Cuvaison Napa Valley and Brandlin Estate Napa Valley
for The Social Book Houston Treasures Dinner 2021
For the first time ever, guests of The Social Book’s Houston Treasures Awards Gala, being held at The Houstonian Club, & Spa, will be drinking a wine, and the actual vintage, that was named in the current “Top Wines in the World” by Wine Spectator. The wines are Brandlin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Mount Veeder 2018, which is the sister winery of Napa Valley’s Cuvaison winery, Cuvaison Chardonnay Napa Valley Los Carneros, and Cuvaison Brut Rosé Napa Valley Los Carneros Méthode Champenoise 2017. This Brandlin Cabernet consists of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon but has, in addition, three of the other four major Bordeaux varietals and will be served with the entrée.
The beauty of the Brandlin Estate Mount Veeder ridgetop vineyard is the resulting perfectly structured and balanced wines. Some California Cabernets are fruit bombs—luscious, but not great accompaniments to food. This wine has beautiful fruit but is seductive and beguiling with its flavors of cassis and chocolate-covered cherries which are accompanied by silky tannins and a long, luscious finish.
Although being named in the Top 100 and soon to sell out—at $90 a bottle—Brandlin Estate is still making this vintage available for our dinner!
As mentioned, the second wine of the evening will be the Cuvaison Chardonnay Napa Valley Los Carneros (the longest, coolest growing area in Napa Valley) 2019. Because of the weather in 2019, this wine is a bit more forward and plump than normal, with hints of peaches and pears, and is delicious.
The introductory wine is Cuvaison Brut Rosé Napa Valley Los Carneros Méthode Champenoise 2017. Although off to a rough, extremely hot year, the 2017s in Los Carneros finished the months before harvest under exceptional conditions.
This sparkling wine, which is equal in value and taste to some of the best Brut Rosé Champagnes, is a blend of 65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay. At $50 a bottle, this is another lovely gift from Cuvaison.
The president and CEO—Dan Zepponi–of Two Estates Wine Collective (Cuvaison and Brandlin Estate) will be joining us at the dinner. His first day of work in a winery, at five years old, was at his family’s winery in Napa Valley, ZD Winery. By the time he was a teenager, he says, “I’d learned how to drive a tractor, prune, fill barrels, run the crusher, do lab analysis—you name it.” In his prior role at Beringer (now, Treasury Wine Estates), he oversaw the winemaking and vineyard management for Beringer, Etude, Chateau St. Jean, St. Clement, Chateau Souverain and Stag’s Leap Winery. He has been in his present position at Cuvaison since 2016.
The Social Book is grateful and proud to serve these outstanding vintage wines at our annual honoree dinner. Please refer to their websites at Cuvaison and Brandlin Estate.
