Focused on quality instead of quantity, a father/son team is launching a wine brand this month with a small offering of a single varietal that’s been in the cellar the better part of this decade.

Ignacio Delgadillo, senior and junior, are bringing to market 245 cases of a cabernet sauvignon that spent 36 months aging in oak barrels and another five years in bottle in their upvalley cellar.

“Personally, we like old wines,” says son Ignacio. “My father is making wine in small lots, so he can afford to let the wine spend a lot of time in the cellar.

“Consumers have a lot of choices when it comes to buying wine — but not many options for older wines. We are offering them an opportunity to get an aged wine at the same price they would pay for a new release.”

That’s true — and $85 doesn’t seem a lot to pay for an aged cabernet sauvignon from the Napa Valley either.

Certainly, the Delgadillos aren’t in business for their health, but they’re not out to make a killing based on pomp and braggadocio. They’re welcoming guys who genuinely intend to share the fruits of their labors — and a cabernet sauvignon bearing their name is it.

Delgadillo Sr. has been around wine the better part of his life. He came to the Napa Valley from Jalisco, Mexico, in 1972 to work in the vineyards. He subsequently spent a couple of years cooking in the Bay Area before joining the Freemark Abbey workforce in 1975. For 21 years, Ignacio Delgadillo Sr. served as cellarmaster for Freemark Abbey, working in the renowned Red Barn on Rutherford Crossroad. In fact, his oldest son and namesake grew up in Rutherford.

“I’ve been following my father around on the tractor since I was six years old,” says Ignacio Jr. “While it’s been part of my life, taking care of vineyards has been a passion for my dad.”

On top of that, the family breadwinner saw an industry need and quickly moved to fill it in 1989. He founded Wine Country Boxes with a single employee, a firm that makes custom wooden boxes for single bottles, six packs and cases of premium Napa Valley wine. Freemark Abbey was his first customer, he points out.

Today Wine Country Boxes has grown into a firm that has 60 employees working two shifts, housed in a much larger facility just south of St. Helena.

The success of the box business allowed Delgadillo to retire from Freemark Abbey more than a decade ago and the opportunity to launch a wine brand with his oldest offspring.

“We do the farming ourselves,” notes the younger partner. “Fruit for the first four vintages comes exclusively from the sustainably dry-farmed Mill Creek Vineyard by the Bale Mill near Calistoga. A second vineyard — another that we manage in Coombsville — was added to the blend in 2005.”

Ignacio Delgadillo Sr. made the single varietal wine since the outset, with his eldest son sitting in on the blending sessions of late. Production for the second vintage in 2002 dropped below 100 cases, then nearly doubled the following year. Largest production to date was in 2005, about 500 cases, due to the fact that the Delgadillos had access to fruit from a second vineyard in Coombsville.

“We’ll never be anything more than a small lot winery,” says the senior Delgadillo. “Our focus will always be on quality, not quantity. My experience has been in the vineyard, taking care of the fruit.”

“When you have awesome grapes you can make great wine,” hastily adds Ignacio Jr. “We want to make great wine and make it available to as many people as possible.”

Wrapping up a wine strategies program at Sonoma State University at present, Ignacio Jr. is coming on board as marketing and brand manager for Delgadillo Cellars. For the moment, he intends to market the initial release of 2001 cabernet sauvignon to area consumers, a few restaurants and those who purchase wine online.

While they help in many ways during harvest, Ignacio Jr. isn’t sure if his siblings will join one of the family’s business endeavors in the future as both are still in school. His sister, Fabiola, is enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College, while his “little brother,” Eric (who just happens to be the tallest in the immediate family) is a senior at St. Helena High School and, maintains Ignacio, an outstanding musician.

A tasting of the first three vintages showed, to this palate, the wines improve with each vintage. But the first release is nothing to sneeze at:

• Delgadillo Cellars 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($85): Exhibiting aromas of a much younger wine, the vanilla of French oak combines with cherry and peppery notes on the nose. Soft, dry tannins are evident in this pleasant blend of red and black fruit on the palate that lingers and lingers. The lively fruit forward finish belies the fact that the alcohol is above 15 percent.

• Delgadillo Cellars 2002 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (n/a): An inviting nose of ripe, bright fruit greets the taster. A mineral undercurrent runs through the flavor profile, speaking to the gravelly soil where these grapes are grown. The intensity of the wine undoubtedly is traced to the fact that the harvest from three acres of old vines produced but 92 cases of wine — a rich, complex cab with oodles of black fruit.

• Delgadillo Cellars 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (n/a): An outstanding representation of hillside cabernet from Calistoga, this one should be even better when it’s released in a year or so. Right now, it’s a lush cab with silky tannins, ripe, juicy fruit and a tantalizingly layered finish of blueberries and blackberries.

The current release is packaged in one bottle boxes, as well as wooden boxes containing three or six bottles.

To purchase the wine or be added to the Delgadillo Cellars mailing list, log online at www.dcellars.com.