Nose

This wine evokes the mountain with aromas of bay, dried herb, and dark chocolate. Hints of licorice and blackberry also emerge along with vanilla bean and spice notes stemming from the French oak barrels it was aged in.

Palate

Black current, plum, and dark cherry notes play beautifully on the pallet. The tannins are soft and supple leading to a lengthy finish. A truly beautiful wine.

Growing Conditions

Our Mount Veeder estate is made up of three distinct parcels of exquisite vineyards: The Winery Ranch, North Ranch and Rosenquist. Set amidst the vines on the North Ranch is a viewing platform. Elevation 1550 takes its name from the altitude of that spot, where a soaring eastward view overlooks ribbons of vines draping the hillsides, with Napa Valley far below. Grown on these steep, terraced slopes high above the valley floor, Elevation 1550 is a Cabernet Sauvignon blend sourced from the best blocks from all three ranches. The wine is limited production, made big and bold in the tradition of Mount Veeder, and a unique expression of the mountain.

2014 was another year of low rainfall and warm temperatures in Napa Valley, which once again resulted in an early harvest with excellent flavor intensity and beautiful ripeness in the fruit. The winter started off very dry with no rain in December, January or February. In late March and early April, we received a good dose of rain that started the vines growing with ample water in the root zone. Throughout most of the growing season, conditions were textbook normal for fruit set and ripening, which gave us an abundance of high-quality grapes. The Cabernet Sauvignon off of Mt. Veeder began to make its way to the winery on September 12th off of our Rosenquist Ranch. The north ranch being less exposed to the sun takes a little more time to ripen fully, with the last Cabernet from Mt. Veeder being harvested off of this ranch from block 425 on October 9th.

Winemaking

Pre-fermentation cold soak of 4 days to enhance color and body. Fermentation and maceration averaging 22 days to build structure and integrate mouthfeel.

Aging

20 months in New French Oak

Appearance

Deep ruby in color.