2014 | Mayacamas Vineyards | Merlot

In the glass, the nose explodes with red raspberry, star anise, black plum skin, black cardamom, and clove. The texture of the wine on the palate is notably fine—fresh, bright acidity and gravelly minerality lead to a juicy, mouthwatering finish and complex flavors of pomegranate, black fig, tobacco, and bing cherry.

Producer Information

Mayacamas Vineyards is a historic winery located near the summit of the Mount Veeder sub-appellation of Napa Valley. It is one of the region's most highly regarded producers of classic Cabernet Sauvignon, and is also known for its high quality white wines made from Chardonnay. The stone winery was built in 1889 by John Henry Fisher, a German immigrant and sword engraver who moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from Philadelphia. At the same time as establishing a pickle business, he planted Zinfandel vines on the property and made wine by the barrel, shipping it down the Napa River to San Francisco. However, Fisher was forced to sell the winery when his pickle business was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and had to declare bankruptcy. During Prohibition, the new owners sold wine legally to the Church for mass, while also running a bootlegging business on the side. In 1941, the winery was sold to Jack and Mary Taylor, who renamed it "Mayacamas" and replanted the vineyards to Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. It changed hands again in 1968, and the 1971 Cabernet Sauvignon was entered into the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting. It didn't place, but in a 2006 anniversary tasting it came in second, proving it as one of the most ageworthy wines in the Napa Valley. Mayacamas was purchased in 2013 by Charles and Ali Banks, who had previously been invlolved with Screaming Eagle. The Mayacamas vineyard is in the heart of the Mount Veeder AVA above the fog line, where the vines benefit from warmer nights and cooler days than the Napa Valley floor. Well-drained soils with fairly low fertility mean the vines are stressed enough to produce a small amount of extremely dense and complex fruit, with a lot of tannic structure that provides scaffolding for aging in the wines. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are both powerful wines, but are not the over-extracted style of wine that Napa Valley is known to produce. In fact, Mayacamas has a reputation as producing some of the most elegant wines in California.

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