99-Point Napa Cabernet at a Price We Can’t Advertise

Looking for a last minute holiday gift that's sure to impress!? We have the best price in the country on this stunning 99-point mountain-grown Cabernet from winemaking legend Chris Carpenter. 2021 Mount Brave Mt Veeder Cab for well under $100! This wine combines the power and concentration of rich Napa fruit with the savory complexity and a structural prowess that Mount Veeder delivers time and time again.

During his long tenure at Mt Brave, Lokoya, La Jota, and Cardinale, Chris Carpenter has cemented his reputation as the king of mountain-grown Cab in the region. He has almost super-natural abilities to produce wines of incredible intensity and power but at the same time, somehow refined the tannin structure that often makes wines like this need decades in the cellar before they can be enjoyed. Not so with this beauty - it's already drinking beautifully with lush, dark, exotic fruit, laced with wild chaparral, leather, singed cedar, oak spice and dark chocolate. Mouthcoating and saturated, but not overly tannic or grippy. It's a big, muscular wine, but it's polished and pure with great balance and length on the palate.

When you consider the Lokoya wines sell for over $500, this is an absolute bargain as you're getting the same winemaking expertise and quality for a fraction of the price. Drink now or anytime over the next decade or more. This is a lot of wine for the money!

— Ryan Woodhouse, K&L Domestic Wine Buyer

2021 Mt. Brave Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon (Elsewhere $130) Price: Hidden

99 points James Suckling: "A fabulous wine of focus and polish with very fine tannins that caress your palate and give great length to the finish. Medium to full body. The aromas of violets and currants are so beautiful. Dreamy. Best ever? A blend of 92% cabernet sauvignon, 4% cabernet franc, 2% merlot, 1% malbec and 1% petit verdot." (11/2023)

97 points Decanter: "Winemaker Chris Carpenter says that his Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon from Mt. Veeder is intended to serve as a counterpoint to the La Jota Cabernet, which is from Howell Mountain, but that each wine showcases a softer expression of mountain Cabernet, and one that is poised for earlier drinking for collectors who stash bottles of the single vineyard Cabernet wines from Lokoya in their cellar. The soils atop Mt. Veeder are volcanic and sedimentary, and two sites provide the grapes for Mt. Brave. One is the Mt. Brave Vineyard, formerly Chateau Potelle Vineyard, and the site is above the fog line on the northern part of Mt. Veeder, where the soils are well-draining, and yields are generally two tons per acre in good vintages. The other is Veeder Peak Estate. Each site is about 24ha. This blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet France, 2% Merlot, 1% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot was aged 23 months in 80% new French oak. Super fragrant with black fruits, black cherry, and graphite minerality with violets and cherry liqueur undertones. Full-bodied with pronounced tannins that have a chalkiness about them, balanced by very soft and supple fruit that makes this wine so approachable in its youth. An extended finish is marked by blue fruit and pronounced garrigue, blue agave syrup, sage, and crushed cocao nibs. (JC)" (07/2024)

97 points Jeb Dunnuck: "The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder is 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc. It's a classic Mountain Cabernet with full-bodied richness and ample, although velvety, tannins as well as pure cassis and currant-like fruits, gorgeous mid-palate depth and opulence on the palate, and beautiful complexity in its tobacco, graphite, and bouquet garni-like nuances. It's another remarkable wine from Carpenter that has some upfront accessibility today yet deserves 3-4 years in the cellar. It will have two decades of overall longevity, and as top Napa Cabernet Sauvignon goes, it's a terrific value." (12/2023)