Robert Craig Cabernet Sauvignon 'Mount Veeder '(2023)

The Mount Veeder AVA rests roughly halfway up the west side of the Napa Valley in the Mayacamas mountain range. Our red wines that emanate from the porous, rocky soils there, composed of fossilized marine sediment, sandstone and shale, share the common characteristics of power, suppleness and longevity. Amentet Estate Vineyard—our hanging garden that salutes the fair Egyptian goddess of rebirth—has reached maturity along the northern border of the Mount Veeder AVA. We started our cane-pruned, organically farmed journey on Mount Veeder with Phil Coturri and Enterprise Vineyard Management in 2019, a partnership that has resulted in lower yields paired with exceptional intensity of color and flavor in the grape clusters. Though our production has been halved, making this offering even more scarce, the brute quality of our Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon has been worth the sacrifice.

This Cabernet Sauvignon is foremost a child of an extended, cool vintage. The finished wine is deeply colored with towering scaffolding for structure in acid and tannins that remain firm but well-integrated. This is a Cabernet that will retain its youth for decades in the cellar, but is balanced enough for early consumption. As is typical of Amentet, the fossilized marine material pushed up from the ocean floor by an earthquake five million years ago features in the mineral tones on the palate alongside classic notes of coco flake, forest floor, graphite and espresso bean. Our 2023 wine is a pure expression of the exotic nature of top flight Mount Veeder Cabernet.

Blend: 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc