Fantesca celebrates newest grand-daughter arrival

Fantesca fantasy label celebrates newest grand-daughter arrival - family fun with Fantesca continues … 

A quiet celebration at home for the arrival of our newest grand-daughter, and her courageous mom, we opened this whimsical label that celebrates a legendary harlequin. Seeking a Cabernet to enjoy paired with a selection of artisan cheeses and pate’, we pulled from the cellar an aged vintage bottle from one of favorite producers, Napa Valley Spring Mountain District, Fantesca. 

(Of course, readers of these pages saw our gala family celebration dinner several weeks ago revealing the name and anticipating Ryleigh’s arrival, featured in this post - Family Celebration Dinner at Mesón Sabika Naperville.)

The name of the winery comes from a character in the Italian comedy troupe that inspired Cirque Du Soleil. La Fantesca was the single female character in the early theatrical performances of Commedia dell’Arte. Both the lover and the equal of the protagonist, Harlequin, Fantesca could always be counted on to charm the audience. Owners, Duane and Susan Hoff write that "when we heard Fantesca described as ”Sexy, Smart, and Unpretentious,” we knew we had found a name worth living up to."'

We hold nearly two dozen vintages of this producer, one of our favorites, in our cellar holdings. 

We have been fans of Fantesca since the estate was taken over and the brand was established by Duane and Susan Hoff back with the 2004 vintage release. We hosted new owner/producer Duane Hoff at our home on one of his first release tours when he was traveling the country building the Fantesca brand, then enjoyed visiting the magnificent estate Chateau several times for tastings and tours, as chronicled in these pages in these blogposts:

We tasted and acquired early releases of this label during our visits to the Fantesca Estate on Spring Mountain in Napa Valley. Following meeting and hosting producer Duane Hoff here in Chicago in 2006, we visited the Fantesca Estate & Winery during our Napa Valley Spring Mountain Experience in the autumn of 2009, and earlier during our Napa Wine Experience 2007, and again in 2011. 

Initially, the early year 2002-2007 vintages from the estate were crafted and managed by winemakers Nils and Kirk Venge - some of our favorite winemakers and producers of a broad collection of wine holdings in our cellar. 

Then in 2008, Fantesca teamed up with legendary winemaker Heidi Barrett. The celebrated winemaker has been referred to as “The Wine Diva of Napa” and as “The First Lady of Wine.” She gained fame and recognition producing exceptional high quality wines that she produced for famous labels.

They then went on to bring on Master Sommelier DLynn Proctor as wine ambassador and evangelist. I met DLynn when he hosted a Penfolds Tasting that featured Legendary Grange at our local Binny's back in 2014, when he was Penfold's Ambassador and Education Director for that icnonic Australian producer. (Grange is one of the signature wines we hold for our son Alec, his birthyear vintage being named #1 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator). 

What fun to meet DLynn in person, having enjoyed watching his pursuit of his Master Sommelier Certification in the entertaining documentary movie SOMM which is a feature on Netflix. We enjoyed seeing DLynn on the Amazon Prime Somm III documentary prominently wearing his Fantesca jacket.

We’ve had fun with and featured Fantesca labels in many special and family centric dinners such as this  Wine Dinner Featuring Spring Mountain Wines.

That tasting introduced the inaugural release of a new Fantesca label series inspired by the words of Winston Churchill:  “‘All great things’ are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”  

 

Each vintage release of the Fantesca “All Great Things” label commemorates one of those notable words from the legendary Churchill quote - freedom (2015), justice (2016), honor (2011, 2017), duty (2012, 2018), mercy (2013), and hope (2014) - this one christened the (first) "Honor" release. 

Fantesca wines have anchored several momentous dinners to follow, featured in these pages’ blogposts - Family Holiday Gathering brings out flight of varied reds, and Father Son World Cup wine tasting and  Family Christmas Celebration and Wine Dinner.

Fantesca wines have also anchored many of our Pour Boys wine groups dinners such as this one -  Sea Smoke Gratis, King Richards, Del Dotto Highlight Beef Tenderloin Dinner; And this one - Pour Boys EM Team Hemmingway’s Dinner.

We featured and wrote about the “All Great Things” label and branding in earlier blogposts in these pages back in April, 2023 - Family birthday dinner at Son Ryan's features a flight of big red wines

This was served by son Ryan at grand-daughter MacKenzie's birthday, when Ryan and D-inlaw Michelle hosted a gala family celebration dinner. At that dinner Ryan served from his cellar several vintage premium wines including this interesting label from Fantesca. “All Great Things”, Freedom 2009.

Tonight, We pulled this bottle from a mixed OWC - Original Wood Case of a mini vertical collection of 2005-06 and ‘07 vintages, selecting the oldest twenty year old 2005 release for enjoying, tasting/pairing. The ultra-premium packaging features oversized etched glass bottles with painted branding identifiers. 

Linda prepared toast points from three different breads, served with two different preserves, Raspberry and Shiraz Blackberry, along with pate’ and olives, and a selection of artisan cheeses - Brie, Swiss, Gouda and English Stilton Blue, 

Always the creative and innovative marketers, Fantesca have fun with their ‘fortune-corkie’ program, featuring notable quotes on the corks, submitted by Fantesca fans. Winners whose quotes are selected are rewarded with magnums of Fantesca wines. 

What fun that tonight, opening Fantesca to celebrate the women in our family, and most notably the arrival of grand-daughter Ryleigh, the fortune cookie whimsically quips about women - from comedian George Carlin! 

We last opened this label BYOB for an anniversary dinner at one of our favorite eateries - Chez Joel French Bistro in Chicago - featured in this post - https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2016/08/fantesca-spring-mtn-napa-cab-for.html.

Fantesca Spring Mtn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

At twenty years of age, the importantly fill level and cork (shown above) were still pristine. This is drinking at the apex of its drinking profile and still has life yet at this level - no need to hurry to consume remaining bottles in the cellar. 

Tonight’s tasting was similar to that BYOB Chez Joel dinner on the patio … The Fantesca was wonderful, a perfect selection for our intimate occasion, and a perfect complement to the Pate plate and then my New York Strip Steak with roquefort, as well as Linda's Salmon and asparagus entree.

Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, a mouthful of sweet red currant, spicy cinnamon, black cherry, black berry, cedar and lively acid with a long sweet spicy oak finish held together by finely integrated firm tannins.

Interestingly as I write an earlier blogpost, I had pulled and compared my tasting notes to an earlier review of this wine when I wrote' "Over a eleven hundred different wines in the cellar and I chose this one for our intimate anniversary dinner ...."

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=355837

https://fantesca.com/

@FantescaWine

Keenan Spring Mtn Cabernet with Tenderloin Beef and Avocado

Keenan Spring Mtn Cabernet with Tenderloin Beef and Avocado

Sunday night dinner on the deck, Linda grilled a couple filets of beef sliced from a beef tenderloin. She served the grilled beefsteaks with avocado on toasted Brioche buns laced with butter. They were delicious! 

This brought back memories of the delicious steak and avocado sandwiches we ate daily at a beach-front eatery in Cancun back when we vacationed there in the mid-seventies. 

I had already pulled from the cellar a twenty year old vintage Spring Mtn District Napa Valley Cabernet which was equally delicious. 

I write often in these pages about how the optimal pairing of wine and food amplifies and accentuates the enjoyment of both - this was such a combination - a force multiplier of delight! 

Keenan Napa Valley Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Our visit to this producer during a getaway Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 2007 was featured in these pages, excerpted below, echoing an almost identical experience.. 

Keenan Napa Spring Mountain Cab with Grilled Beefsteak

From that earlier post, we grilled out New York Strip beefsteaks, served with a wedge salad, baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes. 

From our collection of about a decade of vintages, I pulled this vintage release, going on twenty years old. This was delicious, especially paired with the grilled beefsteak, amplifying the enjoyment of each. 

At twenty years, this label is likely at the apex, peak of its tasting profile, not likely to improve further with aging, but certainly to be enjoyed for another decade. 

Napa Valley Spring Mountain District may be our favorite of the seventeen different appellations that make up the greater Napa Valley wine producing districts. 

We tasted and acquired several vintages of this label while visiting the estate winery and vineyards during one of our Spring Mountain District Napa Valley Wine Experiences. 

I wrote more about our visit to Robert Keenan Winery on Spring Mountain in this blogpost. 

We discovered Keenan during our many visits to Napa Valley and our treks up Spring Mountain to visit Fantesca, Pride Cellars, Paloma and Spring Mountain Vineyards. 

We visited the winery high atop Spring Mountain above St Helena during our Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 2007 (shown left). 

We have enjoyed collecting Keenan and having fun sharing and gifting it to a friend and former business alliance partner of the same name. 

 In 1974, Robert Keenan purchased 180 acres on Spring Mountain District at an elevation of 1700 feet, located on the eastern slope of the Mayacamas Mountain range overlooking St Helena in Napa Valley. Today, fifty of those acres are planted to vineyards.

The Spring Mountain District gained recognition as an American Vineyard Appellation (AVA) in 1993.

The unique terroir of the appellation is characterized by low vigor soils on the steep, rocky, mountainsides, ideal for vineyards to produce wines of great concentration, structure, and pure varietal flavors.

The original acreage included the historic but crumbling Peter Conradi Winery, founded in the late 19th Century and one of the first pioneering properties established on Spring Mountain. 

The property vineyards were originally planted in Zinfandel and Syrah.

The property declined when it was abandoned during Prohibition until the time Keenan arrived in 1974. He extended the original vineyard acreage and replanted the property primarily in Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

A new winery was built using the existing stonewalls from the old Conradi building. Keenan Winery’s first harvest there was in 1977.

Michael Keenan took over leadership of the estate in 1998 and replanted the vineyards to increase grape quality. He built a solar power system that went on-line in 2007 that now supplies all of the estate’s energy needs.  

Notably, winemaking duties during the early years were done by legendary consulting winemaker Nils Venge. We hold many labels of Nil's own wines as well as many of the wines he crafted for Del Dotto and many other leading labels. Nils was winemaker for this 2005 as well as that 2003 Cabernet release as shown on the rear label (below). 

Today Keenan Winery produces four estate wines from grapes grown on the Spring Mountain Estate: Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Reserve, Cabernet Franc and a Merlot and  Reserve from the Mailbox Vineyard.

In that last blogpost about this label, we tasted the 2003 vintage and which I gave a rating of 93 points, the same as this 2005 release tonight. 

The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon was composed primarily of grapes grown on Keenan’s Spring Mountain District Estate; the remainder of the fruit was harvested from select vineyards within the Napa Valley. The wine was barrel aged in thirty-three percent new French and American oak for twenty months.

Wineamakers notes for this release: "The blend was assembled just before bottling. The Estate grown Cabernet imparts amazing concentration and remarkable structure, while the portion of Cabernet harvested from the Pope Valley region of Napa has added complex aromas and a balanced mid-palate. Merlot from the Napa Carneros district imparted ripe berry nuances and plenty of forward fruit."

Tonight, we tasted the 2005 release, and, at nineteen years the fill level, foil, label, and most importantly, the fill level and cork, were in perfect condition. 

Like that earlier tasting, at twenty years, this label is likely at the apex, peak of its tasting profile, not likely to improve further with aging, but certainly to be enjoyed for another decade.  

For the 2005 release, 86% of the fruit was from the Spring Mountain estate vineyards, and designated as such, while the remainder of the 100% Cabernet Sauvignon was from the Pope Valley, which at the time was an up and coming newly discovered area.

This release was rated 92 points and a ‘Cellar Selection’ by Wine Enthusiast, and 90 points by Wine Advocate. 

Dark blackish/garnet/purple inky colored, full bodied, rich, concentrated, complex but elegant and refined and balanced - hugely aromatic, ripe sweet black berry, black raspberry and black currant fruits with notes of cinnamon spice, sweet oak, licorice, black tea, forest floor and tobacco leaf on the smooth polished tannin laced lingering finish.

RM 93 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?651948

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=676442

 

https://www.keenanwinery.com/

 

https://twitter.com/KeenanWinery 

@KeenanWinery 

@nilsvenge