2006 Ceja Dulce Beso, 375ml

Ceja Vineyards of Napa Valley was officially founded in 1999 by brothers Pedro and Armando Ceja and their wives, and the winery now owns 113 acres of vineyards in the Napa Valley. For nearly 15 years before starting the winery the brothers and their wives grew grapes for other winemakers on acreage they had purchased as young married couples by combining their financial resources. As the sons of a Mexican couple who immigrated to the United States in the late ‘60s to work in the Napa vineyards, the Ceja brothers have an unusually close attachment to the land. Today Armando is the winemaker and the brothers’ extended families run the winery, based in Carneros. Though the winery makes many red and white wines, it is particularly noted for its Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

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,