2022 Snowden Vineyards "Lost Vineyard" Merlot, Napa Valley, California, USA
There are 10 units left in stock.
ABOUT THE WINE
The 2022 Lost Vineyard Merlot comes from Snowden’s small estate Merlot block and was co-fermented with 3% Grenache from the family’s experimental Rhône-variety block. The Merlot block was planted in 1994 to Clone 181 on 110-R rootstock, a combination that produces relatively small clusters and berries on this site. The fruit was hand-harvested on September 1, before the severe heat that arrived later in the month, and fermented with wild native yeasts. The wine aged seven months in French oak, 30% new and 70% used, before bottling in May 2023; 208 cases were produced. Diana Snowden Seysses describes crushed rose petals, plum and cinnamon, followed by licorice, black cherry and velvety chocolate. It is a small-production, estate-grown Napa Merlot with softness, perfume, and a clear sense of place.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Snowden Vineyards is a family-run estate on the eastern slope of Napa Valley between St. Helena and Rutherford. Wine grapes have grown on the 160-acre property since Levi and Lucretia Davis homesteaded it in 1878, and the Snowden family has farmed the ranch since 1955. Today only 23 acres are planted to vines, while roughly 137 acres remain natural woodland. The estate vineyards are certified organic, reflecting the family’s focus on soil and ecosystem health. Third-generation family member Diana Snowden Seysses has been the winemaker since the 2005 harvest. A UC Davis Viticulture and Enology graduate, she has worked in both California and France and has served as an oenologist at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy since 2003. At Snowden, her approach is deliberately restrained: careful farming, native-yeast fermentations, moderate ripeness, and minimal manipulation are used to keep the character of the hillside vineyards and each vintage at the center of the wines.