2011 Cardinale

Cardinale is located in Oakville, in Napa Valley. It was established in 1994 when Jess Jackson of the Kendall-Jackson portfolio of wineries purchased an existing estate, built a new winery and began producing a prestige wine, Cardinale. The wine is typically at least 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, blended with Merlot. Cardinale includes 162 acres divided between Mount Veeder and Howell Mountain. Robert M. Parker has regularly awarded Cardinale scores in the mid-90s, and notes that Cardinale “is one of the flagship wines of the brilliant California visionary and vineyard owner Jess Jackson…”

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,

Winemaker Chris Carpenter