White Rock Vineyards Napa Valley Claret 2002
With Linda's meatloaf dinner I pulled from the cellar a Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend Claret from White Rock Vineyards for a perfect pairing. Claret is the term adopted from the British that refers to a blend of red Bordeaux varietals.
White Rock Vineyards was established in 1870 in the southern foothills of the Stag’s Leap range. Today it is operated by proprietors, the Vandendriessche family who carry on the tradition of the historic estate. The original winery still stands as the home of the Vandendriessche family, carved from white rock quarried from the property in the 1870’s.
The property sits in the Vaca mountain range in the Stag's Leap district on Loma Vista Road off Soda Canyon Road up in the hills above the Darioush and Signorella estates that sit along the Silverado Trail in southeast Napa Valley.
A family affair, Henri Vandendriessche oversees the operations and business with sons Christopher and Michael serving as winemaker and vineyard managers today.
Henri Vandendriessche was born and raised in Northern France. He came to America to study Economics at UC Berkeley in 1960. In 1967 he met Claire who was raised in Napa Valley. In 1977 they purchased the 64 acre 1870’s winery estate north of Napa and set out to revive the historic property.
Henri and Claire settled their family and raised their three children in the converted old winery and made the farm their home. They replanted much of the vineyard and dug a cave into the solid rock. Henri oversaw the vineyard and winery operations while Claire marketed and sold the wines.
Son, Christopher Vandendriessche grew up living the family wine business. He studied physics at UCSC but after graduating in 1992, he moved to France and enrolled in the University of Bordeaux, graduating with an Enology degree. He went on to work at Chateau Pape Clement in Bordeaux and worked harvests in Burgundy, Spain (Remelluri in Rioja), and Argentina (Catena in Mendoza).
Christopher returned to Napa and learned winemaking as Assistant Winemaker working under John Kongsgaard at Luna where they made wine for a legendary winemakers including David Ramey, Dan Baron, Bill Knuttel, and Marco Capelli.
Michael Vandendriessche grew up on the property he now manages. After high school, he studied viticulture at Napa Valley College before heading off to study for two years in France. He learned viticulture and terroir working the harvest in Burgundy. He returned to Napa in 1996 to take on the role of Vineyard Manager.
Michael’s wife, Kendall, is a vineyard manager for several distinguished Napa Valley properties including Grace Family Vineyards; and Christopher’s wife, Sarah, is the winemaker at Elizabeth Spencer Winery.
We also hold from this producer a winemaker signed bottle of the White Rock Vineyards "Laureate" Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. This was obtained and gifted to us by our nephew Chris who acquired it for us during a Napa trip a several years back. We'll look forward to sharing this with him when we are together at some point.
White Rock Vineyards Napa Valley Claret 2002
At twenty-one years, the fill level, foil and cork were in ideal condition, while the labels were somewhat soiled from aging in our cellar.
This is a classic Bordeaux Blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, 1,160 cases were produced of this vintage release.
In 2010, I wrote of this label, "Dark ink color, medium bodied, smoky leather and floral aromas - forward black berry, violets, hints of cedar, smoke, cedar and touch of tar on moderate tannin finish."
Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, complex but nicely balanced and integrated blackberry and blueberry fruits with notes of smoke, spicebox and tobacco and hint of cedar with firm ripe but approachable tannins on a lingering finish.
RM 91 points.
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https://whiterockvineyards.com/
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