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ARTISAN WINE & SPIRITS · MOUNTAIN VIEW
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⚔ Mother's Day Sunday · Mt. Brave Mt. Veeder Merlot · Only 30 Bottles Left
JS 98 · #91 Top 100 of 2022 · 495 cases ever made
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The Two Glowing Reviews That Started the Run
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James Suckling · 98 Points · #91 in His Top 100 Wines of 2022
"Finesse, polish and great length. Velvety tannins. Incredible finish. Great class here."
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Owen Bargreen · 96 Points
"The absolutely delicious 2019 Mt. Brave Merlot... It immediately gratifies with chocolate covered kirsch notes alongside black raspberry, graphite and loamy soils. The intense aromatics bring you back to the glass for more enjoyment. The wine showcases velvety tannins that frame a beautiful core of red and dark fruits, with espresso grounds, mocha and lighter dried herbal notes. Finishing very long, this is soft, complex and stunning high-elevation Napa Merlot to consume now and over the next twenty years."
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MT. BRAVE · MOUNT VEEDER · NAPA VALLEY · CHRIS CARPENTER, WINEMAKER
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MOUNT VEEDER · NAPA VALLEY · LIBRARY VINTAGE
Mt. Brave Merlot 2019.
Mount Veeder.
Magical Mountain Merlot for Mom.
From the highest tier of Chris Carpenter's mountain portfolio —
the same hands behind Lokoya, Cardinale, and La Jota.
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JS Score
98 pts
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JS Top 100
#91 '22
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Cases Made
495
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Bottles Left
30
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Retail $120.00
$109.97
Save $10.03 · Library Vintage · Allocation Pricing While Stock Lasts
Only 30 bottles left · first-come, first-served · ships in time for Sunday
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A Magical Mountain Merlot for Mom
If Mom Drinks Cabernet, She Should Be
Drinking This Merlot Instead.
High-elevation Mt. Veeder Merlot is its own species — built like Cabernet, drinks like a wine that doesn't want to leave your mouth. The volcanic soils, the cool elevation, the eastern-facing slopes — everything about Mt. Brave's vineyard pulls density and structure into a grape that, in lesser hands at lower elevations, can drink soft and forgettable. In Chris Carpenter's hands at 1,400+ feet on Mount Veeder, it drinks like one of the great Napa Cabernets of the vintage.
For Mother's Day Sunday, this is the bottle that earns the table — the wine that quietly shows Mom you know what you're doing. 30 bottles left from a 495-case library run that's been six years in bottle and is drinking right at its peak window.
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The Winemaker
Chris Carpenter:
The Master of the Napa Mountains.
For more than two decades, Chris Carpenter has been the winemaker behind Lokoya (Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain & Diamond Mountain Cabernets), Cardinale (Napa's iconic mountain-fruit blend), La Jota (Howell Mountain Cabernet & Cab Franc), and Mt. Brave (Mount Veeder). One winemaker. Four estates. All on the highest, hardest, most coveted vineyard sites in Napa Valley.
Across his catalog, Carpenter has earned multiple 99 and 100-point scores from Wine Advocate, Jeb Dunnuck, James Suckling, and Vinous — including perfect-tier reviews on the Lokoya single-mountain Cabernets and Cardinale. Critics routinely call him the producer who has spent the longest cracking the secret of Napa's mountain terroir — volcanic, lean-soiled, hard-yielding sites that produce wines of extraordinary structure when farmed with patience.
Mt. Brave is his Merlot project. Same hands. Same mountain philosophy. A wine built like one of his Lokoya Cabernets, in a varietal that almost no one else in Napa is taking this seriously.
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The 2019 Vintage
2019: The Vintage Critics Are Calling
One of the Greatest Napa Has Ever Produced.
2019 produced a long, even growing season in Napa Valley — warm enough to fully ripen mountain fruit, cool enough to preserve the natural acidity that gives top-tier Napa Cabernet and Merlot the structure to age for two decades. Critics across the board lined up behind it: Wine Spectator declared the vintage one of the great modern Napa years, and the prestige-tier mountain reds from sites like Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain, and Pritchard Hill drew unusually consistent 95+ scores.
The Mt. Brave 2019 Merlot is six years in bottle now — long enough that the structural tannins have softened into the plush, perfumed mid-palate that the Suckling and Bargreen reviews above pick up on. Drinking beautifully right now and built to evolve gracefully through the 2030s and beyond.
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The Rest of the Critical Consensus
Four More 93-Point Scores from the
Other Critics That Matter.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate · 93 Points
"Mt. Brave's 2019 Merlot Mt. Veeder offers up subtle cedar and vanilla shadings set against a backdrop of ripe cherries and raspberries. This medium to full-bodied effort is bright, fresh and juicy on the palate, finishing long, mouthwatering and crisp. It shows considerable structure for a Napa Valley Merlot, with copious silky tannins and refreshing acids."
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Jeb Dunnuck · 93 Points
"The 2019 Merlot gives up a dense purple hue as well as a great nose of spicy red and black fruits, tobacco, loamy earth, and graphite. I love this rich, medium to full-bodied, textured Merlot, and it should keep for 10–15 years."
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Vinous · Antonio Galloni · 93 Points
"The 2019 Merlot is bright, nervy and full of Mount Veeder tension. Dark red/purplish cherry, iron, mint, spice and savory herbs are finely cut. This potent, savory Merlot is going to need a number of years in bottle to come together. It sure is impressive today."
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Wine Spectator · 93 Points
"Dark and brooding but retains a sense of richness and finesse, with deep flavors of blackberry and red currant taking on mocha, dusty herb and spice notes that end with a tannic grip. Best from 2026 through 2033. 495 cases made."
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"Most people are still sleeping on Napa Valley Merlot. Chris Carpenter is not. He has spent two decades making Lokoya and Cardinale Cabernets that earn 99 and 100-point scores from the world's most exacting critics, and Mt. Brave is what happens when he points that same mountain philosophy at Merlot. The 2019 has six years in bottle, a 98-point Suckling score in his Top 100 of 2022, and 30 bottles left in our shop. For a Mother's Day bottle that overdelivers in every category, this is the play."
— James Tran · Artisan Wine & Spirits
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30 Bottles Left of a 495-Case Library Run.
Mother's Day Is Sunday.
Mt. Brave Merlot 2019 from Mount Veeder — James Suckling 98pts and #91 in his Top 100 of 2022, Owen Bargreen 96, plus four more 93-point scores. Made by Chris Carpenter, the master of the Napa mountains. Six years in bottle, drinking at peak. $109.97 the bottle.
Reserve Mt. Brave Merlot 2019 →
First-come, first-served · only 30 bottles · ships in time for Sunday May 10
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Cheers,
James Tran
sales@artisan.wine ·
artisan.wine/?chat ·
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