Blueberry, Plum, Mocha

The story of Chateau Souverain begins in 1944 when J. Leland “Lee” Stewart harvested his first crop of grapes from Howell Mountain vineyard in Napa Valley. In the years that followed, Stewart used innovation, meticulous standards and his natural gift for winemaking to establish Souverain as one of the great California wineries. From the beginning, Chateau Souverain has had a presence in the finest appellations of Northern California’s wine country. Our wines are from some of the world’s best growing regions and are a testament to the careful execution of our process. Chateau Souverain is located at the historic Asti Winery in the very northern reaches of the Alexander Valley. We work with fruit from both long-term grower relationships as well as vineyards that we have farmed for over 20 years throughout Sonoma County, including Alexander Valley, Lake County, Mendocino and Russian River.

The history of Chateau Souverain begins with our founder, J. Leland Stewart, who was born in California in 1905. Stewart’s mother came from the Leland family (founders of Stanford University), while his father was a businessman from Scotland. A man of the people, J. Leland was never comfortable with the pretension of the name ‘Leland’ and all that came with it. So he simply called himself Lee.Lee was a trendsetter, opting to grow grapes rather than the predominant crop of the dayprunes. He became an advocate of clean winemaking practices. He was among the first in California to concentrate on single-varietal, estate wines; introducing Petit Sirah as a varietal, and taking a page from the French by insisting that Chardonnay be fermented in oak rather than stainless steel. Lee shared his knowledge with the small winemaking community in Napa that informed such esteemed contemporaries as the Mondavi Brothers, Jack Davies of Schramsberg, Brother Timothy of Christian Brothers Winery and Andr Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu.In the years that followed, Lee Stewart used innovation, a commitment to precision and craftsmanship and his natural gift for winemaking to establish Chateau Souverain as one of the great California wineries. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Lees Cabernet Sauvignon helped to establish Napa Valley as the cradle for the varietal outside of France.

Proof/ABV: 13.9