Showing posts with label Arns. Show all posts

Friday, April 12, 2013

Napa Wine Experience 2013

Napa Wine Experience 2013

Our Napa Wine Experience 2013 started with a trip to lower Howell Mountain east of the town of St Helena, still in the Napa Appellation, to visit John Arns at Arns Estate Vineyards.

Dining at Cole's Chop House, Napa -

With Cole's charbroiled steaks we enjoyed Arns wines picked up at the winery earlier in the day - Arns Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 and Arns Impromp2 Cabernet Sauvignon.

From the restaurant winelist, on the (excellent) recommendation of our server, we selected 'Twelve C' Rutherford Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2010.

The aged steaks were prepared to perfection and complemented by Cole's decadent, delicious signature hashed brown potatoes. Service was impeccibal, attentive and accommodating to the wine focused meal and our BYOB wines.

Arns Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The 15th release of this 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, 400 cases were produced - medium to full bodied, dark inky purple colored, complex concentrated black berry fruits with hints of mocha, coffee and anise with tightly wound tannins on a long finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1014195

Arns Imprompt2 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This Impromp2 is a multi-vintage blend of wine from the vintage barrel selections remaining from the various blocks from the 2005 – 2009 vintages, wines that were not blended into the Arns Estate Cabernet. Comprised of small lots from the earlier and more recent vintages set aside for this special blend it provides a melange with unique character and flavors. A pleasant drinking wine, this lacked the intensity and focus of the flagship Estate Grown Cabernet but its a unique tasting experience on offer directly from the producer.

Medium bodied with a elements of black berry, black currant and black raspberry fruits with a melange of flavors - cherries, anise, mulberry, and hints of chocolate and spice complexity with a moderate finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1103410

Twelve C Rutherford Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Besides visiting the vineyards and wineries and meeting winemakers first hand, a highlight of visiting Napa Valley is to discover emerging producers and new releases of yet to be discovered wines such as this one.

Named for the 12 degrees centigrade, 55 degrees fahrenheit, the natural cave cellar temperature which is the ideal temperature at which red wine should be stored for aging.

A single-vineyard designated 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the prestigious Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford, Napa Valley. The second release of winemaker Mike Smith who learned winemaking under the direction of Thomas Brown beginning in 2001. He travel from Portland Oregon to work for free for three years to learn the craft before becoming full-time assistant to Thomas. They worked together on several labels including Schrader, Maybach and Outpost. Starting his own wine projects at the Black Sears Winery, 12C wines were crushed alongside these greats. Today 12C is now being custom crushed at Envy Estate Winery.

Paraphrasing the winemaker, this embodies 'power and structure into one seamless package, deep garnet color; scents of dark raspberries, cassis, lavender and dark chocolate, intertwined with a lush and velvety texture followed by soft and powered tannins gliding to the finish - elegant yet muscular, with both deftness and grace.'

Medium to full bodied, dark garnet colored, nicely balanced, smooth polished, complex flavors of blackberry and black cherry with a layer of mocha and tones of floral, vanilla and sweet oak with a moderate lingering tannin finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1421166

http://www.12cwines.com

Check back .. more to follow ...

Arns Napa Valley Estate Vineyards

Arns Napa Valley Estate Vineyards - Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah

For our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2013, rather than resticting ourselves to one appellation, which is our normal approach, we focused on a few select producers that we've been collecting over the years but had yet to meet. We opened the weekend with Arns Estate Vineyards and Winery, a small artisan boutique producer of handcrafted Arns Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Situated on the lower tier of Howell Mountain on the eastern slope above the town of St. Helena, their wines are Napa Valley designation since the Howell Mountain appellation demarcation point is 1200 feet elevation, determined by the level the fog rises up the hill. Never-the-less, the Howell Mountain terrior is clearly evident in Arns Cabernet.

Arns Cabernet Sauvignon is produced by John Arns and Sandi Belcher - John managing the viticulture and Sandi tending to the winemaking. The property has been in the Arn's family since the 1950's when it was acquired by Arn's parents as an escape from the city down in Berkeley. The elder Arns planted vines in the 1960's to sell to local wineries. John and his brother, Steve took over the property and John continued developing the vineyards.

The Arns property was originally homesteaded in the late 1880’s by a German immigrant, then taken over by a stone mason whose work on homes and caves throughout the Valley and helped build the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena with stones, shown left, quarried from the property.

The previous owners of the property planted Zinfandel grapes.Today, ten acres of vineyards are sited across the 160 acre property of rocky hillsides, meadows and forests in ten different blocks consisting of seven different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux and Napa Valley. The vines vary in age from 15 to 45 years. The ten blocks planted showcase the clonal differences and with each having varied exposure, the result reveals unique characteristics that contribute to the overall blend that is Arns Cabernet Sauvignon. The result of this combination of clonal selection, low yield, and minimal irrigation is fruit that is concentrated and intensely flavorful and a blend that has complexity, breadth and depth.

Ironically, we discovered Arns Cabernet Sauvignon on our frequent trips to Washington DC and our regular stops at Andy Bassin's McArthur Wines there from which we've accumulated a collection of Arns over the years dating back to the 1996 vintage. It turns out Sandi is from Virginia and developed the resale arrangement during her trips back home.

Since our Napa trips of recent years focused on distinct appellations per trip, we missed Arns over the years during our frequent visits to Napa Valley and mountain districts including Howell Mountain. It was great to finally connect with Arns and see first hand what makes up the artistry of their work.

The wines:

Arns Napa Valley Melansen Vineyard Syrah 2008

John Arns manages the viticulture, overseeing tending the vines for several producers around Napa Valley. This includes Syrah varietal vines that he planted at 1400 feet up on Pritchard Hill back in the early 1990's. The clones are from Joseph Phelps Vineyards. This provides fruit for this, the 5th vintage release of Arns Napa Valley Syrah. What a discovery and pleasant surprise! Readers of this blog know we love big full throttle Syrah/Shiraz which comprises a third of our cellar behind Bordeaux and Napa Cabernet. We didn't expect to find one at a Napa mountain fruit Cab producer. Moreover, ironically, we also spent an afternoon up on Pritchard Hill this Napa trip.

The rocky terrain of the mountain elevation with the long warm growing season results in powerful but polished, forward flavors of black berry and hints of blue fruits, layers of anise and cassis with hints of mocha and clove, violets, leather and olive on a long lingering firm but silky tannin finish. This is more like a big Southern Aussie Shiraz. Only 65 cases of this are produced. Tasted at the winery, purchased some and shipped it home, tasted again... need to buy more!

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1498990

Arns Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

This is the best Arns I've tasted, most likely indicative of the vintage rather than the fact I held some of them for more than ten years before tasting.

While this is Napa Valley appellation, there are traces of Howell Mountain terrior apparent. Dark inky purple color, medium to full bodied, vibrant forward black berry, black currant and Bing cherry fruits accented by a soft clove, hints of mocha, anise, tea and tobacco spice box and oak on the lingering smooth nicely integrated polished tannin finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1215836

In addition to the current 2009 vintage release, there are still a few bottle remaining from the 2007 and 2008 vintages which allowed us to obtain a mini-vertical of three vintages.

Arns Imprompt2 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This Impromp2 is a multi-vintage blend of wine from the vintage barrel selections remaining from the various blocks from the 2005 – 2009 vintages, wines that were not blended into the Arns Estate Cabernet. Comprised of small lots from the earlier and more recent vintages set aside for this special blend it provides a melange with unique character and flavors. A pleasant drinking wine, this lacked the intensity and focus of the flagship Estate Grown Cabernet but its a unique tasting experience on offer directly from the producer.

Medium bodied with a elements of black berry, black currant and black raspberry fruits with a melange of flavors - cherries, anise, mulberry, and hints of chocolate and spice complexity with a moderate finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1103410

More Arns at Napa Wine Experience 2013 on http://www.unwindWine.com and at Arns directly at
http://www.arnswinery.com/.

More Arns pics below:

Arns' current releases on offer.

Vines set amongst the Howell Mountain forests.

Clan Connelly with John Arns

John Arns in the Chai.

Arns' Eloise Vineyard - named after John's mother,
family matriarch.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Magnum Highlights Family Wine Dinner

Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Magnum Highlights Family Wine Dinner

With son Will laying over amidst trancontinental flights, he and brother Matt came home for a family dinner at Bill and Beth C's and I was included. To celebrate the gathering, Bill opened a magnum of Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow 1996. For a comparison tasting I brought a 1996 Arns Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This also provided a preview since Will will be joining us for our upcoming Napa trip where we'll be touring and tasting there.

Following starters of stewed meatballs, breaded macaroni and cheese balls and selection of fresh fruits and artisan cheeses, Beth served dinner featuring grilled steak ternderloin, steamed broccolli spears, twice baked potatoes with a fresh dinner salad. To round out the mix, Bill opened a Ruston Family Vineyards La Maestra Napa Cab 2006 and a birth-year wine Raymond Vineyards Private Reserve Napa Cab 1989. For starters, Matt brought a tasting selection - La Crema Mendocino County Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2009.

To finish, Molly had baked chocolate brownies which she served with french vanilla ice cream. To accompany the final course, Bill opened a Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Moscat d'Oro 2011 desert wine.

Diamond Creek Napa Valley Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon 1996

Our tour and dinner tasting at Diamond Creek Winery was one of the highlights of our Napa Valley Diamond Mountain Wine Experience 2011. We served this wine from birthyear magnums at son Ryan's and Michelle's wedding. Bill and I continue to collect this wine for special vintages and special occasions. The magnum served tonight was such a feature.

Opened and decanted for about ninety minutes before serving, it was medium bodied and dark garnet colored. It showed surprisingly vibrant and bright forward black cherry and black currant fruit flavors early. As these settled over the ensuing two hours, it became more complex and Bordeaux-like with the fruit accented by bright floral tones reminiscent of a Margaux, accented by cassis, hints of dark chocolate, roasted coffee bean and earth tones with a smooth moderate tannin finish.