vintage has 10,141 ratings averaging 4.3 (the wine overall: 35,535 ratings, 4.3), with three listed critic scores of 91, 97+ and 93. The nose leads decisively with an oak group — oak, vanilla, chocolate (2,997 mentions) — followed by black fruit: blackberry, plum (2,471). Structure: intensity a very high 4.8/5, tannin 3.4, acidity 3.4. Drinking window: 2018–2028. I scored it 4.0. World average price: US$57 per 750ml ex-tax (Wine-Searcher, Sept 2026) per 750ml, ex-tax, Wine-Searcher.

At a glance

In one line

4.0/5 — lower than Vivino's 4.3 average · world avg price US$57 · Dave Phinney, once a political science student, hit it big with The Prisoner in 2000, sold the brand in 2010 for around $40 million, then started over under "Orin Swift" — named for his parents — with this Napa Cabernet.

Three critic scores are listed on Vivino — 91 (likely Wine Advocate, Mar 2018), 97+ (Sept 2018), 93 (Dec 2018). Wine Advocate's 91 is also listed separately on wine.com (checked Sept 2026).

Market note: Wine.com listed the 2015 vintage at a regular price of $50, discounted to $42.99 (checked Sept 2026, now out of stock). The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon-led with small amounts of Merlot and Malbec — Orin Swift describes the fruit for this wine as "treated to the same standard as the flagship Palermo (Mercury Head)."

Father's note — Daniel Min

Original author of the notes

2020-03-14 4.0 ★★★★☆

oakvanillablackberrycassispepperleatherbitter almonds

“다들 조금은 어려운 와인이 라며 쉽게 넘기기 어려울거라 해서 조금 겁먹었는데(라벨도 한몫했다) 웬걸 괜찮은데요. 다들 그런 반응. 처음 오픈시 아로마나 부케는 전형적인 나파까쇼이나 팔레트에서 먼가 씁슬한 다가가기 힘든 느낌이 있었는데 지금보니 말벡이 블렌딩 되어 있었네. 재밌네요. 하지만 브리딩을 많이 하니 그마저도 순화돼요. 생각보다 어렵지 않은 와인. 추천 많이 해도 괜찮아요. (라벨이 무섭지만.)”

Tidied by Haru

Show original

“oak vanilla blackberry cassis pepper leather bitter almonds 다들 조금은 어려운 와인이 라며 쉽게 넘기기 어려울거라 해서 조금 겁^^먹었는데(라벨도 한목했다^^) 왠걸 괜찮은데요~~ 다들 그런반응~~ 처음 오픈시 아로마나 부케는 전형적인 나파까쇼이나 팔레트에서 먼가 씁슬한 다가가기 힘든 느낌이 있었는데 지금보니 말벡이 블랜딩 되있었네~~ ㅎㅎ 재밌네요~~ 하지만 브리딩을 많이 하니 그마져도 순화되요~~ 생각보다 어렵지 않은 와인^^ 추천많이 해도 괜찮아요~~(라벨이 무섭지만~~^^)”

Min Haru Aspiring sommelier Level 1 · Cork

oakvanillablackberryA memory from March, at twenty-one

What I learned today: even behind a scary label, some wines soften if you wait.

Friday is the busiest night. Before the crowd arrives, I photograph the day's bottle first. Father always took a picture of a bottle before he drank it, and the habit came straight to me. Orin Swift Palermo. I raised my phone and the label was a little… scary. Minjae looked over my shoulder and took a step back.

In Father's notebook, he'd felt the same. Everyone said it was a difficult wine, so he was nervous, and "the label played a part too." But his verdict: "Not as difficult as I thought. Though the label is scary." That parenthetical was so him that I laughed out loud.

Master Seo decanted it and poured much later. Oak, vanilla, blackberry, a bitter edge at the end. (In that bitterness one frame passed: early spring when I was twenty-one, Father's hand slowly swirling a glass. I don't know the bottle.) With time it really did soften. Master Seo told us about the man behind the label: someone headed for law school who made wine instead, and put a print his parents gave him on his first label.

What I learned today: even behind a scary label, some wines soften if you wait.

What this wine is

Dave Phinney grew up in Los Angeles, the son of a microbiologist father and a psychologist mother. He studied political science at the University of Arizona with law school in mind, but internships talked him out of that path, and a 1995 semester abroad in Italy opened his eyes to wine instead. In 2000, with no real plan, he made a Zinfandel-based blend from whatever fruit he could get his hands on and released it as 385 cases at $25 a bottle — The Prisoner. The label reused a Francisco Goya etching his parents had given him. The wine became an unplanned hit, growing to 85,000 cases a year within a decade, but Phinney increasingly felt run by the brand rather than the other way around. "It's an animal," he later said. "Something had to give. It was going to run me." In 2010, Huneeus Vintners bought The Prisoner brand (along with Saldo Zinfandel) for roughly $40 million — a sale Phinney credits with, in his words, saving his marriage.

The label he built after leaving The Prisoner behind was Orin Swift — its name a combination of his father's middle name and his mother's maiden name, a personal story built directly into the brand. Under it he experimented across styles: Rhône-inspired blends, Cabernets, and the international Locations line. Then, in June 2016, Orin Swift itself was acquired by E. & J. Gallo — another turning point in Phinney's career.

Palermo is built around Cabernet Sauvignon Orin Swift sources from "some of the best vineyards in Napa Valley," rounded out with small amounts of Merlot and Malbec. The winery describes the fruit for this wine as handled "as if destined for" its flagship Palermo bottling, Mercury Head — meaning it comes from the same vineyards and the same selection standard as the top tier, released at a slightly more accessible price as a kind of second-tier Cabernet. The label follows Phinney's signature style of vintage photo-and-print collage, though I couldn't find an official description of exactly what imagery this particular label uses.

What the world says

This 2015 vintage has 10,141 Vivino ratings averaging 4.3 — exactly matching the wine's overall average across 35,535 ratings. Three critic scores are listed: 91 (likely Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Mar 2018), 97+ (Sept 2018) and 93 (Dec 2018); Wine Advocate's 91 also appears separately on wine.com (checked Sept 2026).

The flavor keywords lead decisively with the oak group — oak, vanilla, chocolate, tobacco — at 2,997 mentions, followed by black fruit: blackberry, plum, cassis (2,471). Structure: intensity 4.8/5, among the most powerful Napa Cabernets covered in this magazine, with tannin 3.4 and acidity 3.4 keeping it balanced.

"Excellent vintage. Aromas of blackberry, forest floor and Bing cherry. Flavors of blackberry, cassis and dark cocoa. Medium tannins, smooth all the way through." — Vivino review, May 2018, 4.5 stars

"Found a '15 on a restaurant list. A blend of Cab Sauv (mostly), Merlot and Cab Franc, aged 10 months in French oak, 35% new. Very dark red, big structure." — Vivino review, Dec 2018, 4.5 stars

Drinking window: 2018–2028. I drank mine in March 2020, early in that window.

How I drank it

14 March 2020, 4.0 stars. "Oak, vanilla, blackberry, cassis, pepper, leather, bitter almonds... Everyone said it was a bit of a difficult wine, hard to just breeze through, so I went in a little nervous (the label didn't help). But it turned out fine~~ everyone had the same reaction~~ On first pour the aroma and bouquet were a typical Napa cab, but the palate had this bitter, hard-to-approach feeling — and now I realize there was Malbec blended in~~ ha, interesting~~ but with plenty of breathing it mellows out too~~ Easier than expected. Worth recommending widely~~ (even if the label is scary~~)" A note that shows Orin Swift's signature weathered-collage label actually does make people hesitate.

The interesting bit is the belated discovery of Malbec in the blend — Palermo is Cabernet Sauvignon-led but carries small amounts of Merlot and Malbec, and that early impression of something "bitter and hard to approach" turns out to have had a real source. Wine.com's own description of this wine's blend also lists it as Cabernet Sauvignon-led with small amounts of Merlot and Malbec, confirming that what the table noticed that night was accurate. The observation that long breathing (decanting) softened that rougher edge also lines up with Vivino's structure data — intensity at 4.8/5 but tannin only 3.4, a powerful wine whose tannin itself isn't extreme and rounds out with air.

I gave it 4.0, 0.3 below the community average of 4.3. The closing line — "the label's scary, but recommend it anyway" — nails the gap between the loud, intimidating label design and how genuinely approachable the wine actually is.

Vivino community data

2015 vintage rating distribution (10141 ratings, average 4.3)

Most-mentioned aromas

Structure: Acidity 3.4/5 · Intensity 4.8/5 · Tannin 3.4/5 · Sweetness 1.8/5

Average by vintage (all vintages: 35535 ratings, average 4.3)

Other wines Father scored 4.0 →

Read next

Swipe for more →

‹

Same producer

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (Napa Valley)

United States · Napa★★★★½

Same producer

Orin Swift, Mercury Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

United States · Napa★★★★½Same producer

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars ARTEMIS Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

United States · Napa★★★★½Similar style

Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 (Napa Valley)

United States · Napa★★★★★Similar style

Starmont Carneros Pinot Noir 2014

United States · Napa★★★☆☆Similar style

Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017

United States★★★½☆Similar style

Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

United States · Napa★★★★☆Same grape

Château La Lagune Haut-Médoc 1970

France · Bordeaux★★★★★Same grape

Seña 2012

Chile★★★★½Same grape

Antinori, Tenuta Tignanello 'Solaia' 2012

Italy · Tuscany★★★★★Same grape

Vieux Château Gaubert, Graves Rouge 1999

France · Bordeaux★★½☆☆Same grape

Château Mont-Pérat, Bordeaux Rouge 2016

France · Bordeaux★★★☆☆

›

More from Napa, United States

Swipe for more →

‹

Napa

Far Niente Chardonnay 2019

★★★★☆Napa

Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 (Napa Valley)

★★★★★Napa

Starmont Carneros Pinot Noir 2014

★★★☆☆Napa

Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 2017

★★★★☆Napa

Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

★★★★☆Napa

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (Napa Valley)

★★★★½

Napa

Orin Swift, Mercury Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

★★★★½

Napa

Caymus Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

★★★★☆Napa

Clos du Val, Pinot Noir 2016 (Los Carneros)

★★★★☆Napa

Napa by N.A.P.A., Michael's Red 2015

★★★★☆

›

Explore

01

Bottles Father gave five stars

Only the wines Father scored a perfect 5

→

02

Wines in manga, film and history

Bottles that show up in manga, film and history

→

03

Wines you can buy at the supermarket

Wines actually bought at the supermarket

→

Frequently asked questions

Links & sources

View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher

• Vivino — wine page and community data
• Wine Spectator Top 100 (2016) — Making It Look Easy (Dave Phinney interview)
• Wine Spectator — E. & J. Gallo Purchases Wine Brand Orin Swift Cellars
• Orin Swift official — Palermo
• wine.com — Orin Swift Cellars Palermo Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 product page

Read next

Swipe for more →

‹

Same producer

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (Napa Valley)

United States · Napa★★★★½

Same producer

Orin Swift, Mercury Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

United States · Napa★★★★½Same producer

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars ARTEMIS Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

United States · Napa★★★★½Similar style

Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 (Napa Valley)

United States · Napa★★★★★Similar style

Starmont Carneros Pinot Noir 2014

United States · Napa★★★☆☆Same grape

Château La Lagune Haut-Médoc 1970

France · Bordeaux★★★★★

›