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Veedercrest, St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon

California, United States 2006 (750mL)
$65.00
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Veedercrest, St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon

Over the years we have really come to love the traditionally styled, mountain-grown Cabernets of Veedercrest in the Napa Valley. This is one of California’s great Cabernet stylists, worthy of mention in the same breath as icons such as Stag’s Leap, Ridge, and Heitz, and yet it remains relatively under the radar—and, in our view, underpriced. The property’s home vineyard up on Mount Veeder, developed in the early 1970s by an accomplished amateur winemaker, Al Baxter, with help from legendary Napa enologist André Tchelistcheff, is undoubtedly one of Napa’s “Grand Crus.”


Over time, they’ve added wines from other choice vineyards to their portfolio of offerings, including the source for this wine, the “Tittel Caloyonnaidis” vineyard on Glass Mountain in St. Helena. Planted at about 500 feet elevation on the east side of the Napa Valley—Glass Mountain is in the shadow of Howell Mountain—this 2.5-acre vineyard gave Veedercrest some spectacular raw material in 2006, and, given the estate’s penchant for extended barrel/bottle aging of its reds, we were able to acquire a substantial parcel of this decade-old wine direct from their cellars. This is a succulent Napa classic that is peaking now, and it’s priced well below what a wine of this pedigree and age would typically fetch. This is a great opportunity to drink some perfectly stored older wine, from a producer whose ‘Bordeaux-style’ bona fides are second to none.

These days, Veedercrest is a red wine-focused winery, bottling seven different vineyard-designate Cabernets from assorted appellations across the Napa Valley—and yet, it should be noted, Veedercrest’s Chardonnay was among the select few Californians represented at the legendary “Paris Tasting” of 1976 (Chateau Montelena, another “Cabernet” house, was also there with a Chardonnay). This is a ‘heritage’ brand in the truest sense of the word, one of the first Napa wineries to (a) craft “true” Bordeaux blends, incorporating all five traditional grape varieties; and (b) embrace vineyard designations on its labels.

As is the case with most “varietal” wines, this “Cabernet Sauvignon” is actually 85% Cabernet along with 10% Merlot and 2.5% each Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Fermented in stainless steel, it was aged in an assortment of French oak barrels for 36 months before bottling, then an additional two years in bottle before its original release. The winery reached into its library to share this parcel of 2006 with us, and it is pure pleasure right now—rich, savory, mature Napa Cabernet in great condition.

In the glass, the 2006 is an opaque and quite vibrant purple tinged dark ruby with only the slightest hint of bricking at the rim. It opens up quickly and beautifully, revealing aromas of ripe black cherry, cassis, mulberry, dark chocolate, damp violets, and tobacco. Full-bodied and viscous, it coats the palate with sappy fruit framed by still-present tannins that have a charbroiled quality to them. It is a full-throttle red that is drinking well now—give it a solid 30-60 minutes in a decanter before serving at cellar temp in Bordeaux stems—and we found it delicious and perfectly sound even three days after first opening it. I’d say that it is peaking now but will still deliver for several years to come, with an Old World mix of sweet and savory that makes it a great choice for the table (so many culty Cabernets are so sweetly fruity they tend not to play well with food; this is not one of them). And let me repeat: This is a ridiculously underpriced wine, and a genuine Napa classic, and it’s only fitting that we pair it with a recipe from one of California wine country’s greatest chefs, John Ash. His braised duck legs are the perfect partner for this smoking-good red. 
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Country
United States
Region
California
Sub-Region
United StatesNapa Valley
Soil
Volcanic
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol
14.8
OAK
Partial New French
TEMP.
60
Glassware
Bordeaux Stems
Drinking
Now-2020
Decanting
30-60 Minutes
Pairing
Braised Duck Legs

United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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