2023 Snowden Vineyards "Brother's Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, USA

ABOUT THE WINE

Snowden’s “Brother’s Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon comes from one of the family estate’s most important sites: an 11-acre Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard perched at roughly 800 to 850 feet along Napa Valley’s eastern ridge. The vineyard is rooted in remarkably uniform volcanic rhyolite soils and was replanted in 2011 to Cabernet Sauvignon clones 337, 191, and 169 on 420A rootstock. This elevated, hillside site is the source of Snowden’s vineyard-designated Brothers Cabernet, a wine intended to express the structure and character of this specific part of the ranch. The estate is certified organic, and winemaker Diana Snowden Seysses works with native yeasts and a restrained cellar approach designed to leave room for site and vintage to show through rather than imposing a house style.

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.