Winemaker Notes
Blend: 93.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot, 1% Malbec, 0.5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A fabulous wine of focus and polish with very fine tannins that caress your palate and give great length to the finish. Medium to full body. The aromas of violets and currants are so beautiful. Dreamy. Best ever? A blend of 92% cabernet sauvignon, 4% cabernet franc, 2% merlot, 1% malbec and 1% petit verdot. A total of 3830 cases produced. Give it three to four years to soften.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder is 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc. It's a classic Mountain Cabernet with full-bodied richness and ample, although velvety, tannins as well as pure cassis and currant-like fruits, gorgeous mid-palate depth and opulence on the palate, and beautiful complexity in its tobacco, graphite, and bouquet garni-like nuances. It's another remarkable wine from Carpenter that has some upfront accessibility today yet deserves 3-4 years in the cellar. It will have two decades of overall longevity, and as top Napa Cabernet Sauvignon goes, it's a terrific value.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder includes 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot and 1% each Malbec and Petit Verdot. Cassis and blueberries are joined on the nose by hints of dried sage, bay leaf and cedary oak. Like the Cabernet Franc, it's full-bodied and silky, with drying tannins and mouthwatering ripeness on the long finish. Give it a couple of years in the cellar and drink it over the next couple of decades.
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Wine Spectator
This is deep and winey, with cassis, plum paste and linzer torte notes leading the way. Structured but succulent, offering singed apple wood, bay and cast iron accents that support the fruit through the long and focused finish. Very Veeder, with a touch of old school. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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.