Wines from Mt. Veeder, Sonoma County, and the SLO Coast

Eight notable wines from recent tasting

Welcome back to Notable, where twice a month I publish notes from recent tasting.

Today’s wines are coincidentally all Californian. We start with two new releases from Mayacamas, a Chardonnay and a Merlot. Next are a Pinot noir rosé and a Chardonnay from Alma de Cattleya, the second label of winemaker Bibiana González Rave. To finish we have four crisp whites from Cadre Wines in the Saint Luis Obispo Coast.

Mayacamas

Mayacamas sprawls across 475 acres of Mt. Veeder, the appellation on the western blade of Napa Valley. The estate’s been farmed since 1889, when John Henry Fisher purchased land and built the original stone winery that still stands today. Jack and Mary Taylor bought the property in 1941, renaming it Mayacamas and introducing improvements to the winemaking. They also planted the site’s first Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon vines.

In 1968 Bob Travers began his long tenure at Mayacamas, making wine until 2013, when apparel entrepreneur Jay Schottenstein bought the estate. Schottenstein launched a vineyard refresh overseen by veteran viticulturist Phil Coturri. He also hired twenty-six-year-old winemaker Braiden Albrecht, plus a consulting winemaker and consulting viticulturist.

The literal fruits of this reboot were just coming ripe in 2023 and 2024 when the two wines below were produced. Farming of the estate’s 50 acres of vines follows organic and biodynamic practices. The winemaking is classical, relying on neutral wooden vessels ranging from large foudre to barrique.

Mayacamas Chardonnay Mt. Veeder Napa Valley 2024

13.5% ABV | $65
Made from Chardonnay grown in various estate plots, hand-harvested and pressed whole cluster block by block. It was fermented and aged in wood, and malolactic was suppressed. It’s a quiet wine at first, unfurling slowly in a sense of citrus and spring flowers. The texture is utterly bewitching, satiny and dimensional, and the acid floats. Restrained and elegant, serious but not without levity. Lovely.