Cristian Brothers in Napa Valley is one of my favorite stories in wine, for years the estate was owned, operated and indeed the wine was made by monks who were part of a religious order.  I bring that up in the Meyer Family Cellars space because Justin Meyer who opened the winery, was formerly at Cristian Brothers.  He left the order to persue winemaking on a full time basis.

Meyer originally worked on Silver Oak in Napa, before selling and opening his namesake winery in Mendocino.  Yes, even in the 70’s winemakers had difficulty coming up with the cash for their own Napa estate.

Critics scores generally aren’t available for wineries of this size (under 5,000 cases of total production means the wine isn’t available in all markets, thus critics won’t score it, but any good wine club would consider the wines) but everyone always talks about the Port as one of the best versions made anywhere in America.  It’s worth a look if you’re interested in Syrah, Port or other larger red wines.