Maitre de Chai Cabernet Sauvignon Gala Mountain Napa Valley 2021
Maitre de Chai Cabernet Sauvignon Gala Mountain Napa Valley 2021
Where: Napa Valley, California
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon
Body: medium/full
Category: Red Wine
Created by former Chefs Marty Winters and Alex Pitts.
This California red wine boasts a powerful yet elegant palate of blackcurrant, cassis, and spice, with firm tannins and a lingering finish.
2021 Gala Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon | 96 points, Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "Readers who enjoy old-school Napa Cabernets will adore this. This wine, if sold in Napa Valley, would cost four to five times as much. Don't miss it!"
The Gala Mountain Vineyard sits at 1,000 ft. above the Napa Valley on the slopes of Mt. George, just east of the city of Napa. This northwest facing, terraced vineyard was planted in 1992 on rocky volcanic bedrock with sandy topsoil and is cooled by the constant breezes from the San Pablo Bay. The vines are well drained, deep rooting & produce small clusters, which lend to the structure of the wine. This six acre vineyard was converted from organic to biodynamic farming in 2018 and is tended to by hand.
The grapes were destemmed & fermented with their native yeasts in small oak and stainless steel open top fermenters, and aged for eighteen months in neutral oak barrels. Sixteen barrels produced.
organic + biodynamic // native yeasts // minimal intervention
2021 // 750ml
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ABOUT THE WINEMAKER
Maître de Chai translates to cellar keeper, or the person responsible for the development and aging of wine, and, by extension, the person who manages the winery. Established in 2012, Maître de Chai — also known as MDC — is the personal project of Marty Winters and Alex Pitts who met while working at Cyprus restaurant in Sonoma. They have worked in some of California’s top kitchens — including Quince, and the French Laundry.
As with many younger winemakers in California, MDC does not own vineyards, but Alex and Marty do have close relationships with all the growers they work with and in some cases are able to farm the vineyards themselves. Their winemaking is hands-off: nothing added, nothing taken away (Alex is the assistant winemaker at Scholium Project). All fermentations are carried out by natural yeasts, sulfur is kept to a minimum, most wines are bottled without fining or filtering. Together they look to make wines of high quality in a way that best showcases the sense of place where the grapes are grown and the personality of the vineyard.