So after tasting many Howell Mountain wines over the last 10 years or so, I have decided to focus my attention to the MT Veeder AVA. I search here on the WB board did not find much except for the syrahs produced by Lagier Meredith. Thus after some research online and a PM to our resident wine store in Napa ( hint she flies on a broom), decided to go with Majuscule, 2018 Cab Sav.
I was not interested in joining a wine club as of yet, since I wanted to gauge some interest in the region.
I had opened a 2018 Mt Veeder Cabernet and I have to say, this wine is nice, wonder bouquet of fruit and quite elegant. Enjoyed this over the past two days and it did not disapoint.
Anyone have a recommendation for Cabernet Sav or Franc from the region?
I wish I could share some suggestions for you, but I also don’t have much experience with this AVA. Seems like this area as well as Spring Mt don’t get the love that say a Howell Mt or Pritchard Hill get…
There’s a lot of good wines that come from MtVeeder. The area seems to show more of a spiciness than you get from
HowellMtn.
The stars of the area are Lagier-Meredith: Syrah/Mondeuse/Tribidrag.
Tom
Hess Mt Veeder Cab or Lion Tamer Cab as the value play, The Lion on high end, also some winery only AVA wines. Lokoya makes the best Mt Veeder Cab in the AVA in my opinion. Also, Mayacamas, Robert Craig, O’Shaunessy, and Mt. Brave. Trinchero Cloud’s Nest is a bit of a sleeper too.
I’ll take you off the common path. Bougetz Cellars-Tom pops in here every now and then.
Bougetz Ardante-Cab
Bougetz Jovana-Merlot from Oak Knoll and Cab Franc from Mt. Veeder. Really tasty stuff.
Yates Family Vineyards-They have several offerings from Mt. Veeder. Contact Mary as she may have back vintages. I just picked up some 2010’s and 2013’s.
In my opinion, Mt. Veeder Wines need time in the cellar or a really good decant to show best.
I had a 2012 O’Shaughnessy Mt Veeder cab not too long ago that was singing. I would highly recommend it. Since they also make a Howell Mountain can it could also be an interesting comparison to try the Howell Mountain and the Veeder side by side.
I visited Wing Canyon 15 years ago and thought both their cab and chardonnay were excellent. The production is very small, though, and most of it went to restaurants and a few retailers, as I recall. [Note added later: I see their two current red releases are both over 15% – not the style I recall.]
I liked the '18 Mt Veeder Winery cabernet, too, and bought a bunch. Lots of fruit, but not over the top.
Yep, aged O"Shaughnessy is the way to go. I opened up a 2009 over the weekend that was in a great spot! And the price point is VERY reasonable all things considered.
For a much smaller winery, I would highly recommend Pilcrow.
Their original wines were from Pym Rae, which is on Mt. Veeder. Those wines are drinking really well right now (2015). They lost access to that site when Tesseron took over.
They now have a bottling of Hillwalker, also on Mt Veeder (2018 and 2019). I am excited to try that, but it is a bit young, so they are resting in my cellar now.
In general, the Pilcrow style is intended to be “old school.”
Pilcrow would be my top recommendation if you like Corison, Heitz, Mayacamas. Gorgeous wines. If you like bigger, denser wines then go for Pym-Rae - excellent quality at high extraction.
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