OUR HISTORY

My father taught me how much the Romans valued hilly, rocky slopes for their vineyards. “Grow your grapes on the hills and your tomatoes in the valley,” my father often reminded me. Another way to say this is “Bacco Ama le Colline,” or “Bacchus loves the hills,” which gave the name to our wine. Slopes and rocky soil trap less water, and the water table itself is often further from the surface. This stresses the vines as their roots search for water, and the more the vines struggle, the better the grapes are for making wine. The fruits are smaller and more concentrated in flavor, with relatively thick skins which provide tannins for structure. Because the roots have to extend to find water, they have more surface area exposed to the minerals in the soil, which adds desirable character and a sense of place to the juice. As a result, mountain grown red wines tend to be darker and richer than their spoiled valley floor cousins.

Mt. Veeder, where we lived and created this wine, is particularly special even among the Napa mountains in that it is the most southern. It is thus the closest to the cooling influence of San Francisco Bay. This means that it takes longer for our grapes to ripen than they would on Howell Mountain or Diamond Mountain, and these longer hang times provide additional character to the final product. From our first vintage in 2014 to our most recent, all are made from 100% estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon grapes (clones 319 and 412). Depending on the vintage, we age our wine in new french oak for up to twenty-three months and refuse to release our wine before it is ready. Mount Veeder is our home, and we choose not to let pesticides get anywhere near us. We hand tend our vineyard and follow sustainable practices, encouraging the surrounding habitat to support beneficial insects and animals. We pick our grapes as a family and may eat more along the way than our commercial counterparts, but enough is left over for about 500 cases of premium wine. We strongly suggest you decant this wine for at least an hour before drinking it, but it might be fun to take small tastes along the way to observe its evolution.

TASTING NOTES

2014
Bright red fresh fruit with an earthy, savory aroma. Cranberry and red current. Smooth all around with a long leathery finish. A balanced and well aged wine that is tasting perfect in this moment.

2015
Rich, ripe fruit on the nose. Some leather and spice. Smooth with deep black cherry on the tongue. Mild tannin balanced with a hint of pepper on the finish.

2016
Bright confectionary strawberry with some spice. Exceptionally smooth on the pallet. Deep luxuriant color but light on its feet. Elegant and perfect.

2017
Young and fresh. This wine needs patient decanting before surrendering its ripened fruit. Bright red current with a deep black berry aroma. Incredibly smooth with a rebellious tannic finish that will integrate into a harmonious whole with time.