Winemaker Notes
It has a beautiful bouquet of plums, blueberries, exotics spice and dried flowers. This gives way to a medium to full-bodied, balanced red that has the tannic grip of the appellation, yet also plenty of fruit and texture.
Perfect food pairings would be truffles, honey-roasted carrots or grilled red meat — especially venison, lamb or well-marbled beef.
Blend: 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Perched between 300 and 400m elevation, well above the fog line on Mount Veeder, the Brandlin estate encompasses 19ha of Napa Green Certified vines. Aged 22 months in 50% new French oak. The director of winemaking is Steve Rogstad. This powerful mountain red is impressively polished, imbued with the superfine and compact tannins so prevalent in the top Cabernet wines from 2021. They latch on to every corner of the palate, arresting it, but there's so much acid freshness in the wine that their resolution is quick, revealing a host of enticing mocha and fresh cocoa nib notes. Aromas and flavours of violets, blackcurrants, spiced plums, and bing cherry are laced with sweet tobacco, while fragrant, toasty cedarwood frames the entirety of this youthful and exuberant wine.
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Wine Spectator
Packed with boysenberry and loganberry paste flavors that show nice tension from the iron spine inlaid seamlessly from start to finish. Lively notes of anise, iris and violet form a backdrop and add sparkle to the long, fruit-laden finish. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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James Suckling
Aromas of blackberries, dark plums, dried leaves, wild herbs, cedar and baking spices. Full-bodied with fine, firm tannins. Well-driven, focus and intense. Precise mid-palate with a vibrant core of spices that carry over to the funnel-like, focused finish with persistence. Try from 2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
Woodsy and aromatic with crisp red and black fruits and a pour over of coffee. Generous and fully flavored, with a rich finish and plenty of length.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Brandlin's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon—89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot—delivers classic scents of mint, bay leaf and cassis. It's medium to full-bodied, showing a typical mountain Cabernet feel and structure, with ripe but composed fruit, ample restraint and softly dusty tannins on the lingering finish. While the 2019 was a terrific value when offered at just $80, this vintage is still reasonably priced for the quality.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Centered at the peak for which it is named, Mount Veeder is Napa’s largest sub-AVA. But even though the entire appellation spreads over 16,000 acres, vineyards cover a mere 1,000. Scattered among Douglas firs and bristlecone pines, Mount Veeder vineyards extend south from the upper elevations of the Mayacamas Mountains—the highest point at 2,400 feet—to the border of the Carneros region. Less than 25 wineries produce wine from Mount Veeder fruit.
Winemaking began early in this appellation. In 1864, Captain Stelham Wing presented the first Mount Veeder wine to the Napa County Fair; it came from today’s Wing Canyon Vineyard. Prohibition, of course, halted winemaking and viticulture wasn’t revitalized until the founding of Mayacamas Vineyards in 1951 and Bernstein Vineyards in 1964.
The Bernstein Vineyards was actually home to the first Petit Verdot in California, planted in 1975. Today most of the Petit Verdot in Napa Valley originates from this vineyard.
Rocky volcanic clay and ancient seabed matter dominate Mount Veeder soils—perfect for Bordeaux varieties. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot enjoy spectacular success. These varieties produce wines rich in brambly blackberry and black cherry fruit with herbal and floral aromatics. Structures are moderate to assertive and wines have great staying power.
Chardonnay from Mount Veeder is lush, full and balanced mineral and fresh citrus flavors.