Cathiard Vineyard Grand Vin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2021

In 1885, two Scottish brothers arrived in Napa Valley with engineering minds and audacious dreams. James and William Rennie were descendants of bridge builders — their uncle, Sir John Rennie, helped complete London Bridge — and they brought that same inventive spirit to the dusty foothills between Rutherford and St. Helena. They planted sixty acres of vines, built a gravity-flow stone winery, and became the first in California to crush grapes with a gasoline-powered engine. And then — fire. Phylloxera. Prohibition. Their barrels burned. Their vines failed. The stone winery fell silent, becoming one of Napa’s “ghost wineries” — intact, but untouched. A monument to ambition paused.

More than a century later, Florence and Daniel Cathiard walked the property and fell in love — not just with the history, but with the biodiversity, the energy, the quiet resilience of the land itself. The Cathiards, longtime stewards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte in Bordeaux, understand legacy. They understand that great estates are not owned — they are cared for. In 2020, they became the next stewards of this magical slice of Napa Valley.

From 35-year-old hillside vines tucked into the Mayacamas foothills, this is Cabernet at its most intentional. The yields are tiny, just 1.5 tons per acre. Every cluster is hand-harvested. The fruit is cared for with great intention. Optical sorting, gravity transfer, and gentle extraction preceed eighteen to twenty months in 80% new French oak.

The 2021 vintage carries that electric Napa precision — a growing season that delivered concentration without excess. In the glass: blackcurrant and crushed blackberry layered with graphite, violets, and warm stone. The tannins are structured but refined — a quiet nod to the engineers who first built here. This is not just Cabernet from a beautiful hillside; it's a ghost winery speaking again.