Enjoying wine - perspectives on wine buying, collecting, tasting, a study in wine marketing & branding; observations, experiences and ruminations of a winegeek & frequent traveler. Sharing so others can 'unwindwine' for greater wine discovery, understanding and appreciation.
After the sensational Petit Verdot tasting with dinner the other evening, I pulled another 100% Petit Verdot from the cellar for a repeat, comparison tasting experience. We tasted another Napa Valley Petit Verdot, this time from Whitehall Lane which is just up the Route 29 Napa Highway from Piazza Del Dotto. This was the same vintage, 2014, as the Piazza Del Dotto we tasted the other evening.
Whitehall Vineyards Napa Valley Rutherford Fawn Park Vineyard Petit Verdot 2014
This is 100% Petit Verdot, sourced from the Whitehall estate Fawn
Park Vineyard, located in the Rutherford AVA, just off the Napa Valley floor on the eastern
hillside in St. Helena. It is one of seven vineyards on the Whitehall Lane estate.
Like the traditional Bordeaux producers, consistent with the percentage of fruit in a typical Bordeaux Blend, the vineyard is
planted primarily to high-power Cabernet Sauvignon with just a small two-acre
block of Petit Verdot. As I wrote the other evening, Petit Verdot is usually added to the blend in a small portion, usually less than ten percent, to add color and structure to the mix.
According to Whitehall Lane, the vineyard has been producing for about twenty-five years but the
property’s history pre-dates the vines or its buildings. It’s been told
that local Native Americans mined the neighboring Glass Mountain where
they turned the mined obsidian into tools and arrowheads. There is a
home on the property that was constructed in 1865 with a second story
addition made when Judge Chiles owned the estate in 1915.
A
vintage barn pre-dates the house and was constructed in 1905 using
timbers harvested from Howell Mountain. The property
was originally used as a dairy to supply milk to the nearby St. Helena Sanitarium—now
known as St. Helena Hospital.
The property was owned by the Hultman Family from
1928 to 1978, and they ran the dairy and raised chickens there. In
1978, Loren Sorenson purchased the land, planted the vineyard, dug a
spring-fed pond and continued a small farm for the local 4-H program.
Whitehall Lane was founded in 1979 and was acquired in 1993 by the current owners, the Leonardini Family of San Francisco and Saint Helena.
The
property is named Fawn Park Vineyard after the road that borders the
southern side of the estate. This road was originally the stagecoach
road going up and over Howell Mountain to Angwin and Pope Valley.
Tasting this again, I wish I had bought more as this is a big bold expressive fruit forward style that we love.
Consistent with our original tasting of this wine back in 2018, "Dark inky blackish purple, full bodied, structured concentrated rich
tongue coating black fruits, hints of clove spice and earth, with tongue
puckering chalky tannins that form distinct 'legs' on the glass. This
wine begs for hearty cheese, grilled steak or darkest mocha chocolate."
We tasted and acquired this label during our visit to the winery during our Napa Wine Experience in 2018.
According to Whitehall Lane, the vineyard has been producing for about twenty-five years but the
property’s history pre-dates the vines or its buildings. It’s been told
that local Native Americans mined the neighboring Glass Mountain where
they turned the mined obsidian into tools and arrowheads. There is a
home on the property that was constructed in 1865 with a second story
addition made when Judge Chiles owned the estate in 1915.
According to Whitehall Lane, the vineyard has been producing for about twenty-five years but the
property’s history pre-dates the vines or its buildings. It’s been told
that local Native Americans mined the neighboring Glass Mountain where
they turned the mined obsidian into tools and arrowheads. There is a
home on the property that was constructed in 1865 with a second story
addition made when Judge Chiles owned the estate in 1915.
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