Perfection is so elusive in mankind, yet so abundant in nature. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Big Sur tower over even some the greatest achievements of mankind: the Pantheon, Citizen Kane and Moby Dick.

Yet perfection is a goal for many artists – the great masterpiece that will live throughout the ages. Many winemakers, instead of creating art with a canvass and paint, use grapes, yeast and barrels to create their art. Wine is a living art because of its constant evolution in the bottle from robust youth to exotic maturity. With the final curtain, the wine’s death is always vinegar.

How we do we gauge perfection with wine? First, we start with a great vintage, like the 1985 vintage in the Napa Valley for cabernet sauvignon. Then throw in a great winemaker like Nils Venge and the most influential and urbane wine critic in the world, Robert Parker Jr. Parker gave his first 100 points to the 1985 Groth reserve cabernet sauvignon, the first 100-point score given for a California wine – a perfect score.

I first saw Nils years ago when I visited him at his rustic Saddleback winery. He was tending some vines of merlot wearing a tired old baseball cap. A grizzly bear of a man, he was a natural part of the vineyard, and that is the key to Nils’ success: He is inseparable from the vineyard and therefore the wine.

Nils is an old vineyard supervisor; the earth is underneath his nails and within his skin. He doesn’t walk, he floats, as if not wanting to disturb the soil or wake up the sleeping vines. Being a wise man, Nils saw that I was cheap help, and put me to work punching down the cap of his 1997 merlot.

Nils is a very unassuming man. Ask him questions about wine and he smiles and pours you some. He lets his work speak for itself, and it sings epic poetry.

Saddleback Cellars produces some of the best wines in the Napa Valley. Their pinot blanc is one of the most delicious white wines produced domestically, with subtle nuances of tropical fruit flavors but not overbearing like most chardonnay. Nils is also the master in producing other white wines, like chardonnay, viognier and pinot grigio.

His red wines are killers, true Godzilla wines – huge in their extraction and complexity, with a finish that lingers longer than your annoying neighbor at the end of a party. Their cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah and zinfandel are all wonderful, and produced like all great wines – in limited production. Total production is around 4,000 cases.

All Nils’ wines are highly rated by the wine press. Nils and his son Kirk also produce another line called Venge, which features a sangiovese that is equally excellent.

Nils studied at U.C. Davis Viticulture and Enology back in the swinging ’60s, and his first job in the wine biz was in the vineyards at the famous Charles Krug Winery. He moved to the Sterling Vineyards in the sexy ’70s, where he was vineyard manager, and jumped in the middle of the decade to Villa Mount Eden, where he was the inception winemaker.

After producing some great cabs in ’74 and ’78, Nils and Dennis Groth formed Groth Vineyards, where he was the winemaker and general manager when they received a perfect score for their ’85 reserve cab.

Nils then decided to do his own thing, and started Saddleback Cellars. He also started becoming a consultant winemaker – much like Sherlock Holmes is a consultant detective. For Nils, the game afoot is at the Robert Keenan winery in Spring Mountain and Del Dotto in Napa, where he is the winemaker. He is also on the trail at Plumpjack, Moss Creek and Bacio Divino as a consultant. All the wines are excellent and have the Venge touch.

Nils Venge creates some of the best wines in Napa Valley, all enjoyable and for premium wines very affordable, so it is a privilege to sell his wines and enjoy his wines. Visit Saddleback Cellars’ Web site via this article at www.gaylesbiantimes.com and try them for yourself.