Hall and Keenan Napa Cabernet Duo - Haan Prestige Shiraz

Hall and Keenan Napa Cabernet Duo - Haan Prestige Barossa Shiraz

Three big reds compliment steak dinner at favorite local bistro

For a hearty dinner with friends Gayle and Mark at Angelis Italian, our favorite local bistro we tasted two big Napa Cabernets against a vintage Australian Shiraz - Hall 2006 and Keenan 2010 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, and Haan Prestige Barossa Shiraz 2003. We recently visited Hall Vineyards' magnificent Rutherford Estate during our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2013 so I wanted to revisit  one of my personally highest rated Hall Cabernets that we're holding in our cellar. The Keenan is currently available at Wine Discount Center so I wanted to taste it against a benchmark wine contemplating further purchases. In earlier tasting notes I likened it to a big juicy fruit forward Australian shiraz so a comparison tasting was in order.

Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

The Hall stood up to earlier accolades and indeed compared most favorably with the big bold Aussie Shiraz, and provided a comparison benchmark to stand up aside the Keenan.

From my earlier notes, the Hall presented "Dark inky color, rich, dense, concentrated, style, full-bodied, fruit forward ripe sweet currant, ripe black raspberry, plum, black cherry fruits, mocha and hints of black licorice with a long soft tannin finish.Has the rich thick jammy fruit of a south Australian Shiraz."  I would emphasize big, full, concentrated fruits with a firm tannic backbone. In this evening's tasting it met my highest expectations and stood over the Shiraz, the other Cab and was indeed a perfect complement to the New York strip steak dinner.

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=761928

http://www.hallwines.com/




Keenan Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Some of our favorite Napa Cabernets come from Spring Mountain District above the town of St Helena in the Mayacamas Range on the western slope of Napa Valley - Fantesca, Pride, Lail, and of course Paloma with their award winning Merlots. We visited Keenan Winery up on Spring Mountain during our Napa Wine Experience 2007.
We've had fun serving this wine with friend Jim Keenan.

Medium bodied, forward fruit flavors of blackberry and cherry, floral with a layer of licorice and hints of spice and coffee with moderate, soft tannins.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon - 73% from Spring Mountain, 27% from Pope Valley. 

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1482065

http://www.keenanwinery.com/

Photo from our 2007 Keenan Vineyards visit high up Spring Mountain.

Keenan vineyard high up Spring Mountain

Haan Prestige Barossa Valley Shiraz 2003

The ladies preferred this more approachable wine with its full flavorful fruits to the firmer, tighter more structured and concentrated Cabernets.

Medium bodied, spicy, earthy leathery super ripe black berry fruit, touch of menthol, hint of vanilla on a long spice finish.

RM 89 points.
 
http://cellartracker.com/w?174207 
 

Tasting Flight Tanbark Hill - Northstar-Freemark Abbey Verticals

Tasting Flight Tanbark Hill - Northstar-Freemark Abbey Verticals

For a gala family reunion dinner celebrating sister Jan's visit from So-Cal and Alec's visit home from Real-Whirled, Ryan and Michelle brought a Philip Togni Tanbark Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. Bill and Beth dropped in with a Freemark Abbey Sycamore Vineyard 1997, so we trolled the cellar and pulled out a Freemark Abbey Sycamore Vineyard 1999 to match and compare. All this whilst we were doing a comparison tasting of the Northstar Columbia Valley Merlot 2007 and 2008. We also opened and tried a Sean Minor Napa Valley Red Wine 2009.

I chronicled the Northstar Columbia Valley Merlots 2007 and 2008 in my preceding wine journal posts of Friday night and earlier tonight.

A highlight of the flight was the Philip Togni Tanbark Hill Vineyard Spring Mountain District Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. 

Philip Togni second wine selected from the barrels that don't go into the flagship Estate wine.

Philip Togni has an impressive track record with Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons dating back to 1969 at Chappellet. He has a reputation for consistently producing high quality wines at reasonable prices. Phillip Togni, his wife Birgitta and daughter Lisa produce Margaux-type wines consisting of a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet franc and Petit Verdot. 

A remarkable major recent tasting achievement occurred in Brussels where a most noted professional panel in the country ranked Phillip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 above eleven other Bordeaux and California Cabernets of 1990 including Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and Mouton Rothschild.

The Philip Togni Tanbark Hill Vineyard Spring Mountain District Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 was full-bodied, bright, vibrant, tasteful focused wine of full forward expressive black and red fruits with tones of creme de cassis, currants, anise and hints of cedar and sweet spice.

RM 93 points. Robert Parker Wine Advocate 93 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1250179

http://philiptognivineyard.com/  

Exploring a new discovery, we tasted Sean Minor Napa Valley Red Wine 2009 from American Canyon down at the bottom of Napa Valley below the City of Napa on the eastern side, opposite Carneros on the West. 

Interesting wine from upstart emerging producer Sean Minor who followed his dream and love of wine into the business with wife Nicole after they discovered, as newlyweds, their second largest expense was wine!

Dark purple inky color, medium to full bodied; a bit of an edge takes away from the black berry fruits adding a slight astringent tone, hints of oak, spice and cassis give way to a moderate tannin lingering finish.

RM 87 points. 

Blend of 30% Merlot, 23% Petit Verdot, 17% Zinfandel, 16% Petite Sirah, 10% Syrah, 4% Malbec.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1195027

http://www.seanminorwines.com/index.htm

Mini vertical of two vintages of Freemark Abbey Napa Valley, Sycamore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 and 1999. We pretty much predicted the outcome of this tasting before we started but it was an enjoyable and worthwhile experience in any event. Freemark Abbey partners with Sycamore Vineyard  to source the fruit for this wine from vineyards located at the foot of the Mayacamas Range at the cusp of Rutherford and Oakville. 

We visited Freemark Abbey over the years with our most recent visit in 2009, with Bill and Beth, highlighted by a cellar library tour and tasting. We purchased library bottlings of the '74 and '78 vintages, our anniversary years, that we took to a gala anniversary celebration dinner at CIA Greystoke Manner.  

The 1997 rear label cites a remarkable three years aging in French Oak and it shows from the outset. The Cabernet Sauvignon is blended with Cabernet Franc and Merlot for complexity and balance.  

The '97 had a base color of garnet with a slight rust hue while the '99 was more deep dark purple as its base color. 

This evening, the 1997 started out a slight bit closed and tight yet revealed from the beginning a leathery tone and predominant layer of oak that increased during the evening. An initial edge burned off giving way to the predominant oak with blackberry and black cherry fruits, tobacco, clove spice and hints of what some call 'forest floor' and a hint of dark mocha on a moderate tannin finish. 

The 1999 shows a new packaging design with a painted bottle as opposed to the traditional paper label, as shown. Like the '97 it also displayed slightly subdued fruits although not as tight as the '97 and the oak was less pronounced, although also sharing the hints of tobacco and spice. 

Both wines softened and revealed more complexity and depth over the course of the evening with the '97 being more pronounced in each frame.

I give the '97 vintage 89 points and the '99 vintage 88 points. 

1997 Cellartracker page-  https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1411584 

1999 Cellartracker page - https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=81347

The tasting jury

 Bill has another '97 and I have another '99, and Bill also has a  bottle of the '98, so stay tuned for our next vertical tasting when we'll compare all three vintages together! 

Still in production - preview posting - watch for updates. 

Terra Valentine Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Terra Valentine Spring Mountain District Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

This is the Sam's Cuvee, label selected and bottled for the former Sam's Wine & Spirits before being acquired by Binny's in Chicago. This was tasted with grilled porterhouse and ribeye steaks, potatoes, and sweet corn dinner outside by the pool at Mark and Shirley's.

The Cabernet Sauvignon was dark garnet colored and full bodied; firm, tight and a bit closed with predominant flavors of black berry, anise and a tone of creosote/tar that gave way to black currant and spicy clove on the finish moderate finish.

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=607975

My birthday, my wine and dinner favorites

Its my birthday, my wine and dinner favorites 

For my birthday dinner, I was fortunate to be surrounded by the whole family and my wife Linda prepared my favorite meal - beef tenderloin and lobster tail with caprese salad, baked potato and grilled asparagus. For dessert she prepared her spectacular flourless chocolate cake and fresh berries. To accompany the dinner I opened two classic Bordeaux like Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the cellar - complex, dark, full, black fruits, with floral notes.

Elan Atlas Peak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1997

Bordeaux like floral fragrance, subdued black berry and black cherry fruits, slight earth and leather with hints of subtle cocoa and sage on a moderate tannin finish. Better than earlier releases, still showing well and has life left.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=5873

We first met winemaker Richard Elliott Smith and his wife Linda (center, left) at our Napa Wine Experience in 1998.

 See my Elan Vineyards Wine Label Library on unwindwine.com. 

http://www.elanvineyards.com/


 York Creek Spring Mountain District Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Meritage 2001

Dark, full bodied, full flavored currant, red raspberry, and black cherry with a long soft polished tannin finish. More subdued fruit than earlier tasting.
RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=47677

 http://www.yorkcreek.com/

Still under construction ...

Chardonnay

The whole family.

Cal Cab Classics - Karl Lawrence Reserve Morisoli Vineyard 2005 - Spring Mtn Elivette 2003

Cal Cab Classics - Karl Lawrence Reserve Morisoli Vineyard 2005 - Spring Mtn Elivette 2003

With AJ and Lori, Saturday afternoon at Vintages on Santana Row in San Jose, bought and poured two class premium California Cabernet Sauvignons with cheese, olives and pasta salad from the neighborhood gourmet deli.It doesn't get much better.

Karl Lawrence Reserve Gary Morisoli Vineyard 2005 - Dark purple color - medium-full bodied. Complex, polished and smooth but somewhat subdued nose and fruit flavors of black currant, black berry and black cherry fruits with hints of tobacco and anise on a well balanced lingering finish. Perhaps needs more time to open and fully reveal itself.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=341570


Spring Mountain Elivette Napa Valley Red Wine 2003

A Bordeaux style blend. Dark purple color, full-bodied - complex and polished but a bit closed and tight with subdued full forward flavors of black berry and black cherry fruit with hints of spice, cedar, and touch of coffee flavors, This one too will evolve for a few more years to further reveal itself.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=794181

Fantesca Napa Valley Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Fantesca Napa Valley Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 

Fantesca Estate and Winery, one of our favorite Napa Valley producers is owned by Duane and Susan Hoff, who moved on from their careers as executives at Best Buy for this Spring Mountain District winery above St Helena in the Mayacamas Range between Mt Veeder and Diamond Mountain. We visited their spectacular mountainside estate during our Napa Wine Experiences in 2007 and in 2009. 

Fantesca Spring Mountain District
Estate and Winery

Initial 2002-2007 vintages were managed by winemakers Nils and Kirk Venge; then in 2008 they teamed up with legendary winemaker Heidi Barrett. From their ten acre vineyard, they produce ultra-premium 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, and there is an acre planted in Petit Verdot. They also source grapes from the Sonoma County Russian River Valley to produce a bright crisp full flavored Burgundian Chardonnay, the first ever by Heidi Barrett. They also released a small production special bottling Burgundian style Pinot Noir, King Richard's Reserve especially for Susan's father Richard who favors such a style Pinot. In 2007 they released a Bordeaux Blend Le Petit Soeur, (shown below).  Fantesca products make for festive serving features or as elegant gifts as are lavishly packaged in stylish heavy etched glass bottles with painted 'labels', or in original wood cases.

Fantesca Sonoma County
Russian River Valley
Chardonnay

Fantesca Spring Mountain District
Vineyards

King Richards Reserve
Pinot Noir

La Petite Soeur
Bordeaux Blend

Duane Hoff pouring 2002 vintage while visiting Rick & Linda
in Chicago during 2004 vintage release marketing outreach.

For a special occasion, we served a Fantesca Estate and Winery, Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon 2004.

Fantesca Napa Valley,
Spring Mtn Cabernet Sauvignon
Etched glass, painted bottle.
(2006 shown)

Medium-full bodied, dark garnet color; complex but smooth and polished with bright forward fruits of black currant, dark berry and cherry, accented by sweet dark chocolate, a hint of cassis, and a tone of spice on the lingering refined tannin finish.

RM 91 points.

Taken and served at Mark & Shirley's, this was the blockbuster hit of the evening, a great complement to artisan cheeses and rib-eye steak sandwiches.

http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=355836

http://www.fantesca.com