Tuesday night we collaborated with Cuvaison winery for a tasting of their single vineyards. Cuvaison now represents Brandlin, one of the oldest Cabernet growers in Napa, featuring some of the oldest Cabernet vines. If you like rich, round Cabernet, both the Mount Veeder Cab and the Prorietary Blend blend, show with and extreme voluptuous opulence that only old vines deliver.
All the very best,
Rex & Michele
2013 Brandlin Cabernet Sauvignon ~ Mount Veeder
162 six pack cases produced
$59 per 5% off 6, 10% off 12, 30 bottles remaining
matches lowest price in country
SF Chronicle Wine Competition - Cabernet Sauvignon sixty-seven dollars and over
90 POINTS
"With delicious blackberry and blueberry fruit, dark ruby/purple color, medium to full body, good purity, ripeness and a realistic price, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Brandlin Estate is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit
Verdot
and the rest Cabernet Franc and Malbec. This is a lovely, rich Cabernet and a great value in the scheme of Napa Valley.
"
-
eRobertParker
, December 2015
92 POINTS
"A big, powerful wine, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is brawny...Dark red cherry, tobacco, savory herbs, mint and anise are some of the signatures. This powerful, explosive Cabernet is long on both personality and potential.
"
- Antonio
Galloni
, Vinous, September 2015
2012 Brandlin Henry's Keep Proprietary
Red~Mount
Veeder
105 six pack cases made
$99 per; only 17 bottles remaining,
matches lowest price in country,
$210 per magnum, 10 off 6 magnums, 18 available
Henry's Keep is Brandlin's flagship wine, a proprietary red blend comprised of the highest quality grapes from the Brandlin Vineyard. "Henry's Keep" pays homage to the family patriarch, Henry Brandlin, who would "keep" from each vintage a selection of the estates' most exceptional grapes for his family's own bottled wine. Continuing that tradition, the Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from a small, western-facing block that consistently produces rich and intensely concentrated fruit. Blended with a selection of each vintage's finest Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit
and cabernet franc. The wine captures the cool mountain savor of the site, a forest freshness that brings to mind ferns and conifers, even as the bright fruit and soil-driven tannins add substantial mass and intensity. The wine has edges to it, keeping its deep well of flavor focused and firm. This has a long life ahead."
Verdot
, the result is a compelling and complex wine.
94 POINTS
"Steven Rogstad, who also makes the wines at sister-winery Cuvaison, bases Henry's Keep on Brandlin's O-block cabernet, 15-year-old vines with a southwest exposition at 1,000 feet of eleva- tion. In addition, 22 percent of the blend is made up of estate malbec, petit verdot
- Wine & Spirits, December 2015
91 POINTS
"The sexy 2012 Proprietary Red Blend Henry's Keep, a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Malbec, Petit
Verdot
and Cabernet Franc, is a beauty. Its dense ruby/purple color is accompanied by notes of Asian plum sauce, blueberries, cassis and a chocolaty component that emerges with coaxing. Full-bodied, rich, savory, complex and delicious, it should continue to age nicely for 7-10 years."
- Robert M. Parker, eRobertParker.com, October 2014
Double Gold
Out of 45 wines, only one ranked above us and we were one of two Double Gold
medal winners.
2016 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
,
January 2016
What to Drink Now
"Aged 22 months in 75% new French oak, the small production wine is filled with layers of mocha, wild sage, black cherry and tobacco. The tannins are bold, but nicely balanced with cedar spice accents. This a wine that has plenty of aging potential. Available via their website."
-Hayley Hamilton
Cogil
, D Magazine, May 2015
About the winery: BRANDLIN
Brandlin is a Napa Valley estate that produces wine from a small, historic vineyard in the Mount
Veeder
appellation. Overlooking Napa Valley from its 1,200 foot perch, the estate is planted to 38 acres of Bordeaux varieties. These sustainably farmed, low yielding vines produce intensely concentrated grapes, resulting in wines that eloquently express this rare and rugged mountain site. The wines pay homage to the Brandlin family, which began farming wine grapes on Mount
Veeder
in the 1870's and established the Brandlin Vineyard in 1926. In 1998
Cuvaison
Estate Wines was honored by the Brandlin family with rights to purchase Brandlin Vineyard. Today, they remain dedicated to maintaining the original ten acres of old vine Zinfandel and continuing the family's tradition of nurturing and farming the vineyard by hand.
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