Maître de Chai Gala Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

Maître de Chai Gala Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

When Marty and Alex first walked into this vineyard, they knew they HAD to work with this fruit even though working with Cabernet was never in the plan. Planted in 1992 on rocky volcanic bedrock on the slopes of Mt. George, about 1000ft above the floor of the Napa Valley—this is just high enough to get constant breezes from the San Pablo Bay.

The vines here produce very small clusters, which lend a really beautiful deep and saturated palate with a firm multi-dimensional tannin. The tannin hits up front at first, which alongside the volcanic terroir has us thinking of Etna, then continues up the side with fruit density like in Tuscany and finishes with a hard mineral toned and linear mid-palate.

Converted to biodynamic farming from organic in 2018, this vineyard is farmed by hand.

Maître de Chai Gala Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is a beautifully unique example of old school, “pre-prohibition” style mountain Cabernet.

Region
California

Appellation
Napa

Varietals
Cabernet Sauvignon

Vineyard
The Gala Mountain Vineyard sits at 1,000′ above Napa Valley on the slopes of Mt. George just East of the town of Napa. The Northwest facing, terraced vineyard was planted in 1992 and is cooled by the constant breezes of the San Pablo Bay. The six acre vineyard was converted from organic to biodynamic in 2018.

Soil
Sandy topsoil with a rocky, volcanic bedrock

Vinification
The grapes were hand harvested, destemmed and fermented in open top fermenters using native yeasts

Aging
Aged for 16 months in neutral oak

Production
650 cases

Reviews

Vinous – “The 2022 Maître de Chai Gala Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is a terrific effort in this very challenging year. Sumptuous dark-toned fruit, leather, menthol, lavender and chocolate show notable concentration and textural resonance. The savory style favored here is evident, although the 2022 naturally doesn’t have the dimension or layers of the epic 2021. This fruit was picked on September 9 and 14, so after the Labor Day heat, yet the wine retains very good balance. These new releases from Maître de Chai are fine follow-ups to the wines I tasted last year. Drawing on their shared culinary background, Marty Winters and Alex Pitts craft gorgeous wines defined by translucence and expression of place. Readers who have not tasted these wines yet absolutely owe it to themselves to do so.” (92 Pts)