The 2014 Mountain Cuvee from GunBun is a delicious red wine bargain. It’s a Bordeaux-style Cab-Merlot blend grown and bottled in Sonoma County, and I hope the winery survived this last week of California wildfires without major incident. They make this easy-drinking, smooth red, and you will enjoy this wine like you might a fruit-forward red that is less Syrah blend and more Merlot in its profile.

2014 Mountain Cuvee Red Wine, Gundlach Bundschu, Sonoma County, California, USA.

Grapes for this drink are, some quick research shows, sourced from the Maycamas Mountain range and originate mostly from two growers in close proximity to the vineyard. The 2014 is a blend of 56% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot, and it is aged for 14 months in French oak. Yes, I had it with fish both last night and again tonight, and that’s more of an indictment (if you must) of me than the wine itself. I was in a red mood and just couldn’t fire up a chardonnay or grigio to go with tilapia etc.

I recently bumped into the 2014 GunBun Mountain Cuvee at a blind taste testing at my favorite wine store, and it ranked pretty high on my list as I tried to determine which of their masked bottles was the 2014 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon. I am not 100% sure, but I think my brother and I got a sample of the GunBun when we hit a tasting event at Fleming’s last summer? The bottle looks very familiar, and I know that would have been the only other time I’d been exposed to it or the name. Ah, yes, checking that link now (you should too) and it was their Mountain Cuvee. Liked it then (despite a different blend) and liked this ’14 for sure. You will appreciate as well–and I’m glad I have another bottle of these cellared too.