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The Saffron Vineyard on Mount Veeder is an excellent example of an ideal site managed by the right person. It’s a beautiful vineyard, nestled among redwoods high above the fog inversion line at an altitude of 457 metres. Daytime temperatures here are often 10 degrees lower than on the valley floor. With encouragement from Kashy Khaledi, the vineyard is organically farmed by the passionate and committed owner, Lisa Chu. (Khaledi convinced Lisa to increase her prices for all her customers, including him, so that organic farming could be implemented—a move that dramatically improved soil health and fruit quality.) Deep-rooted Bordeaux varieties were planted here in 2000 in thin soils of uplifted marine sediment and fractured shale.
Part of the Mayacamas coastal range separating the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, Mount Veeder is said to grow the most characterful wines of the Napa, “like a wild fish in a school of tank-raised trout”, as Matt Kramer once put it. While it has a reputation for robust, slow-maturing wines, Diana Snowden-Seysses’s Burgundian eye, choice of blend and the Saffron Vineyard’s crop of small, beautifully balanced berries infuses the natural power of the mountain with unusual silken grace. The 2019 is a blend of Merlot (60%), Cabernet Sauvignon (23%) and Cabernet Franc (17%). Once at the winery, the grapes were given a cold soak until spontaneous fermentation—which included 20% whole clusters—began. The wine then matured for 19 months in French oak (28% new, all Taransaud).
According to its maker, the wine is “bouncy and outgoing, with explosive red fruit flavours—like biting into a ripe, juicy plum—and fine, focused tannins”. Fusing the explosive intensity of low-yielding Veeder fruit with impeccable freshness and focused tannin, decant this and drink it over a couple of hours to experience the full magnitude of the mountain in all its classically shaped glory.