1999 Miura Cuvee Kemiji & Portay, 12-bottle Lot, Wood Case

Miura Vineyards is based in Napa but sources its grapes from vineyards in Monterey County, the Santa Lucia Highlands, San Luis Obispo County and Napa Valley. Miura also has winemaking projects in northeastern Spain in the Priorat appellation and others. Miura was started in the 1990s when a group of San Francisco chefs and sommeliers decided to make wine. Miura’s owner is Emmanuel Kemiji, a well-known master sommelier and restaurateur who was part of that group. He named the project after a breed of Spanish bulls used in bullfighting. In California the estate makes Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. In Spain the estate makes Grenache and red and white Grenache blends. Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that the Pinot Noirs “I have tasted to date have been outstanding, suggesting this is a serious Pinot Noir specialist.”

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,