It’s not by accident that the names of both Theorem Vineyards and its signature Voir Dire Cabernet Sauvignon allude to science and truth.

After all, the 60-acre Calistoga property was originally purchased in the late 1800s by Dr. Richard Beverly Cole, who not only was San Francisco’s first practitioner of obstetrics and California’s first surgeon general, but also built what is believed to be the first school house in the Napa Valley on that land. The Cole Valley neighborhood in San Francisco is named after him, too.

In 2012, the property was purchased by husband-and-wife, Jason Itkin and Kisha Itkin, who were merely looking for a second home. He is a Houston-based top trial lawyer who famously won an $8 billion record-setting verdict against Johnson & Johnson, and she is a former reservoir engineer who worked in the oil and energy industry.

Six years later, though, they opened their winery there. They now produce eight wines with their winemaker Andy Jones, former assistant wine maker for Thomas Brown; and consulting winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, one of the valley’s most distinguished winemakers.

You can taste those wines, if you’re fortunate enough to be one of only 17 guests the winery is permitted to host each day, Wednesday through Sunday, by appointment-only. But it will cost a pretty penny. Lavish and over-the-top, the standard wine tasting with cheese is $200 per person. If you’re feeling flush, tack on additional $95 per person for the “Garden & Glass” option that includes substantial gourmet noshes featuring beef from cows with Wagyu genetics raised on the Itkins’ 20,000-acre Theorem Ranch in Montana, as well as veggies and herbs harvested from the winery’s own culinary garden.

Last month, I had a chance to do just that when I was invited as a guest to tour the winery and experience its “Garden & Glass” that began with a welcoming glass of its 2022 Sauvignon Blanc, a zippy white with nice minerality plus more body than expected, thanks to time spent fermenting in neutral French oak.

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