2004 Cuvaison Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon

Cuvaison was founded in Calistoga in 1969 by two engineers from Silicon Valley. In 1979 the Schmidheiny family purchased the then-27-acre estate, along with 400 acres in the Carneros appellation. The name of the winery is the French word for the period when the grape juice, skin and seeds are altogether during fermentation and maceration. Cuvaison makes Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc. California wine writer James Laube has noted that Cuvaison wines “share a distinctive house style with ripe, focused, supple fruit flavors, good intensity, fine balance and a sense of harmony and finesse.”

Mount Veeder AVA was established in 1993, though its origins as a wine producing district date to the 19th century. A German Presbyterian pastor named Peter Veeder was one of the first landowners in the area, and by 1864 one of his neighbors, a German sea captain named Stelham Wing, was producing wine commercially. The area continued to attract German agricultural entrepreneurs, some of whom established the estate that would later become the Christian Brothers Mont La Salle winery. Today the AVA includes about 1,000 acres of vineyards, most of them at relatively high altitudes. The Mayacamas vineyard, for instance, is at 2,400 feet. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most frequently planted grape, followed by Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

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.