2008 Buehler Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Buehler Vineyards is in the mountains east of St. Helena, near Howell Mountain. It was established in 1978 when John Buehler, a Bechtel Corp. executive, retired and with his wife bought a remote Napa Valley property that had once been a winery. At first Buehler Vineyards sold its grapes to other producers, but in 1978 Buehler’s son John Jr. started making wine. Production increased and in the early 1980s the estate hired Heidi Peterson Barrett as winemaker. Barrett went on to become one of Napa’s most renowned winemakers and today the winemaker is David Cronin. The estate is still family owned and operated. It produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.