THE GRAND CASK

Since 2010 MTGA Wines has focused on small lot, craft winemaking but we have never been your typical Napa Cabernet Sauvignon or red blend producer. With a hefty focus on Merlot we have always leaned toward making wines that are unique and stand out from the crowd. While we have been successful in that regard it was only a matter of time before we tried our hand at making outstanding Napa Cabernet.

2015 was our first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon; albeit just a small dash of wine that was more of a pet project than something that was going to become a cornerstone of MTGA. Later, in 2017, we started producing the aptly named “Saint Veeder” Cabernet Sauvignon from a combination of vineyards from Mt. Veeder and St. Helena. This was our first deep dive into the world of Napa Cabernet and set the tone for vintages to come. Through 2019 we continued down this path making a single stellar Cabernet release. It was an excellent addition to our lineup and even though it was two barrels or less in total production it quickly became a staple.

As the last few years progress we began to look toward the future of our Cabernet program. While the Saint Veeder had become a fan favorite we knew that we could take our Cabernet program to new heights if we made just a few slight, but oh-so-important, adjustments. As we entered In 2020 we decided it was high time to release an epic 100% Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon into the world. With that goal in mind we made a change to where we were sourcing our grapes from and outlined the changes that we wanted to make when it came to the fermentation and aging practices of this wine.

"Grand Cask", became the working name of this new project as we tried to encapsulate our decade and a half of experience into one wine. Utilizing open top fermentations, punchdowns by hand, 100% new French oak,  and three total years of aging went into adding this new facet to our production.

Divsersum

Definitions:

diverse, unlike, different, opposite

While we were in the midst of planning the release of the inaugural vintage of the Grand Cask our Cabernet Sauvignon program evolved into something that we were not expecting. As the years moved along it became necessary to purchase more tonnage that we required due to competition of fruit sourcing and lack of availability of suitable vineyards. To alleviate those concerns we opted to purchase twice the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to maintain our current grower relations and fruit sources. This left us with two options:

1. Sell off the additional wine made as “bulk juice” for pennies on the dollar

2. Find a way to utilize within our winemaking program

We opted for option two. As luck would have it during our travels with a group of friends and clients on our first ever wine cruise we visited an outstanding producer outside of Aix en Provence that served as inspiration for a style of red wine that is made sparingly around the world. Within Napa there is not another producer attempting to do what we have done to craft a wine of this style.

Those who receive an allocation of the Grand Cask will have the opportunity to purchase DIVERSUM.