Winemaker Chris Carpenter offers malbec lovers an intense, juicy expression of the variety, with bright acidity and lush raspberry on the mid-palate and long finish. It's a terrific malbec with plenty of backbone and lots of red fruit.

Mt. Brave's 2008 Merlot presents a seamless medley of boysenberry, black cherry, and smoky cocoa aromas, as well as a lengthy procession of supple cherry, dark chocolate, and crème brûlée flavors.

The unique terroir of the high elevation Mt. Brave vineyard (1,400 to 1,800 feet) creates distinct concentrated flavors of black cherry, black berry, white pepper and eucalyptus for this Cabernet Franc. Balanced acidity and tannin combine with subtle vanilla characters to produce a wine with a long finish.

The top Napa Valley wines from 2018

Following up on my last column, we had covered four wines from our tasting at the Spire Collection. Here are the final five we enjoyed… Next up was the 2014 Mt. Brave Cabernet Franc. Strong berry on the nose, the taste was fruity (boysenberry) and quite approachable. Also detected aromas of saddle and tastes of smoked meats. Very enjoyable.

Raise a glass of red wine to Dad From Mount Veeder, Mount Brave Cabernet Sauvignon and La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain both deliver blue and black fruit, woody herb, truffle, and warm spice.

Wine of incredible quality in a breathtaking setting Black and red berry flavors with hints of herb, Asian spice, espresso and toast combining with floral notes, weight and a wonderful finish.

At the end of each year, I look back over the wines I've tasted and put together a list of the best of the year. The Top 5 Wines of 2017 featured selections from California, Washington, Virginia and Australia. This year's top wines come from California, Australia and Italy. Here they are in no particular order. Chris Carpenter also mades a mean cabernet sauvignon. This example for Mt. Veeder in the Napa Valley earned a well-deserved spot on this list - the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon* produced & bottled by Mt. Brave.

The wine showed a dark ruby almost opaque color. Blackberry, cassis, raspberry, vanilla, licorice, mossy earth, oak and eucalyptus all arrived on a nose dominated by dark berry fruit. Blackberry, cassis, raspberry jam, vanilla, plum, mossy earth, licorice, oak and eucalyptus followed through on the palate with the jammy foreshadowing of the nose. The wine exhibited excellent structure and length, along with velvety tannins. This lushly-textured wine would pair classically with a standing rib roast or Beef Wellington.

Very fine quality, this is a full bodied, well structured mountain Cabernet, with complex aromas/flavors (cedar, black cherry, cassis, red licorice, tobacco, herbs), excellent balance, and a long, somewhat tannic finish. Needs aging. Great value. 5 stars, exceptional.

Mt. Brave presented itself with a deep, vibrant red color. The nose carried explosive, aromatic notes of floral, dark and red berries, plum, spice and oak. Hints of stone, espresso and tobacco tangoed together with layers of complexity at its peak of freshness. It is well balanced with good tannic structure, mild acidity with a delightful, lingering finish. This wine would be paired well with a juicy fillet.

Dark crimson. Lightly minty nose and then rather sweet pinched fruit on the palate. A little timid but decent enough even if a little drying on the end. 16/20

What to Drink Now: Napa Cabernet Sauvignon A good bottle of Cab remains a go-to wine Napa Valley delivers sublime Cabernet Sauvignon options. The joy is finding what your palate prefers. Here are a few to try this season. (Some were sent for editorial consideration.) Get a taste of all of these delicious wines and more, while helping the Napa Valley community, at Auction Napa Valley May 31 through June 3, presented annually by the Napa Valley Vintners. For lovers of high-elevation mountain fruit, consider Cardinale ($250) which blends five of Napa’s mountain ranges into layers of dried blueberry, leather, cigar box and espresso for an earthy representation of textured, highly structured Cabernet Sauvignon. Or highlighted in individual mountain AVAs, like Cardinale sister wines La Jota ($75) from Howell Mountain and Mt. Brave ($75) from Mount Veeder, both concentrated, dense and divine.

Perfect Pair: Gnocchi with Neapolitan Meat Ragu with Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Recipe The Pairing: Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 The Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon is meant to show all that is Mt. Veeder without overt tannins and the 2014 is a great example of that proposition. Black and red berry characters with hints of herb, Asian spice, espresso and toast combine with floral notes, weight and a wonderful finish. Blend: 90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 8.5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec.

None of these examples is a wimpy wine, as some people think of merlot, but the Mt. Brave Merlot 2014, Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley, pretty much takes the prize for structure. Made from grapes grown between 1,400 and 1,800 feet in elevation — it’s the old Chateau Potelle property — this 100 percent varietal wine aged 19 months in French oak, 93 percent new barrels. The wine displays another inky-black-purple hue with a violet rim; every aspect is intense and concentrated, from the tightly-wound notes of black currants, blueberries and (just a hint) boysenberry to the piercing granitic-and-graphite minerality to its rigorous tannins permeated by iodine, iron and loam. Give it a few minutes in the glass, and it calls up the dusty herbaceous quality of dried thyme and rosemary (with a touch of rosemary’s slightly astringent woodsy nature) that I associate with high-elevation red wines, all of these elements energized and bound by keen acidity; the finish feels chiseled from stone. 14.5 percent alcohol. Production was 532 cases. Winemaker was Chris Carpenter. This is a wine built to age; try from 2019 or ’20 through 2030 to ’34, properly stored. Excellent.

Stepping up the price ladder at $125/bottle was the 2013 Single Block Mt. Brave, a project of the much-acclaimed Chris Carpenter, also either the current or past winemaker at Cardinale, La Jota and Lokoya (quite an impressive resume). It’s 100 percent Mt. Veeder fruit and spends three-plus years in barrel before it is bottled. All cabernet sauvignon, it is heavily perfumed with aromas of black fruit, especially blackberry. While heavily tannic (which will likely dissipate over time), the fruit flavor is outstanding and beautiful.

Mt. Brave’s Chris Carpenter (who is also the winemaker at nearby Cardinale) produces wines from the elevated Mount Veeder area, which draws cool air off San Pablo Bay. The 2013 cabernet sauvignon has perfumes of blueberry and black plum with hints of tobacco and toasted walnut. Its substantial palate cries out for a rare T-bone steak.

Wind River & Mt. Brave on this Week's Wine & Film Podcast

What to Drink Now: Marvelous Merlot Rugged, rough and untamed describes the vineyards of Mt. Brave high atop Mount Veeder, giving their Merlot wines density, robust earthiness and layers of tobacco, leather, and crushed stone minerality.

Dark garnet, rich cherry, cedar, chocolate. Juicy, rich, cherry, plum, chocolate, long. Great acidity.

It sounds like there is everything to love here. Fred lists this wine as having a distinctive, enticing nose of moist cedar, spicy forest floor, and fresh red fruits with blueberry juice and mocha. A very special wine, according to Fred, with fine tannins and quite a long finish. The five-case PNV lot sold for $20,000.

7 Winter Warmer Red Wines To Help Beat the Cold Beautifully rich with elegant raspberries, dark chocolate, brown sugar, spice and vanilla.

Uncorked: Spire Collection a portfolio of all stars Younger vineyards still turned out a big wine with the Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 that was dark purple, almost black in the glass. There’s cedar on the nose, big oak and cassis. Flavors of blackberry, cassis, coal and tar emerge on a wine that serves as a great glimpse into what winemaker Chris Carpenter can do with elevation vineyards.

Inky garnet in color, this wine smells of cassis, black cherry and tobacco. In the mouth rich black cherry, graphite, tobacco and the vanilla of new oak mix with a smoky espresso quality that is quite compelling. Rich, dark, and woodsy, this wine nonetheless has excellent acidity that cuts through the fine grained powdery tannins that coat the mouth.

The inaugural release of the Mt. Brave 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon entices the nose with deep scents of blueberry and violets, and its texture, like finely woven satin, coats the mouth, without initially revealing the gentle yet firm tannins that lie beneath its flavors of ripe fruit, vanilla bean, and mineral.