Tasting Notes
The Cabernet Sauvignon opens with violet and ripe blueberry then deepens into a killer midpalate. Minerality and touches of graphite and herbs bring strength and complexity to this beauty.
About Mt. Brave
The eternal debate about winemaking— art or science?—is easily answered on a crisp morning high atop the undulating ridgelines of Mt. Veeder, where some vineyard sites date back to a time just before the Civil War.
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.
