Clark Claudon Estate Cabernet with BBQ
We hold two decades of vintages in our ‘vertical collection’ of this label, dating back to the inaugural release in 1994. It’s times like this that we are rewarded for having a deep, aged cellar collection.
I wrote about this producer and wine in detail in these pages in an earlier posting, which is excerpted and updated here:
Clark-Claudon Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Clark-Claudon Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Clark-Claudon Vineyards located in the Vaca Mountain range high above Oakville, Napa Valley, was founded in 1993 by Thomas Clark and Laurie Claudon Clark. The couple had lived and worked in Napa Valley for 20 years as grape growers but eventually decided to make wine under their own name.
The Clark-Claudon estate is situated on the ‘backside’ of Howell Mountain in an area known as Pope Valley. We have fun with this label as fellow Pour Boy Bill and Beth C's maiden name is Pope. Clark-Claudon's 17 acres of vineyards are carved out of a 117 acre property located on the north east side of Howell Mountain between Ink Grade and Howell Mountain Road, from 800 ft to 1,200 ft elevation. It’s shallow, mountain soils, cool evening breezes and excellent sun exposure are ideal for a low yield of small, intense Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot grapes. The 17 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon are planted with clone 7 which grows well in hillside rocky soil and produces small berries with concentrated flavors. A small vineyard block is planted to Petite Verdot. After completing their initial vineyard planting, Clark decided to leave the remaining 100 acres of forests, creeks, meadows and ponds in their natural state which serves as a preserve for native birds and wildlife.
Interesting, following my discussions in another earlier blogpost, I wrote about the terroir and appellation, and specifically about the line of demarcation being at the 1200 foot elevation level to differentiate between Howell Mountain and Napa Valley designation, due to effects of the fog from the valley that reaches up to that ceiling level.
We have another such-situated Napa/Howell Mountain Cabernet. Similar to the Viader Napa Valley Cabernet Red Blend from earlier tastings, and the Blue Hall Vineyard Camiana Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon that we drank the other night, this Clark Claudon Napa Cab vineyard is at 1000 foot elevation on the lower reaches of Howell Mountain.
That terroir distinction doesn't apply here as the Clark Claudon property is on the backside of Howell Mountain which never sees the fog that is experienced on the Napa Valley side of the hill.
During our Napa Wine Experience visits of 1997 through 2000 we hosted gala tasting dinners with the "'Undisccovered Dozen', emerging new wine producers to watch", featured in an article in Wine Spectator Magazine. Many of these producers released their inaugural vintage releases in or about the 1994 vintage. Those producers and winery visits included Plumpjack, David Arthur, Clark-Claudon, Robert Craig, Del Dotto, Elan, Paradigm, Pride Vineyards, Snowden, Nils Venge and White Cottage and are featured variously on my winesite http://www.unwindwine.com. A complete index of my tasting notes of these wines over the years is on the site at this link to California Producers Index. These producers make up a foundation of our wine cellar collection even today. In many of these wines, we still have vertical selections, several dating back to those early release vintages.
All our vintage holdings but this one, the 2004 release, are packaged with the wax cap inside the rim of the bottle, topping the cork, as shown left. This one, 2004, has a 'traditional' foil top of the bottle (shown below). Not sure why?
This release was awarded 93 points from Wine Enthusiast who wrote, " ... it really needs time. Give it until after 2008, if you can keep your hands off, and will come into its own after 2010."
A decade later, going on seventeen years, this release is holding its own very nicely and showing no signs of diminution whatsoever. The fill level, label and most importantly the cork were in perfect condition.
At nineteen years, the fill level, label, foil and most importantly the cork were all still in pristine condition.
Like before, the room filled with dark berry fruit aromatics as soon the cork was pulled. This was dark garnet colored, rich, full, concentrated, but nicely integrated and elegant black berry and black currant fruits with accents of cassis, mocha, floral and notes of spicy oak and hints of black cherry on a lingering fine-grained silky tannin finish.
What I did not expect was an extraordinary ‘bourbon barrel’ sprite in the wine that was a perfect complement to the tangy BBQ brisket and sauce.
RM 92 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=229261
In seeking to replenish this bottle with a more recent vintage of this wine, I looked in distribution and found none in Chicagoland, but got this response when searching national beverage superstore Total Wine - "We could not find this item at Pensacola, FL (our select store), But we found it at Denver, CO." We'll be reaching back to the producer directly, as well as looking in the secondary market.
I’ve recently picked up a couple new labels of this producer on-line which I am holding and am eager to try - their ‘Eternity’ label and Three Stones Vineyard release.
A couple days later, we opened another vintage release of this label, for a mini vertical comparison tasting.
Clark-Claudon Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2001The 2001 vintage proved to be in that ‘Goldilock’s zone’, not too old to be past its prime drinking window, and not too young, such that it was now fully integrated and showed maturity from aging.
Like the slightly younger release from a few days earlier, the label, wax capsule (caplet?) (in lieu of foil), fill level and the apparent cork seemed to be in pristine condition, albeit for the age, at twenty-four years.
In light of the wax capsule or caplet, I set aside the also two pronged cork puller and attempted to extract the cork using a traditional waiter’s hinged cork screw. Alas, the cork pulled apart leaving the last quarter remnant in the neck of the bottle. I was able to extract the remains, intact using the Ahso. I should’ve known better and used the ahso from the start.
The tasting profile was similar to the later vintage release, above, although the vibrant fruit and spice sprites were slightly subdued, giving way to some graphite, hints of smoke and leather tones, perhaps revealing vintage differences, as well as the additional four years of age.
At twenty-one years, this was at the end of its optimal tasting window, and starting to decline going forward, hence time to drink in the near term of the next year or so.
This release was rated 92 points by Wine Advocate, who compared it to “a great vintage of Chateau Margaux, tannic, backward, with a Bordeaux-like structure as well as a deep, rich, full-bodied personality.”@ClarkClaudon
Earlier tasting posts ...
http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2015/01/clark-claudon-howell-mountain-napa.html
http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2015/12/festive-holiday-dinner-showcases.html
http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2016/05/clark-claudon-napa-valley-cabernet.html
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2021/03/clark-claudon-napa-cabernet-2004.html
