2014 Lagier Meredith Syrah Mt Veeder is sold out.

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2014 Lagier Meredith Syrah Mt Veeder 750 ml

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Shipping included on orders $150+.
  • Curated by unrivaled experts
  • Choose your delivery date
  • Temperature controlled shipping options
  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

‘91 Dominus, ‘86 Dunn, ‘82 Mayacams, and the STAR—‘99 Lagier Meredith

‘91 Dominus, ‘86 Dunn, ‘82 Mayacams, and the STAR—‘99 Lagier Meredith

Several months ago, on another unplanned outing in St. Helena, we ended up at PRESS restaurant. The somms working the floor were pulling out rarities from the cellar that included ‘91 Dominus, ‘86 Dunn, ‘82 Mayacamas, and a ‘99 Lagier Meredith Syrah, which was presented to us—a wine not on the list. After one sip, we knew we were done for. The Lagier Meredith topped them all—towered above. At $140 a bottle, we ordered two. The next day, the bean counters balked. It didn't matter. It was business, we told ourselves. It was worth it. Was it ever.

Had Steve Lagier and Carole Meredith planted Cabernet Sauvignon on their coveted hillside site atop Mt. Veeder and produced a wine of this quality, it would easily fetch $90 on shelves, and on the list at PRESS, a back vintage like the ‘99 would have been $400 a bottle or more.

In 2014, they eked out just 450 cases of some of the valley’s richest, most structured Syrah. It is a year that is going to outlive the ‘99, and absolutely demands a place in your cellar. Wine Spectator rated it 94 points, praising the “agile balance between plump fruit and great structure,” while Robert Parker found this rich mountain-fruited gem “One of the classics of Northern California,” “seamless,” and said it “can be drunk now or cellared for up to a decade or more.”

A library release today, the 2014 Lagier Meredith Mt. Veeder Syrah will hold a special place in your heart if you’re a Napa Cabernet-lover. Why? It is built to deliver young hedonistic up-front fruit opulence and has the structure to develop marvelous secondary and tertiary qualities in a cool, dark cellar. Just $44.99 each with shipping included on 3. We suggest at least 4 bottles—two for now, two for later. More if you’re able.   

When Steve Lagier and Carole Meredith purchased their 84 acres on Mount Veeder in 1986, it had never been planted to vine. The property had sat unsold for years and was home to a rutted road, rattlesnakes, and a smattering of olive trees. When they were not working—Steve as a winemaker at Mondavi and Carole as a professor of viticulture and enology at UC Davis—they were toiling at their mountainside property, clearing stumps and roots and planting cover crops. All without help.

The property came along slowly. Finally in 1994, after eight years of contending with their day jobs (and in Carole’s case, a hellish commute), they planted the first vines on just 5 acres. They released their first commercial wine in 2000, 14 years after purchasing their property. That is where the hard work, along with their decades of shared expertise, started paying off.

Lagier and Meredith’s reverential treatment of the Syrah—they eschew new oak for neutral—has gained well-deserved attention. This is a chance to see why Robert Parker calls Lagier Meredith “one of the classics of Northern California.”