1997 Lail J. Daniel Cuvee, 1-bottle Lot, Wood Case

Lail Vineyards, in Rutherford, Napa Valley, was established in 1998. However its roots go back five generations to 1879, when Gustav Niebaum founded Inglenook Vineyards, one of California’s pioneering wine operations. Robin Lail, who with her husband Jon Lail own Lail Vineyards, is the great grand niece of Niebaum. She also has strong ties to Napa Valley winemaking, having worked for Robert Mondavi as well as being a co-founded of Dominus. Later she was president of Merryvale Vineyards. In 1995 she and her husband sold their interests in Merryvale and Dominus to focus on starting an estate of their own. Lail has vineyards on Howell Mountain and in Yountville. Lail’s winemaker is Philippe Melka, who worked in France, Australia and Italy before joining Lail. The estate’s signature wine is the J. Daniel Cuvee, a Cabernet Sauvignon blend.

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,