Cresta Velia Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder 2018

Life can certainly take you down unexpected career paths. But not many can say their wine journey got a massive boost on a volleyball court- how California is that?! More on that shortly. Founder and winemaker of Cresta Velia wines, John Giannini, first credits his large Italian family and his parents. They shared a passion for dining as the catalyst for a lifelong love of food and wine. A native San Franciscan, John, and his siblings always got the requisite sip of wine on special occasions and grew up understanding that good food and wine go together. Since these early years, John knew that the wine industry was his calling.

Like so many people who end up working in the wine industry, one can look back on a chance encounter or conversation that set the wheels of fate in motion. John met Thomas Rivers Brown through mutual friends while playing volleyball, and it was Thomas who gave John his first job during harvest here in the Napa Valley. You might say Thomas was the setter, and all John had to do was spike the ball. Because since then, John has gone on to help Thomas craft several celebrated wines, including Schrader, Maybach, Rivers Marie, and Jones Family. In 2006, John became the Cellar Master at Outpost Winery up in Angwin, and in 2007, he took over as the Assistant Winemaker under Thomas. Since then, John has helped make many of the 100-point wines that Thomas has achieved. While John continues to oversee winemaking at Outpost, he was eager to explore his own vision and creative abilities; and so Cresta Velia was born. The name was inspired by the two most important women in his life, his mother and grandmother, and is a combination of both their names.

We are incredibly excited to offer John’s very first effort from this newly planted site on Mount Veeder and what a renowned vintage in which to start working with this fruit! The 2018 Mt. Veeder is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and is comprised of clones 685 and 169 that were co-fermented for 14 days. Inky purple and highly aromatic with notes of fresh blueberries, black olives, baker’s chocolate, and spearmint running the length of the wine. The wine's true allure reveals itself hours after opening, giving the tantalizing impression of what this wine will become in the years ahead. This might be the most exciting part of the process. But as John likes to say, the drinking part is still the most fun. Just 15 barrels produced. 96+ Jeb Dunnuck and 95 Vinous/Antonio Galloni.

This wine is a total winner: Game, Set, Match!