1999 David Arthur Vineyards Merlot

David Arthur Vineyards is a small, family-owned and operated estate on Pritchard Hill, on the eastern edge of Napa Valley. The estate was started in the late 1960s when Donald Long, a butcher by trade, aquired land on Pritchard Hill. In the 1970s Donald and his son David later cleared the land and planted grapes. The estate’s first vintage was a 1985 Chardonnay, followed a few years later with Cabernet Sauvignon. Today Nile Zacherie is winemaker. Though the estate makes Chardonny, Sauvignon Blanc, and Meritaggio, a Cab and Sangiovese blend, its signature wines are Cabernet Sauvignons. The Elevation 1147 is the estate’s self-described “best of the best” and it is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fewer than 4,000 bottles of the Elevation 1147 are made each year.

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,

The Merlot grape is such a deep blue that it is named for the blackbird. It’s an early ripening grape and one of the primary varietals used In Bordeaux. Merlot is also grown in the "International style," which is harvested later to bring out more tannins and body.