N.V. Martin Ray Napa Valley Cabernet/Merlot

Martin Ray, a stockbroker with a passion for wine and winemaking, owned Paul Masson winery from 1936 to 1943, then started his own Martin Ray vineyard and winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where his Cabernet Sauvignons, Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs became legendary. Ray was one of the first California vintners to plant those grapes and to adopt French winemaking practices. When Ray’s partnership with his investors soured in the 1960s, the property was divided and the investors took over the upper portion of the estate, renaming it Mount Eden Vineyards. Ray took the lower half of the property. He died in 1976 but his family retained the rights to his label and a number of notable Napa Valley winemakers crafted Martin Ray wines in the following years. In 1990 Napa Valley wine entrepreneur Courtney Benham purchased the Martin Ray name. Benham now makes wines under the Martin Ray label at a Sebastopol facility.

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,

61% Cab Sauv 39% Merlot