2019 Baldacci Family Vineyards Thomas Collection Cabernet Sauvignon

Baldacci Family Vineyards was founded in the 1990s by Thomas and Brenda Baldacci. Thomas was president of a Bay Area family real estate development company. A love of fine wine and the Napa Valley prompted the couple to buy land in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley and today they own 45 acres of vineyards in Stags Leap, Carneros and Calistoga. Michael Baldacci, one of the Baldacci’s four sons, is company president. Winemaker is Rolando Herrera, whose first winery job was at at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Baldacci makes Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and a red blend.

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.