2009 The Grade Cellars Winfield Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

The Grade Cellars was established in Calistoga in 1997 when the husband and wife team of Tom Thornton and Brenda Mixson bought 32-acres of a former almond orchard with the idea of retiring to Napa Valley and growing grapes. The couple lived and worked in New York City, where Thornton was a practicing architect and Mixson worked in commercial real estate, but became interested in Napa Valley after visits in the 1990s. In 2000 they replanted 12 acres of their property to Cabernet Sauvignon and had their first commercial vintage in 2004. Only 300 cases of The Grade Cellars 100% Cabernet Sauvignon are produced each year and Thornton and Mixson sell some of their grapes to other producers. They also make a Sauvignon Blanc. The widely-acclaimed winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown has produced The Grade Cellars wine since 2011. The name The Grade Cellars is a literary reference to the 19th century American author Robert Louis Stevenson, who honeymooned near St. Helena and later included a description of what is now The Grade Cellars vineyard and the stagecoach route leading past it – which he called “the grade” -- in his book “The Silverado Squatters.”

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.