Red & White Indy Racer Wines for Beefsteak and Shrimp Dinner

Red & White Wines for Beefsteak and Shrimp Dinner

We were joined for dinner by Sis/in-law Pat and Rodger and friends Steve and Carol-Ann, who used our house as a staging stop-over as they flew out and then back into Chicago O’hare International airport. 

Linda prepared beef flank steak and shrimp with rice, roasted potatoes and vegetables.

I pulled from the cellar a special Napa Red and White for pairing with the surf & turf dinner.

Taking into account our guests being from Indianapolis, I opened bottles from Indianapolis 500 Race drivers, legend Mario Andretti and Randy Lewis.

Notably, both wineries have been sold or closed since acquiring these wines.

Andretti Cellars Montona Napa Valley Chardonnay 2015 

We discovered this wine and the Montona portfolio/brand when we visited the Andretti Winery and Estate in southeast Napa Valley during our Napa Wine Experience in 2018. I wrote about that visit in a more detailed blogpost earlier, and about the Montona brand and this particular label in another previous blopost. 

This label is from the Montona Reserve brand, the high end premium line of the Andretti portfolio. The line is named for the village of Montona, the hometown of the Andretti family and birthplace of the legend racer turned wine producer.

Mario’s birthplace, Montona d’Istria, Italy, is now called Motovun and is in Croatia; at the time of his birth in 1940, it was part of Italy but it was annexed by the former Yugoslavia after World War II. 

Mario is not the only Napa ‘vintner’ with the distinction of being born in what is now Croatia – legendary winemaker Mike Grgich was also born in Croatia in the small village of Desne.

Mario fell in love with wine through numerous trips around the world as a result of his racing career; he would seek out the finest wines in various regions and wine became a part of his lifestyle. 

Andretti Winery was established in 1996 by the famed race car driver, Mario Andretti in a joint venture project with Joe Antonini, former CEO of Kmart, who was one of Mario’s sponsors during his racing days.

Andretti and Antonini purchased land along Big Ranch Road in Napa Valley’s Oak Knoll District (a short drive north of the city of Napa). In 2001 they sold the property to Laird Family Winery and agreed a 20-year operational lease for the Andretti Winery and hospitality space. That lease expired in March 2021 at which point Andretti Winery closed its doors and no longer sees visitors at that winery location. For the next couple years Andretti Winery hosted visitors by either walk-in or appointment at Feast it Forward tasting room in downtown Napa but those tastings are no longer being offered. 

Andretti continues to lease about 42 acres of vineyards surrounding the winery, planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. They also purchase grapes from other vineyards in select locations in Napa Valley.

Several brands were produced under the Andretti label including their Napa Valley Series (wines that are not vineyard designates), the Villa Andretti Series (reasonably priced limited production wines that focus on Italian varieties from grapes typically not growing in Napa Valley) and the Montona Series is named after Mario’s childhood home in Italy and features their most premium limited production wines with a number of bottlings limited to just 50 cases.

Each vintage, Andretti Winemaker Bob Pepi selected from the finest fruit to create wines for the limited production Montona series of labels - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, a Super Tuscan and this Chardonnay. Produced was very limited to as few as fifty cases each and allocated available directly from the producer, to Andretti Winery Wine Club Members. We procured our allocation through our membership in the Wine Club.





Photos of the former Andretti Winery estate, a small faux Italian/Tuscan building and courtyard with picturesque fountains and landscaping. There was a small cottage, patios and lawns that are available for small private tastings and picturesque grounds which would be ideal for a private event or special outing.

Andretti Montona Reserve Napa Valley Chardonnay 2015

The Andretti Winery Montona Napa Valley Chardonnay went through full malolactic fermentation and was aged 16 months in 30% new French oak barrels. This is our last bottle of our limited holdings. 

As noted above, this label is not Estate bottled, meaning the grapes for the juice in the bottles are not necessarily grown on the property, but rather, may have been purchased from contract growers. As such, the (rear) label cites the wine is merely "Bottled by Andretti Winery".

Hence, with all due respect to the legendary Indy Racecar driver, Mario Anrdretti, and his benefactor investor partner in the winery venture, former CEO of K-Mart Joe Antonini, they are tenant wine producers, not landowners or winery estate owners.

As a wine collector and onephile, I would prefer to support family owned farmer/grower winemakers who produce wines from grapes produced on their properties. This provides a consistent source of fruit year after year and thereby allows for the focus on terroir and its impact on the wine from vintage to vintage, as a basis for comparison over the years, and as a comparison against other similarly situated terroir focused wines.

Winemaker notes - “Our Montona Chardonnay exudes complex aromas of fresh stone fruit, Meyer lemon and floral notes complemented by subtle oak overtones of almond and crème brulee. On the palate, the wine is exploding with flavors of pear, toasted almond and spiced apple. Minimal new oak allows the wine to retain its natural fruit characteristics and varietal focus.”

This is not an oaky or buttery profile wine. It is butter to medium golden in color, medium bodied, moderately rich and concentrated pear, peach and stone fruits with notes of floral, jasmine and citrus with toasted oak spices on the lingering finish.

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3599050

http://andrettiwinery.com/

https://twitter.com/AndrettiWine 

@Andrettiwine  

We then opened this big red wine from another Indy Race Car Driver, Randy Lewis, whose winery ironically was across the road from the (former) Andretti Winery Estate.

Lewis Cellars Alec’s Blend 2015

We wrote about our private Lewis Cellars Napa Chateau Visit and Tasting in an earlier blogpost, excerpted here. Our visit to the Chateau of Lewis Cellars winery was one of the highlights of our Pour Boys 2017 Napa Wine Experience. 

I've often written in these pages about the fun we have with this branding, with its signature 'L' on the label, ala Laverne and Shirley, or wife Linda, or her mother Lucy, or our daughter Erin Leigh, or her daughter, our first grandchild/daughter Lucy! 

That coupled with the Hoosier heritage of Randy Lewis, Indy 500 race driver from our native Indiana, and, their affinity to family, naming labels after their grandkids - Alec, Ethan and Mason, we adopted Alec's Blend as a signature label for son Alec and feature it at family celebrations.

Lewis wines are family favorites for such special occasions, punctuated by this namesake Blend for son Alec. Lewis Cabernets are some of our favorites and we have a decade long vertical of Alec's as well as their Cabernets, dating back to this '97.

This blend is dedicated to Randy and Debbie Lewis' first grandson, Alec, who was born on the day of the harvest of the grapes for this wine leading to the name. I learned at our tasting that this is the inaugural vintage of this label/blend of which we still hold two bottles, and every vintage bottle since.

At the time of the writing of this blogpost, the blog search shows twelve postings of Lewis wines (Lewis Cellars (12)). Scrolling through those tastings are posts tied to many memorable family and friend wine tastings and dinners.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017 - Lewis Alec's Blend 1997 - Lewis Cellars Napa Valley Alec's Blend 1997 - Son Alec's Signature Namesake Label selection for his birthday eve dinner.

Sunday, May 10, 2015 - Mothers Day Family Dinner Features Lewis Alec's Blend

Sunday, August 17, 2014 - Family Celebration Dinner - Favorite Wines & Foods

Family Celebration Dinner - Favorite Wines & Foods for our anniversary celebration family dinner featuring Lewis Cellars Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
Friday, December 25, 2015 - Lewis Cellars Napa Valley Alec's Blend 2003 - Son Alec's Signature Namesake Label for Family Holiday Celebration Dinner
Thursday, August 30, 2012 - Alec's Blend, Robert Craig Affinity, Penn Shore Diamond 

Saturday, May 5, 2012 - Graduation celebration wine tasting flight featuring 1990 vintage birthyear wines. Gala celebration of son Alec and his roommates' graduation from Indiana U, Kelly School of Business, featuring specially selected wine flight of namesake or other memorable wines saved for the occasion.

So it was that we have some experience with Lewis wines going back two decades.

Like Andretti, Lewis didn’t own their own vineyards, they have long term contracts with many grower sources, some for terms as long as thirty years. We collect and drink some other wines similarly situated such as Freemark Abbey and their long term affiliation with the Bosche' vineyard, source for their vineyard designated select Cabernet which we own going back to the '92 vintage.

Lewis sourced the finest fruit from Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford and Oak Knoll for our their varietals. Chardonnay comes from Oak Knoll and Russian River Valley. Each site was selected for a specific varietal character, with many of the vineyards being planted exclusively for them.

Notably, Lewis Cellars was acquired in 2021 by Paso Robles-based Justin Vineyards and Winery, which is owned by the company behind Fiji Water.

Alec’s Blend for Father’s Day grilled steak dinner

Alec’s Blend for Father’s Day grilled steak dinner

For Father’s Day, I was honored to be part of a foursome for a round of golf with sons Ryan and Alec, and Son-in-law Johnny. Afterwards, Alec came over with his family for grilled beefsteaks, twice baked potatoes and broccoli cheese casserole.    

I pulled from the cellar a couple appropriate “Alec” signature wines from our broad collection of labels we hold for his birthyear vintage, or other reasons that associate with him, such as these. 

This Alec’s Blend label is from one of our favorite producers, for numerous reasons, none the least of which they have a label named for their grandson who shares our son’s name. 

We visited the Napa Valley winery Chateau during our Napa Valley Wine Experience in 2017 - Lewis Cellars Napa Chateau Tasting. 

Lewis Cellars was also one of the few producers Alec and Viviana were able to visit on their honeymoon getaway to Napa Valley, when the trip was interrupted and cut short by the raging wildfires at that time. 

Alec's Blend Napa Valley Red Blend 2014

We enjoy Lewis wines, as I've often written in these pages about the fun we have with this branding, with its signature 'L' on the label, ala Laverne and Shirley, or wife Linda, or her mother Lucy, or our daughter Erin Leigh, or her daughter, our first grandchild/daughter Lucy, and now our recent grandaughters Lavender and Lilac! 

That coupled with the Hoosier heritage of Randy Lewis, Indy 500 race driver from our native Indiana, and, their affinity to family, naming labels after their grandkids - Alec, Ethan and Mason, we adopted Alec's Blend as a signature label for son Alec long ago, and feature it often at family celebrations such as tonight.

Lewis wines are family favorites for such special occasions, and this is one of our go-to wines, a 'signature wine' for son Alec, his namesake Blend for Dennis Lewis' son Alec. Lewis Cabernets are some of our favorites and we have a decade long vertical of Alec's as well as their Cabernets, dating back to the inaugural release in '97.

The label is dedicated to Randy and Debbie Lewis' first grandson, Alec, who was born on the day of the harvest of the grapes for this wine leading to the name.

It just so happens, that tonight, we pulled from our cellar the oldest vintage of the nearly dozen vintages we hold of this label, as part of proper cellar inventory management, and its the same vintage we tasted during our visit to the winery.

We already own this wine and hold more than a dozen vintages so we know this label well. This is a unique label - a blend of Syrah and Bordeaux varietals, a rare combination and style that we like very much.

Winemaker notes: With one year of college completed, (Their Alec is a seven years junior to our Alec.) Alec's wine is both boy and man in this boundary-pushing blend of Syrah 50%, Merlot 34% and Cabernet 6%. Asserting his independence through explosively ripe blackberry and huckleberry fruits, there's also kirsch-like cherry cola, spicy oak, supple tannin and a trace of s'mores that closer to home. Tremendously youthful and seriously good fund, Alec's Blend remains a kid at heart.

Dark inky garnet colored, full bodied, concentrated black and blue fruits with notes of cola, spicy oak, hints of caramel and mocha on the chewy tannin finish.
RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2436963&searchId=8474F253

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/08/lewis-cellars-napa-chateau-tasting.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=53086

https://www.lewiscellars.com/

Christmas Family Dinner and Big Syrah Blends with Beef Bourguignon

Christmas Eve Family Dinner features Big Red Syrah Blends with Beef Bourguignon

Much of the family gathered at our house after Christmas eve church service for a dinner celebration. Linda prepared Beef Bourguignon, mashed and sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, and salad.

I pulled from the cellar two big Syrah based red blends to accompany the rich meat and vegetable stew in red wine reduction sauce - a perfect complement. 

Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend Napa Valley Red Blend 2012

Randy and Debbie Lewis established their family winery in Napa back in 1992. We've been fans since the earliest days and hold and keep and extensive collection of their wines - Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs, and this unique blend of both. 

We enjoy Lewis wines as  I've often written in these pages about the fun we have with this branding, with its signature 'L' on the label, ala Laverne and Shirley, or wife Linda, or her mother Lucy, or our daughter Erin Leigh, or her daughter, our first grandchild/daughter Lucy, and now our recent grandaughter Lavender! That coupled with the Hoosier heritage of Randy Lewis, Indy 500 race driver from our native Indiana, and, their affinity to family, naming labels after their grandkids - Alec, Ethan and Mason,  we adopted Alec's Blend as a signature label for son Alec and feature it often at family celebrations such as tonight.

Lewis wines are family favorites for such special occasions, and this is one of our go-to wines, a 'signature wine' for son Alec, his namesake Blend for Dennis Lewis' son Alec. Lewis Cabernets are some of our favorites and we have a decade long vertical of Alec's as well as their Cabernets, dating back to the inaugural release in '97.
The label is dedicated to Randy and Debbie Lewis' first grandson, Alec, who was born on the day of the harvest of the grapes for this wine leading to the name.

One of the most anticipated wine producer visit tastings at our just completed Pour Boys 2017 Napa Wine Experience was a visit to the Chateau of Lewis Cellars.

This 2012 vintage release was the oldest of a decade of vintages we hold in our cellar of this label. 

This is a powerful yet balanced blend of 79% Syrah, 13% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Petit Verdot. 

Winemaker's notes: "One of our best bottlings ever, the 2012 Alec's Blend carries the casual confidence of a 17-year old. Deliciously complex...layers of lifted ripe blackberry, black cherry, cola, malt chocolate, Heath bar and bramble never quit. There's great acid and structure here too with a balanced arc of tannin and toasted cherry wood spice."

This release was awarded 93 points by Wine Spectator and 90 points by Connoisseurs Guide.

Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, rich bold full round ripe blackberry fruits with  mocha, spice, toasty oak, smoke  and graphite with a long and persistent finish.

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1887417

http://www.lewiscellars.com

@lewiscellars

Mollydooker "Carnival of Love" McLaren Vale Syrah/Cabernet 2011

This is another fun label that we have designated one of our family signature wines that we love to serve at family occasions. 

I've written often in these pages about Mollydooker husband and wife winemaking team, Sara and Sparky Marquis, who happen to both be 'lefties', hence 'Mollydooker', the Aussie term afforded what in America we would call a 'southpaw' or a left handed person. 

You gotta love our Aussie friends and their sense of humour. They emerged on the American wine scene with Marquis Phillips and their whimsical 'Roogle' or half kangaroo half eagle character for the Australia - American joint venture with their US distribution partnership back around the turn of the century.

After several successful releases, Sara and Sparky set off on their own and never looked back developing an extensive brand and line-up of labels, all with whimsical names and colorful cartoon characters (see select library below - a more complete library is on our winesite Aussie 'M' Mollydooker label library).

Aside their flagship 'Velvet Glove' Shiraz which nears $200, their two premium labels in the release price $80 range are this one, and 'Enchanted Path', a Shiraz and Cabernet blend. Their line includes an extensive collection from an entry level Shiraz to Cabernet, Cabernet-Shiraz blends, Merlot - even a sparkling Shiraz.

The story of these wines according to the winemaker is: "Our whole family is involved in making our wines, and all the wonderful people who drink them become our friends, so we named this wine Carnival of Love, because the wines bring us together. If you look closely you will notice that the Lefty characters are all included in the label and when you join the Carnival of Love and the Enchanted Path together, the two labels form one beautiful continuous love story."

Alas, the Enchanted Path and Carnival ended a couple years ago when Sara and Sparky split and went their separate ways. Sara took over and runs the business and serves as CEO, Winemaker, producer and philanthropist. Sparky, it turns out is a racing car buddy of my associate down is Australia who builds and races cars in his spare time when not tending to running the APAC region for my software business. 

Since Sarah took over the business, Mollydooker’s wines have been praised globally, including receiving five 99-point Wine Advocate scores by renowned wine critic, Robert Parker. Its Carnival of Love Shiraz has also been listed a record three times in Wine Spectator’s Top 10 Wines in the World. Under her leadership as sole owner Sarah Marquis, the company has been recognised for its business success, being chosen as the 2019 South Australian Business of the Year at the much revered Telstra Business Awards.

At these price points, these are not every day wines for us ordinary folks, but wines for special occasions. 'Carnival of Love' has become one of our family tradition wines which we serve at wife Linda's and family birthday parties, since Linda is a Lefty, and we happen to have three family birthdays in the span of several weeks.

Mollydooker have continually won high acclaim with Carnival receiving 95-ish ratings consistently over the years; 2010, RP95, WS94, 2009; WS94, RP93, 2008; WS94, 2007; RP96, WS95, 2006; RP97, WS95. This 2005 release got 98 points from Robert Parker, rarified space indeed for only very special highly acclaimed wines.  

 

Like the Alec's Blend above, this is also Syrah (2/3) based accented by Cabernet Sauvignon (1/3), just without the Merlot that comprises 1/3 of the Bordeaux varietal components in the Alec's Blend. Being from South Australia, it is remarkably similar to the profile of the California based Alec's Blend - dark inky purple, rich, concentrated, syrupy, chewy fruit filled. Both share a profile of spicy, clove accents.

This unique blend really works with the Cabernet adding breadth and depth to the big black inky purple colored full bodied Shiraz. The result is a powerful full bodied complex wine with concentrated forward chewy tongue coating black berry and black cherry fruits accented by ripe plum and spice, a layer of leather and hints of anise with fine silky tannins on the long finish.

 

Winemaker's notes on this release: "This is the wine I tell all my friends about. To see the look on their faces after their first sip is priceless. The 2011 Carnival of Love so clearly shows the essence of Mollydooker. It has elegance; a complete, intense, seamless flavour spectrum; a sumptuous mouth feel and perfect balance. At 92% Fruit Weight it is a wine to go WOW about, an absolute beauty." 

This release was awarded 94 points by Wine Spectator and Robert Parker's Wine Advocate who said "Drink it from 2014 to 2022+."

This is my third review of this label and tonight's experience was consistent with the earlier ones. Like tonight, both previous blogposts were on family celebration events.

My post from 8/17/2020 - "This was dark inky garnet purple colored, full bodied, expressive fragrant floral notes, dense, deep concentrated, complex fruits of sweet black cherry, black raspberry and hints of blueberry fruits accented by creme de cassis, cinnamon and clove spices with a layer of charcoal that detracts from the harmonious desirable fruit and spice notes. The finish is long with crisp acidity and soft silky tannins."

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/08/carnival-of-love-for-anniversary-dinner.html

And, previously back in 2014 - "This 2011 continues with a big powerful concentrated, dense, deep and complex wine, black inky purple in color, with super ripe blackberry and raspberry and layer of blueberry flavors that are a bit over the top for my preference, almost being raisiny and hint of herbs in their concentration, with tones of spicy cinnamon and clove, and hints of creme de cassis, mocha and black pepper on the lingering sinewy tannin finish. This is not for the faint hearted and needs a big steak, bold cheeses or dark chocolate to offset its in-your-face power,such as tonight's beef burgundy which was perfect."

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2014/02/mollydooker-carnival-of-love-shiraz-2011.html

Both times, as with tonight, I gave this 92 points.

 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1436687

http://www.mollydookerwines.com.au/  

Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend 2011

 Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend 2011

With wife Vivianna in NYC/CT for the weekend, son Alec hung out with us and neighbors over the weekend. After golfing with Chris and Andy, they came over to check out our cellar and Alec naturally pulled his 'signature' Alec's Blend for a tasting with pate' and artisan cheeses. 

As written often in these pages, we have fun with this branding, with its signature 'L' on the label, ala Laverne and Shirley, or Linda, or her mother Lucy, or our daughter Erin Leigh, or her daughter, our first grandchild/daughter Lucy!

Lewis Cellars wines are family favorites for all occasions, punctuated by this namesake Blend for son Alec. Indeed, Lewis Cabernets are some of favorites and we have a decade long vertical of Alec's as well as their Cabs, dating back to this '97. 

This blend is dedicated to Randy and Debbie Lewis' first grandson Alec, who was born on the day of the harvest of the grapes for this wine (for the '97 vintage), hence the namesake!

Our visit to the Lewis estate and Chateau were a highlight of our Napa Valley Wine 2017 Experience as well as visit and private tasting there by Alec and Vivianna on their firestorm shortened honeymoon last year. 

This 2011 vintage release was the oldest of a half dozen vintages we hold in our cellar of this label. I was concerned about its age, not only being the oldest in our holdings at ten years, but also a slight off-vintage overall in Napa. 

This vintage release is a blend of 61% Syrah, 33% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Indeed, at ten years, this was starting to show its age a bit and was showing some slight diminution with a slight funk beginning to set in. It wasn't likely due to provenance as the fill level, label and notably the cork were all in perfect condition. Some, but not all, of the funk did burn off a bit after some settling time.

Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, moderately intense brambly black berry and black raspberry fruits with notes of vanilla, hints of that classic Alec's Blend cinnamon clove spice and pepper, with some tones of black tea, wet wood and graphite setting in, with moderate tannins and acidity on the finish. 

RM 88 points - probably off a couple points due to its age.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1670123

http://www.lewiscellars.com

@lewiscellars

Lewis Cellars "Alec's Blend" Napa Valley Red Blend 2010

Lewis Cellars "Alec's Blend" Napa Valley Red Blend for family celebration dinner and birth year vintage tribute ...

For oldest grandchild, Lucy's tenth birthday, Linda prepared grilled tenderloin, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with her wonderful holiday season crescent rolls, accompanied by a kale cucumber and tomato salad. 

For dinner, I pulled from our cellar a family favorite label for such occasions from Lewis Cellars. 

Lewis Cellars' branding features the whimsical 'L' label with which we commemorate Lucy on her special day. This particular label has added significance, Alec's Blend is named for the Lewis' eldest grandson who also shares the name with our son, Alec.

Alec and bride Vivianna visited Lewis Cellars for a private tasting during their recent honeymoon in Napa Valley. Our visit to the Lewis estate chateau was a highlight of our Napa Valley Wine Experience in 2017. That blogpost lists many such postings of special Lewis Cellars' wine openings/tastings.

We hold a vertical collection (multiple vintages of the same label) of this label spanning more than a decade, from which we pulled this 2010 vintage release.

For added significance we opened a bottle from Lucy's birth year vintage, 2010, on her double digit, first decade tenth birthday. Seeking a birth year vintage wine for the occasion, its notable that our horizontal collection (multiple labels of the same vintage) of this year consists of 108 bottles in 59 wines, allowing for many more celebratory tastings in the future. I originally pulled a Lewis Cellars Napa Cabernet 2010 but switched to the Alec's Blend label for the occasion.

The birthday celebration was also special since Lucy and I share the same 1/2 birthday, meaning each of our birthdays is the half birthday of the other. We also share many special shared memories together and have a special grandfather grand-daughter bond. Its great to be a grandpa!

Lewis Cellars Alec's Blend Napa Valley Red Wine 2010

This vintage release got 93 points from Wine Spectator. 

This is a unique blend of Napa Valley fruit, 70% Syrah, 25% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.

This is the style we love with its thick concentrated full bodied forward fruits and bright floral aromatics. 

Dark inky purple colored, full bodied concentrated black and blue fruits with accents of tobacco and herbs, notes of cedar and expresso, turning to nuances of sweet mocha chocolate on the supple finish laced with firm but approachable acidity and tannins

RM 93 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/barcode.asp?iWine=1433021 

https://www.lewiscellars.com/

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/08/lewis-cellars-napa-chateau-tasting.html

Wedding Wines - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza Continues

Wines for a Wedding Celebration - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza Continues with Quivira Cabernet Cuvee' Imperial, Pahlmayer and Pieper Heidseick Magnums - and Top Rated Birthyear Vintage Wines

The family gathered in Conneticut for son Alec and Vivianna's gala wedding weekend; we started off the festivities with a dinner with the wedding party, generously hosted by the B's, our new in-laws. 

The Big Green Truck with its on-board Pizza oven was on-site and prepared a broad selection of custom hand-made pizzas made with the finest ingredients and toppings. 

It was a perfect food-wine pairing with the California Cabernet Cuvee' Bordeaux Blend from Alec’s birthyear vintage, served from a 6 liter large format Imperial bottle I brought from our cellar collection for the occasion, as well as several other wines served.

As I presented the big bottle, I discussed the irony of it being one of our 'V' wines, this one also featuring a boat on the gold painted bottle, in light of the fact that I acquired this bottle decades ago in anticipation of this event. 

Frank B, father of the bride is an avid boater and the wedding party men spent the afternoon on his boat cruising the Westport and Southport Conneticut coast of Long Island Sound (below).

The special limited release commemorative bottle was signed by Quivira Vineyards and Winery founders and then owners, Henry and Holly Wendt. It came packaged in its own OWC, Original Wood Case. 

 

Quivira Vineyards has a long history of significance in the evolution of grape growing and winemaking in Dry Creek Valley. 

 

Founders Henry and Holly Wendt sold the property in 2006 to current owners Pete and Terri Knight. They were struck by Henry’s vision for better wine through innovative vineyard management using biodynamic and organic farming techniques. 

 

Since purchasing the winery and vineyards in the summer of 2006, Pete and Terri rallied the Quivira team around a strong sense of purpose and focus on a ‘sustainable, holistic approach’ to growing grapes in the quest of producing distinctive wines. 

 

Today, Quivira’s philosophy is driven by the mission and vision of quality shared between winemaker Hugh Chappelle and owners, Pete and Terri Knight. Together, they have invested in the vineyards and winery with the intent of growing wines based upon the ‘thoughtful commitment to sustainable and organic farming’. 

 

Quivira Vineyards, today, is a leading producer of terroir driven Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, and Rhone varietals.

Quivira Dry Creek Cabernet Cuvee' 1990

This 1990 Cabernet Cuvee' was sourced from select grapes from the Quivira estate vineyards in Dry Creek Valley at the confluence of Wine Creek and Dry Creek in Healdsburg, Sonoma County. It is a blend of Bordeaux varietals, 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc and 21% Merlot. Cellartracker records show this label was produced in the years 1987 through 1992.  

 

I've written in these pages about the impact a large format bottle has on the aging of wine, extending the life and drinking window of a wine due to the larger vessel and its reduced air to wine surface area and greater volume for increased stability for more graceful and consistent aging. 

 

This wine exceeded my expectations with its drinkability, still showing vibrant fruits and showing little sign of diminution from aging. This is most certainly attributable to the large bottle and to the quality of the 1990 vintage harvest. 

 

Sons Alec and Ryan, the groom and co-best man, carefully removed the wax capsule seal and extracted the cork, in near perfect condition, using a Ahso, two pronged cork puller. Shown below with our host, father of the bride, Frank B, and the boys, the 6 liter Quivira.

Thus was dark inky purple garnet colored, medium-full bodied with vibrant black berry fruits accented by notes of mushroom, smoke, oak and hints of black tea and cassis with a nice smooth integrated tannin laced finish. 

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=606516

https://quivirawine.com/

https://twitter.com/QuiviraVineyard

The wines continued the following evening for the wedding banquet served in a magnificent setting on the lawn under the tent in the yard overlooking the Sound. 

 

Following the Quivira, we opened another large format bottle, a magnum of Pahlmeyer Napa Valley Caldwell Vineyard Red Blend, also from the same birthyear vintage year 1990.  

Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red is a classic Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, all sourced from the Estate Caldwell Vineyard. 

 

I wrote about this wine when I served a companion magnum of this bottle and label during a family gathering earlier this summer, the week of the original planned wedding event before being postponed due to the Covid Pandemic. 

To round out the flight of wines for the evening, Alec served his namesake signature wine, Alec’s Blend Napa Valley Red Wine from Lewis Cellars. This is another family favorite label from a favorite producer, featured often in these pages.

Son/brother Ryan gifted six bottles of recent releases of this label to Alec, and I swapped them with a vertical tasting flight from our cellar from the ‘99, ‘01, ‘03, ‘05, ‘07 and 2009 vintages. These were served alongside the current 2017 release. 

 

Following the wedding weekend, the bride and groom headed off to Napa to pay homage to the vines and visit several family favorite producers including Lewis, Del Dotto and several others, firestorm permitting. Alec and Vivianna have a planned visit to the Lewis Cellars Winery in Napa on their re-planned Honeymoon to Napa Valley.  

 

We also served for the weekend another bold vibrant proprietary red blend from Venge Cellars. Venge Scout’s Honor features a prominent ‘V’ on the label, a fun whimsical play on the initials for the bride Vivianna and a testament to the vineyard dog Scout of the Venge family, and a tribute to Alec and Vivianna’s new dog, Camella. 

  

Venge is another popular label and a family favorite. We have known and collected wines crafted by Nils Venge, the first California producer to craft a 100 point wine from the pundits, since his early days as a producer, and when he was consulting winemaker to several popular labels including Plumpjack, Del Dotto, Fantesca and others. 

Following the wedding ceremony, Frank and Mary-lisa, Vivianna's parents, hosted a magnificent gala celebration dinner in a tent on the lawn at their home overlooking Sherwood Island and Cob Cove on the Long Island Sound. 

 

The spectacular dinner featured prime filets of beefsteak and salmon entrees. This was a much abbreviated scaled down celebration from the originally intended and planned banquet at their club, which will now be rescheduled for another time. 

 

To contribute and join in the celebration dinner, I brought from our cellar a flight of very special wines I have collected over the decades and held for this occasion, from the birthyear vintages of the bride and the groom.

 

Three of the wines were each awarded #1 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator Magazine as part of their annual Top 100 Wines of the Year, all from the 1990 vintage. A testament to the global success of the vintage, one was from California, one from Bordeaux and one from South Australia, a further testament to the amazing spectacular 1990 vintage. 

 

All these wines were acquired upon their release back in the early nineties, in some cases, even before being so recognized and heralded. 

 

Three #1 Wine Spectator Top
100 Wines from 1990 vintage

I blogged about these wines and big bottles in a preview to this weekend's gala festivities. 

Chateau Grand Vin Latour Pauillac Bordeaux 1990 

This 1990 vintage release was the Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1993 and was awarded a perfect 100 points. We also served this wine from a six liter Imperial from daughter Erin's 1981 birthyear vintage, at her and son-in-law Johnny's wedding celebration.

Erin, Johnny and Fort family
at Sean & Michelle's wedding

Penfold’s Grange (Hermitage) McLaren Vale Shiraz 1990

This 1990 vintage release of this label was the Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1995. This was the concensus WOTN - Wine of the Night by many in the group, especially the younger generation. I acquired an OWC - Original Wood Case of his wine back on release. I remember obtaining it at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London and hand carrying back on the flight, back in the days when such activity was allowed. 

 

We opened a bottle from this case with Alec and Vivianna when we visited them in New York to celebrate their engagement.   

 

My notes from that previous tasting earlier: Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, flawless, elegant, polished, harmonious, perfectly balanced, silky smooth flavors of concentrated black berry and black raspberry fruits with notes of vanilla, licorice, spice, black truffles and oak with hints of spice and cedar turning to fine grained tongue puckering tannins on the long lingering finish.

RM 96 points.

Caymus Special Select Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 and 1991

This 1990 vintage release was Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1994. The 1990 vintage was so successful that nine of the Top Ten Wines of the Year in 1994 were from the 1990 vintage.  

To further celebrate the nuptials, I also brought several wines that we happen to hold in our cellar from the birthyear vintage of the bride including the Caymus Special Select 1991, in addition to the heralded #1 1990 vintage. Testament to this producer and their run of great releases, the 1991 was awarded the #2 wine of the Top 100 Wine Spectator Wines of the Year 1995. So, this mini-vertical duo of back to back vintages were #1 and #2 respectively in the Top 100, likely the first and only time that I can find that this has happened. 

  

 

 

I also brought back-to-back '90 and '91 vintages of Silver Oak Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. Had the Coronavirus pandemic not derailed the couple’s original wedding plans, I was prepared to serve Silver Oak Bonny’s Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 from six liter bottles, (serial numbers 41 and 44). They remain stored in our cellar in their OWC - Original Wood Cases (shown below). We will hold these for (a) future celebration occasion (s). 

 

We served the 1982 vintage of Bonny's Vineyard from son Ryan's birthyear vintage at his and daughter-in-law Michelle's (below) wedding celebration, along with a horizontal collection of other birthyear vintage wines, several from large format bottles. 

 

 

We also served 1990 and '91 vintage Flora Springs Trilogy Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 

 

We also brought along and were prepared to open but didn't get to them, bottles of Dunn Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 1990 and 1991. 

 

In all of these comparison tastings, the 1990 vintage showed significantly better than its 1991 counterpart, evidence that vintages matter. I've written in these pages that often, off-year vintages can out-perform, and, that in top exceptional years, all boats rise with the tide, and second and lesser labels can also be exceptional, often providing great QPR (quality price ratio) values. Tonight, though, we were fortunate enough to serve and partake of the best of the best - best wines of the best vintages!

 

We are still holding and looking forward to opening from our cellar collection birthyear vintage bottles of our kids and our anniversary years from our horizontal and vertical collections of several favorite Bordeaux producers including Chateaux Leoville Las Cases, Ducru Beaucaillou, Palmer, Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Gruaud Larose, Chateau d'Yquem and a few others. We're still holding many of these as they appear to have longer drinking windows and hence can be held a bit longer. We visited several of these Chateaux during our Bordeaux region trip last year. We'll look forward to featuring them in future family celebration tastings.  

 

Author, Rick & Linda,
groom's parents

After dinner, with the wedding cake, we served from our cellar Chateau Lafaurie Peyraguay and Chateau Suideraut Grand Cru 1990. We're fortunate to hold some Chateau d'Yquem 1990 as well, but will hold this for appropriate celebrations in the future due to its extraordinary long aging and drinking window. We were also prepared to open and will also hold for future events a Warre's and a Dow’s Quinta de Cavadhina Ports from 1990.

 

 

Prior to dinner, and throughout the evening, we served large format magnum bottles of Pieper Heidseick Special Edition Champagne (above). 

Lastly and notably, this follows by just three weeks the wedding celebration and serving of other large format and birthyear wines at son Sean's and daughter-in-law Michelle's wedding earlier this month. 

Michelle and Sean, newlyweds of
three weeks at A-V's wedding