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Cathiard Vineyard - Founding Brothers Red Wine Napa2020

RED WINE

PUBLIC
June 2025
Prices and availability subject to confirmation
Cathiard Vineyard - Founding Brothers Red Wine Napa label
  • Producer Cathiard Vineyard
  • Blend 5% Cabernet Franc
    55% Cabernet Sauvignon
    40% Merlot
  • Country USA
  • Region California
  • Appellation Napa Valley
  • UPC 769503069364

Reviews

James Suckling 94

So pure and beautiful with perfumes and cedar as well as currants. Dark mushrooms and bark. A medium-bodied wine with dark berry, currant, chocolate, hazelnut, and fine tannins. 60% cabernet sauvignon and 40% merlot.

by JS, James Suckling , 2023

Wine Enthusiast 96

This massively built wine wraps potent black fruit flavors and sophisticated spices in substantial tannins that will surely guide it to greater complexity and smoothness with time. Minerals, graphite, cloves, cedar and blackberries are layered inside a mouthfilling texture. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc.

by JG, Wine Enthusiast , 2023

Wine Spectator 92

This has a good, lively mix of red and black fruit -- plum, currant, cherry -- that fills out the core, while brambly energy fuels the licorice- and roasted vanilla–accented finish. Stays grounded, thanks to a late tug of earth. Very solid for the vintage.

by JM, Wine Spectator , 2023

Technical Details

Description

The Founding Brothers is produced in homage to James and William Rennie the founders of the original winery on the property and images of both are portrayed on this label. In 1880, the two brothers, said goodbye to their native Scotland and set sail to California with high ambition in Napa Valley. Five years later they had built a stone winery and planted 60 acres of vineyards covering the Rutherford and St. Helena AVAs. The same estate is today owned by the Cathiard family. Founding Brothers is produced exclusively with estate grapes to capture the energy and singularity of this very special terroir. This bottling offers plenty of fruit but also shows some spice notes on both the bouquet and palate. It lingers with notes of dried cigar on the juicy and mouthwatering finish. The tannins are present but do not dominate. The 2020 bottling is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. It undergoes a naturally occurring malolactic fermentation in new French oak, followed by barrel-aging for 16-18 months, 40% new French oak and 20% large Foudre barrels.

Estate

Cathiard Vineyard is perched slightly above the valley floor on the lower slopes of the Mayacamas mountains with vineyards straddling both the Rutherford and St. Helena appellations. Over the decades, this historic property has featured numerous owners and vineyard and winemaking heritage dating back to the 1840’s. This exciting new estate is owned by Florence and Daniel Cathiard of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte and several other Chateau in Bordeaux. 2020 is their first vintage release and the wines have already received rave reviews. These exceptional wines are crafted by head winemaker Justine Labbé and famed consulting winemaker Michel Rolland. The estate produces three unique expressions, each offer different personalities, the one characteristic all have in common is their superb balance. These are not heavy Napa Valley contemporary red wines, rather they have finesse and freshness, lively individualistic personalities and show extremely well with food.