2003 Carter Cellars Coliseum Block Cabernet Sauvignon

Carter Cellars grew out of Carter House bed and breakfast, a Eureka, California, establishment where owner Mark Carter put together a restaurant wine list for his customers. The list won awards, which inspired Carter to make is own wine with sourced grapes. Carter Cellars’ first vintage was in 1998. In 2006 Carter opened Envy Winery in Calistoga, a 17-acre property that is now the home of Carter Wines. Today the winemaker is Mike Smith, one of Napa Valley's most in-demand young winemakers. Smith learned winemaking under Thomas Brown, and he still collaborates with Brown on some projects as well as making wine at Myriad and Quivet Cellars. Carter Cellars produces several Cabernet Sauvignons with grapes sourced from seven of Napa Valley's most celebrated vineyards, including Beckstoffer To Kalon, Weitz and Truchard. Carter also produces Merlot and Bordeaux blends. Reviewers have been highly complimentary. Wine Advocate rated the 2012 Beckstoffer To Kalon at 100 pts and called it "one of the truly majestic and singular world class wines of the Napa Valley....This compelling superstar is pure perfection."

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,

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.