1995 Robert Mondavi Coastal Cabernet Sauvignon

The Robert Mondavi Winery is the best known winery in California, and with good reason. The late Robert Mondavi, who died in 2008, was Napa Valley’s most passionate ambassador and the maker of some of the valley’s very best wines. His Italian immigrant parents moved from Minnesota to Napa Valley to grow fruit, and by the 1960s they owned and operated the Charles Krug Winery. But after a feud with his brother and mother in 1966, when Robert was already in his 50s, Robert left the Krug winery and struck out on his own. He was determined to make fine wines – not the jug wines California was mostly known for at the time – and by the 1970s his Cabernet Sauvignons were impressing connoisseurs in the U.S. and Europe. Today the winery is no longer owned by the Mondavi family, though its wines continue to win high praise. Robert Mondavi Winery owns 1,540 acres in Napa Valley and its premiere wines are Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon To Kalon Reserve.

North Coast AVA includes California’s most prestigious sub-appellations and vineyards. The three million acre area includes vineyards in six counties north of San Francisco and nearly 50 sub-appellations. The Napa Valley and Sonoma County AVAs are just two of the renowned sub-appellations included in the North Coast designation, which also includes the AVAs Diamond Mountain District, Howell Mountain, Oakville, Stag’s Leap and Rutherford, which are all among the most acclaimed wine producing districts in California. The North Coast AVA designation is generally used for wines made by blending grapes grown in several counties or AVAs. The appellation includes part of the counties of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Marin, Solano and Lake.

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.