Mt. Brave Cabernet Franc Mt. Veeder Napa Valley 2018 (750ml)

 

Rated 97 Points by Jeb Dunnuck

 

Another beautiful wine in this lineup is the 2018 Cabernet Franc, which is 100% varietal and spent 22 months in 80% new French oak.  Its deep purple hue is followed by a rich, full-bodied, incredibly layered 2018 offering beautiful cassis and mulberry fruit, notes of tobacco, dried flowers, and chocolate, ultra-fine tannins, no hard edges, and a great finish.  This remarkable 2018 should be snatched up by readers, as it represents a smoking value!

 

Rated 95 Points by James Suckling

 

A super intense and dense palate of blackberry with hints of chocolate.  Full-bodied with density and purity.  Long and powerful.  Tight and reserved, but telling you it has so much there.  Drink after 2024.

 

Rated 94 Points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

Made from 100% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 Cabernet Franc Mt. Veeder was aged for 22 months in oak barrels, 80% new.  Deep garnet-purple colored, the nose delivers fragrant, perfumed notes of black and red cherries, mulberries and black raspberries with hints of lavender, pencil shavings and cinnamon stick.  Full-bodied, the decadently fruited palate has beautifully ripe, fine-grained tannins framing the black fruit, red berry and floral layers, finishing long and graceful.

 

Mt. Brave Cabernet Franc

 

Mt. Veeder Napa Valley 2018

 

Vintage:  2018

 

Varietal:  100% Cabernet Franc

 

Appellation:  Mt. Veeder

 

Winemaker:  Chris Carpenter

 

Alcohol:  14.8%

 

Winemaker Notes

 

Incredibly focused and defined, this pure Cabernet Franc showcases aromas of black tea, boysenberry, and anise.  Loaded with dense fruit and spice on the palate, the full-bodied wine has beautifully balanced acidity and ripe, uber-fine tannins.  Stunning out of the gate, this wine should provide cellaring rewards for years to come.

 

Mt. Veeder

 

Some 150 years ago, a German Presbyterian pastor named Peter Veeder regularly explored the Mt. Veeder terrain in Napa Valley, bravely moving across creeks and into pocket canyons, marveling at what he found in these elevations reaching upward to 2,677 feet.

 

Wine has been crafted from Mt. Veeder soils since the early 1860s.  Along with other Napa winemaking pioneers such as Charles Krug and Agoston Haraszthy, Captain Stalham Wing, who arrived in 1853, showed the first Mt. Veeder wine at the Napa County Fair in 1864.

 

Mt. Veeder is the largest AVA in the Napa Valley, established in 1993, but numbers don’t really tell the story.  The mountain is 25 square miles, or 15,000 acres, stretching from the Carneros to Oakville, and down the grade to Glen Ellen.  Yet just 1,000 acres are planted to grapes, less than 2 percent of Napa Valley’s production with the lowest average yields in the region.  Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted variety, but Malbec does exceptionally well here.

 

While much of Napa Valley is a mélange of 30 different soils, all traced to volcanic activity, much of Mt. Veeder is an ancient seabed, with thin, rocky soils typically 12 to 24 inches deep.  Steep slopes of up to 30 degrees have an array of exposures, creating micro-climates around every twisting turn.  San Pablo Bay brings cooling maritime influences and serves to moderate the diurnal temperature swings.  It is not uncommon for Mt. Veeder to enjoy daytime temperatures 10° to 15° cooler than those on the Napa Valley floor.  The growing season moves slowly, with harvest here stretching into November, another reminder of how extreme the challenge, but how rewarding the results can be.

 

 

Mt. Brave Wines

 

Mt. Brave Vineyard

 

Mt. Brave is a tribute to the pioneering spirit of those who settled the rugged terrain of Mt. Veeder during the 1800s and an homage to the original inhabitants of this extraordinary place.

 

The Mt. Brave Vineyard, once the Chateau Potelle Vineyard, was established decades ago at elevations ranging from 1,400 to 1,800 feet.  While Mt. Veeder is cool, Mt. Brave sits above the fog line, with morning sun warming the grapes each day.  Soils are sparse, consisting of a gravelly loam with rocks large and small.  Nutrients and minerals are scant, resulting in tiny berries with concentrated and complex flavors.

 

Winegrowing on the Mt. Brave vineyard is not for the timid.  The usual practices must be forgotten at high elevations, where thin soils barely hold water, and rocky terrain challenges both rootstock and man.  Winter rains must be captured, and erosion prevented.  During harvest, small lug boxes must be carefully moved up and down steep slopes to protect both vines and vineyard workers.  The work is hard and labor-intensive.  Little mechanized modern technology is found here.

 

The wines of Mt. Brave show the characteristic brambly aromas and blue fruit flavors that are common to Mt. Veeder but are expressed here uncommonly well.  They feature intense minerality, well-defined tannins allowing for extended aging, and recognizable mouth-pleasing acidity.  The incredible structure suggests an extended development over time, but the wines have been crafted for enjoyment and celebration in the present.

 

Chris Carpenter, Winemaker

 

As hawks soar and hummingbirds hover, a winemaker knows that his craft is as much about nurturing the vine as it is about applying the well-learned lessons of decades of mountain winemaking challenges.  With each dawn, the sun peeks over the Vaca Mountains side of the Napa Valley, striking the higher elevation Mt. Veeder vineyards first, far above the fog line.  At that moment, the spiritual side emerges, and it’s easy to endorse the notion of how important it is to the development of Mt. Veeder fruit.

 

Among the tight-knit winegrowing community in the Napa Valley, no one understands the practical difficulties and spiritual rewards of mountain winegrowing more than Chris Carpenter.  With an already legendary Napa winemaking record for Lokoya and Cardinale, Chris had little to prove when the Mt. Brave project began to evolve in 2007.  And yet, the opportunity to craft wines from Mt. Veeder that would pay homage to the mountain’s rich history, while expressing a new, distinguished view, proved irresistible.

 

For Chris, a founder of the Napa Valley Convivium of Slow Food USA, artful winemaking really means allowing Mt. Veeder to reveal itself in each vintage.  Originally from Chicago, Chris has a curious mind meant for exploring.  A chance visit to Napa captured his imagination and, ultimately, his heart.  His practical side was demonstrated with a BS in biology from the University of Illinois, then an MS in both viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.  He also holds an MBA in marketing and international business from the University of Illinois.

 

Enhancing all this was a prestigious research internship at Tenute Antinori in Tuscany and further study at Università per Stranieri di Perugia.  These experiences led to the development of an old world sensibility paired with a new world sense of ambition and insight.  Chris makes his home in Napa Valley with his wife and daughters.