2015 Malk Family Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc

Malk Family Vineyards was started in 1997 when Brian and Nancy Malk bought hillside acreage in the Stags Leap District. They planted vineyards and their first commercial release was a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon. Though he has lived in the U.S. since the 1970s, Brian Malk is from South Africa and his grandfather owned a vineyard near Capetown. The couple hired Robbie Meyer as winemaker. Meyer has worked with Peter Michael Winery, Lewis Cellars and has two of his own labels, L’Angevin and Peirson Meyer Wines. Malk’s flagship wine is its Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon, though it also makes Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. The drawing of a Straffordshire Bull Terrier on every label is an homage to the Malks’ beloved bull terrier.

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,

This crisp, dry white wine hails from France but is grown in wine regions around the world. In California, it is sometimes called Fume Blanc; while in Sauternes, it is a component of their famous dessert wines.