Snowden Cousins
Diana, Christian, Susanne, and Carey Snowden — the next generation, making wine on their own terms.
The Snowden Cousins is a separate project inside Snowden Vineyards, run by the third generation to join in. While the Snowden estate label is built around a single Napa Valley property which we've farmed since 1955, the Cousins are exploring further afield — sourcing fruit from both within and without the estate, working with different varieties, and putting environmental responsibility at the center of how the wines are made and bottled. It's definitely Snowden wine, but definitely different.
Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot
The Cousins Merlot comes from the Zayante Vineyard, 2,000 feet up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the vines are own-rooted, dry-farmed, and biodynamically grown. In the winery, Diana uses light-handed winemaking — native-yeast fermentation, minimal sulfur, no new oak — to let the site speak for itself. First released from the 2021 vintage, the wine is now in its 2022 vintage, with 2023 waiting in the wings.
The bottle is part of the wine's story: no metal capsule, a cork closure, and a washable label, so the glass itself can eventually be cleaned and refilled rather than recycled or discarded. We're still developing the logistics for a direct bottle-return program with our customers, and we'll share details as that takes shape.
Napa Valley Red Table Wine
the Cousins Red Table Wine is a blend of red varieties grown on the family's certified-organic Napa Valley property, bottled in a lightweight glass bottle under screw cap — using significantly less glass, and therefore a smaller carbon footprint, than a most wine bottles. The current release is the 2023 vintage; the 2024 vintage is already in bottle and will follow once the 2023 sells out.
Why the packaging matters
Glass is the largest single source of a winery's carbon footprint, mostly from the energy required to melt it — typically 50 to 70 percent of total emissions. Bottle reuse has long been standard practice in parts of Europe, and lighter glass reduces the same impact even without a reuse system. Both of our current wines take a different approach to the same problem: the Merlot's bottle is designed to be refilled, the Red Table Wine's is designed to use less glass in the first place. We see this as an ongoing pilot, not a finished solution, and we'll keep refining it as we learn.
Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot
The Cousins Merlot comes from the Zayante Vineyard, 2,000 feet up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the vines are own-rooted, dry-farmed, and biodynamically grown. In the winery, Diana uses light-handed winemaking — native-yeast fermentation, minimal sulfur, no new oak — to let the site speak for itself. First released from the 2021 vintage, the wine is now in its 2022 vintage, with 2023 waiting in the wings.
The bottle is part of the wine's story: no metal capsule, a cork closure, and a washable label, so the glass itself can eventually be cleaned and refilled rather than recycled or discarded. We're still developing the logistics for a direct bottle-return program with our customers, and we'll share details as that takes shape.
Napa Valley Red Table Wine
the Cousins Red Table Wine is a blend of red varieties grown on the family's certified-organic Napa Valley property, bottled in a lightweight glass bottle under screw cap — using significantly less glass, and therefore a smaller carbon footprint, than a most wine bottles. The current release is the 2023 vintage; the 2024 vintage is already in bottle and will follow once the 2023 sells out.
Why the packaging matters
Glass is the largest single source of a winery's carbon footprint, mostly from the energy required to melt it — typically 50 to 70 percent of total emissions. Bottle reuse has long been standard practice in parts of Europe, and lighter glass reduces the same impact even without a reuse system. Both of our current wines take a different approach to the same problem: the Merlot's bottle is designed to be refilled, the Red Table Wine's is designed to use less glass in the first place. We see this as an ongoing pilot, not a finished solution, and we'll keep refining it as we learn.