Rubissow Mt Veeder wines for comparison tasting ..

Rubissow Mt Veeder wines for comparison tasting ... and remembrances ... 

With Dr Dan and Eric and their 'better halves, ladies' in town for our daughter-in-law Vivianna's wedding shower, the men hung out and opened a series of interesting labels for a comparison tasting. In commemoration of the newlyweds bridal shower, and the gathering of special friends with a common memorable wine experience, I pulled from the cellar a special label, son Alec's birthyear vintage wine from Rubissow-Sargent,  Mt Veeder, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 

This bottle was acquired by Eric at a special auction and brought to one of our Pour Boy's wine tasting events. We didn't get to it that evening and I pulled it and set it aside for a special tasting such as tonight. This label had additional special significance as it was discovered when Eric and Cathy joined us for a visit to the Rubissow estate and vineyards high atop Mt Veeder during our Mt Veeder Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 2011. 

For a producer comparison tasting, I pulled another Rubissow label, tasted and acquired during that visit to the Rubissow estate, a Rubissow Mt Veeder Merlot, 2006.

The Rubissow estate was purchased in 1983 and planted to vines by the family partnership of George Rubissow and his children, Ariel & Peter Rubissow. 

Rubissow Wines was started in 1986 as Rubissow-Sargent named for founder George Rubissow, a scientist, engineer and musician, and Tony Sargent, a Napa Valley winemaker. 

Rubissow was born in Paris to Russian and Ukrainian parents, and in Napa Valley Rubissow struck up a friendship with the legendary winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff, who was Russian by birth. The pair conversed in Russian and Tchelistcheff offered viticultural and winemaking advice for Rubissow’s new winery. In the early days, the wines were produced in a winery down in Berkeley. That winery has since shut down.

In 2004, second generation owners Peter & Ariel Rubissow-Okamoto dissolved Rubissow~Sargent and founded Rubissow, with new winemaker Timothy Milos.

The Mt. Veeder estate sits high atop Mt Veeder at the southern end of the Mayacamas Range that separates Napa Valley from Somoma Valley. The vineyard sitting up at the summit overlooks beyond the Carneros region to the south with views of San Pablo Bay in the distance. 

The 46 acre property consists of 26 acres of native oak and redwood forest with the remaining 18.5 acres planted to estate vineyards in 1983 and replanted in 1994. 

Rubissow produced a limited number of red wines, from estate grown fruit of the Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, and some Syrah. 

In their peak production, Rubissow produced about 5000 cases per year. In 2016, with their vintage release, they announced that after 37 years, the property would be taken over by new ownership. With their 2016 release, they wrote at the time, "When Tim made this wine, he and we didn’t yet know that it would be our final Rubissow Reserve, but just as well."

During our visit to the estate back in 2011, we tasted a flight of Rubissow estate Carbernet Sauvignon, estate Merlot, Les Trompettes, their flagship Bordeaux Blend, and Rubissow-Sargent Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (shown below). 

Rubissow-Sargent Mt Veeder, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990

Produced in an authentic 'old world style,  Rubissow and Sargent never went in for the thick jammy 'Parker' style. At thirty one years, this was respectably still hanging on, showing remarkably little sign of diminution from aging. Dark garnet colored, medium bodied, still holding blackberry fruits with notes of black tea, tobacco, bits of cedar and bell pepper subtle with some lingering tannins on the finish. 

RM 88

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=254639

Eric, Bill and George Rubissow

The Pour Boys crew with George Rubissow
and Barbara Jiro, Director Hospitality

We also opened this ...

Rubissow Napa Valley Mt Veeder Merlot 2006

We tasted and acquired during this visit to the estate. Late last fall I wrote this about this label, "Tonight's tasting was consistent with that earlier experience, this showed dark garnet purple color, medium body with black berry fruits, slightly tart black cherry with a hints of spice, tobacco, touch of mocha and coffee bean. Then iI wrote it was a bit flabby and lacked structure and therefor was a bit underwhelming, perhaps due to comparison with the bigger, bolder, brighter Yates Mt Veeder Cab."

That tasting was fairly consistent with the previous tasting back in 2013 when I wrote ,"This was leaner and lighter than I remembered from earlier tasting - it showed dark garnet purple color, medium body with black berry fruits, slightly tart black cherry with a hints of tobacco, touch of mocha and coffee bean."

Tonight 88 points, previously I gave it 87 points.  

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=872497

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/11/mt-veeder-napa-cab-and-sicilian-blend.html

Rick and Linda with George Rubissow

We discovered and acquired this wine during a winery/estate visit during our Napa Wine Experience Mt Veeder excursion in 2011 - Rubissow Mt Veeder Napa Valley Vineyards. 

This is another Napa Valley Bordeaux varietal that we've enjoyed visiting the producer's estate. We acquired later vintages of this wine during the visit and ordered more of this varietal and joined their wine club, but we have never heard anything more or received and further wines from the producer. 

We had much better experience tasting the earlier vintage of this label which raised the anticipation of opening selections from our cellar, and raises the disappointment of not obtaining more (despite having placed hard orders.) 

https://www.rubissowwines.com/

Sterling Napa Valley Merlot 1985

Sterling Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot 1985

Son Sean and wife Michelle came over for beef roast dinner and I pulled from the cellar this vintage aged birthyear wine for the occasion. We still hold numerous labels from Sean's vintage birthyear and several are getting beyond their optimal drinking window so they need to be consumed. This was one such wine. 

While today this label would not be considered a collectible for long term cellaring, we acquired it long ago when our cellar and tastes were less discriminating, and when it had some other intrinsic sentimental value. Sterling Vineyards was one of the estates we visited on one of our earliest visits to Napa Valley back in the early 1980's.

Sterling Vineyards was founded in 1964 by Peter Newton, an Oxford graduate with a diverse background in international business, and a former London Financial Times writer. His company, Sterling International, purchased the 50-acre parcel of established vineyards on the south edge of Calistoga in northern Napa Valley as a means of prestige and diversification. The locals dubbed it Sterling Vineyard.

Over the following years, Sterling International acquired more upper valley properties around St. Helena including Bear Flats of which the 87 acres vineyard, and Bothe Ranch, are two key vineyard sources for Sterling wines to this day. While Cabernet Sauvignon was the most popular varietal, Newton planted his new vineyards with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and the first major planting of Merlot in the Napa Valley, in addition to Cabernet Sauvignon - a move that was considered bold and innovative.

In 1968, he added the 70-acre, 300-foot knoll off Dunaweal Lane near Calistoga  on which he built a magnificent winery perched at the top of the hill. That was the year of the first Sterling Vineyards vintage-dated Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Merlot, produced with recent University of California Davis graduate Ric Forman as winemaker. 

In 1969, they set upon building a striking Mediterranean-style white stucco winery complex in Greek Ionian architectural style that included a most unusual aerial tramway that carried guests from the parking lot to the winery on the knoll. Sterling Vineyards was formally opened to the public in September of that year at a gala benefit for the San Francisco Symphony. The new winery started production in 1972. To the right is a historic vintage label from 1975 showing the winery atop the knoll as seen from St Helena highway.

In 1977, Sterling Vineyards was purchased by Coca-Cola, followed by the purchase of Rutherford vineyards and the world-famous Diamond Mountain Ranch vineyard the following year. 

In 1983, Sterling Vineyards was purchased by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, the world's largest producer and marketer of distilled spirits and wines. Shortly thereafter we visited the property which was a showcase tourist destination in then nascent Napa Valley. 

In 1986, Sterling Vineyards purchased Rene de Rosa's prestigious 250-acre Carneros property, Winery Lake, and introduced 1986 Winery Lake Chardonay and Pinot Noir in 1988. Three Palms Merlot 1986 was also released for the first time that year. In 1989, winemaker Bill Dyer was awarded the Winemaker of the Year award by the Los Angeles Times. Sterling wines were high profile, highly acclaimed labels during that era. 

During this era, Sterling were one of our favorite drinking Napa Valley Bordeaux varietals and I recall acquiring this label and ordering it at restaurants as well. In later years, our holdings of Sterling tended to be the 'Three Palms Vineyard' Merlot and other single vineyard designated bottlings and Reserve labels.

In 1991, directed by master sommelier Evan Goldstein, they opened the School of Service and Hospitality at Sterling Vineyards, to provide education about wine, food, and service to consumers and professionals.

In 1995, they set upon a multi-million dollar expansion and modernization project including cave expansion and replanting projects throughout Sterling Vineyards' Napa Valley properties. Seagram's wine division was reorganized under the name Seagram Chateau & Estate Wines Company. 

The 1985 vintage was considered a top vintage for Napa Valley Bordeaux varietal wines. For the '85 vintage, the best Napa Valley Merlots were from Duckhorn, Cuvaison, St. Francis, Sterling, Matanzas, Shafer, Clos du Val, Clos du Bois Rombauer and Rutherford Hill according to Decanter Magazine.

Fruit for this vintage release of this label was sourced from the Sterling 120 acre Diamond Mountain Ranch vineyard, west of the town of Calistoga, near the top of the Diamond Mountain range at elevation from 1,700 to 2,000 feet, on the steep northern face of the Mayacamas Mountains. 

There, nearly vertical slopes, austere soils, and dry farming stress the vines planted, and when combined with the low-vigor volcanic soils that provide minimal nutrition, the results are small, intensely concentrated fruit clusters that make deeply pigmented, assertive wines with full body and rich tannins.

This release was a blend of 97% Merlot and  3% Cabernet Franc, both from the same estate Diamond Mtn Ranch vineyard. It was aged in smalll Nevers French Oak barrels.

Despite its age, at thirty-six years old, the fill level, cork, foil and label were in ideal condition. The wine, while past its prime was still holding on to some fruit and body and was still consumable. 

Brown hues were setting in to the color, the body was a bit flat and the dark berry fruits were giving way to non-fruit tones of wood, earth, tobacco and black tea. 

It was still enjoyable for the dinner and it was fun opening and sharing with son Sean. Notably this was our last bottle of this label, consumed while still drinkable, but in its waning days. 

RM 84 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=191994

https://www.sterlingvineyards.com/ 

Laurent Perrier La Cuvée Grand Siècle Brut NV Champagne

Laurent Perrier La Cuvée Grand Siècle Grand Grand Cru Brut NV Champagne

We took this to Erin and Johnny's for Christmas Day gathering. There's always room for Champagne, especially special occasions and family holiday gatherings, so I took this special bottle from our cellar collection that we have been holding for quite a while. I recall this included in the blend wine from at least one of the kids' birth years. 

This is Laurent-Perrier's prestige cuvée that is a non-vintage blending from Laurent-Perrier's very best growths and most successful vintage years. Laurent-Perrier has always preferred to keep its prestige cuvée as a non-vintage blend to which they apply four rules:

• Blending of a selection of 3 exceptional years, chosen from the rare vintages produced by Laurent-Perrier.
• Blending of a selection of 11 of the 17 existing Grand Crus in Champagne, whose characteristics are specific to the Laurent-Perrier style.
• A blend made from a base year (the youngest) and 2 additional years in order to reach an ideal balance and to perpetuate this style with each iteration.
• A blend with a majority of Chardonnay supplemented by Pinot Noir and benefiting from more than 10 years of aging in the Cellars.

In the 17th Century, during the reign of Louis XIV, France enjoyed its most illustrious era. Louis XIV became known as the "Sun King" for his benevolence and his patronage of the Arts, which became the foundation of France's rich artistic heritage. At the Palace of Versailles Louis XIV was the first French King to drink Champagne in the Royal Court.

Louis XIV's era became known as the Grand Siècle - the "Great Century". Bottled in a replica of a 17th Century bottle, Laurent-Perrier's prestige cuvées "embody luxury, magnificence and elegance fit for a king".

Alec and Linda, Champagne 2006

The NV Grand Siècle Grande Cuvée is a Grand Cru Brut based on the firm's top selection, the only Cuvée de Prestige in Champagne based on the blend and not on the vintage. Grand Siècle is not a vintage wine. Each iteration is numbered, much more rarely than vintage years in Champagne. 

Only 24 iterations have been produced in 65 years compared to the 45 vintages declared over the same period.

Grand Siècle is sourced from twelve of the most prestigious villages' vineyards; all of them classified at 100% Grands Crus. From vineyards of these villages, only the very best plots are selected, and the finest musts from the pressings; Chardonnay 55% percent of the blend, from Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger; and Pinot Noir, 45%, from Ambonnay, Bouzy, Louvois, Mailly, Tours-sur-Marne and Verzenay.

We toured many of these villages and the surrounding vineyards during our Champagne Wine Experience region tour in 2006. 

The first Grand Siècle cuvée was unveiled by Laurent-Perrier in 1959. Each release is a blend of recent three declared vintages; one was released consisting of 2006, 2004, and 2002, another was a blend of the 2002, 1999 and 1998, another release was from the '99, '97 and '96 vintages. But, I am certain we've had this for nearly a decade longer and recall it included the 1990 vintage, birth year of son, Alec. Alas, my cellar records fail me on the provenance of this label further indicating I acquired it before my current record keeping systems were in place. 

The 1990 vintage was included in three releases, Iteration 15 ('90, '88, and '85), Iteration 16 ('93, 90 and 88) and Iteration 17 ('95, 93, 90).  Hence, my recollection is it is one of these three, however, I thought the bottles I purchased back on release contained at least two our kids' birth-years which would've been Iteration 15. This is the last remaining bottle of a half dozen we consumed over the years. C'est la vie.

The current release of Grand Siècle is Iteration 24 and consists of vintages 2007, '06 and '04.

The NV declarations make it difficult to track which release is which after an extended time but another release of this label got 97 points from Wine Enthusiast and a 'Cellar Selection' designation, 95 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, and 93 points from Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar.

This or a similar label got 95 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 93 points from Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, and 90 points from Wine & Spirits.

While showing its age and possibly past its apex, certainly not likely to improve further with aging, this showed great character and a distinctive profile. Honey colored, (having darkened with age from straw then butter colored), medium bodied, complex, full predominant notes of smokiness combined with nutty pecan tones gave way to hints of pain-grille and caramel and dried pear with a smooth luxuriously balanced finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=874377

This had remnant of the profile it showed in its youth as written by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, "It is pure, ripe and very elegant, mixing pain-aux-raisin and honey flavors with pure chalk. Ample, highly elegant, beautifully matured and fruit-intense, with fine caramel, honey and torrone flavors, this is a well-structured Grand Siècle with great finesse and delicate freshness. Awesome."

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar back in 2016 mentions the smokiness twice, on the main palate and again on the finish ... "A heady, mineral-tinged bouquet evokes dried pear, buttery brioche, lemon curd and anise, plus a smoky topnote. Chewy and expansive on the palate, offering concentrated orchard and pit fruit flavors and a touch of bitter quinine. The smoky note repeats on the finish, which shows impressive clarity and mineral-driven persistence."

https://www.laurent-perrier.com/en/the-wines/grand-siecle-2/introduction/

https://www.grandsiecle.com/en/pre-home-en/

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

Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1990

Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1990

With the kids on their honeymoon in Napa Valley, we're still basking in the glow of a spectacular wine weekend celebrating son Alec and daughter-in-law Vivianna's wedding. Continuing the flight of birthyear vintage wines served at the wedding, we opened another 1990 vintage Napa Cab for a grilled steak dinner and butternut squash dinner. We hold nearly three dozen bottles of a total of thirty vintages of Dunn Vineyards cabernet sauvignons, between their two labels, Napa Valley and Howell Mtn, going back four decades. 

Small selection of our extensive
Dunn Vineyards Cabernet collection

With the wildfires ravaging Napa Valley and Howell Mountain, we're remembering our visit to the Dunn Vineyards estate high atop Howell Mountain where we met the legendary Randy Dunn and daughter Kristina who hosted us as hospitality director at the time.

We wishing the Dunns the best of hope they're not too severely affected by the horrific fires. Indeed, all but a couple of the kid's special estate wine tours and tastings at the wineries this week were canceled in light of the fires. 

Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1990  

This wine got 93 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, and 92 points Wine Spectator and a Wine Spectator "Cellar Selection". 

At thirty years of age, the label, fill level and cork were nearly perfect, further testament to the suitability of our wine cellar for long term aging, and to the 1990 vintage. 

The moment I extracted the cork with an ahso, two pronged wine puller, full flavorful aromatics burst from the bottle. 

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, bright, concentrated, dense ripe black berry and black currant fruits are accented by notes of floral perfume, tobacco leaf, black olive tapenade and cigar box, turning to firm tangy tannins and notes of cedar on an extended lengthy aromatic finish.  

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/barcode.asp?iWine=490&searchId=68049

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/09/dunn-vineyards-napa-valley-cabernet.html

http://www.dunnvineyards.com/

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

 

Birthyear vintage labels and large format bottles

Gala wedding celebrations to feature special birthyear vintage labels and large format bottles and more ...

For son Alec and Vivianna's wedding celebrations, I assembled from our cellar a collection of birthyear vintage wines including several in large format bottles. I've written often in these pages about our collection of birthyear vintage wines for our kids, and our collection of large format bottles of special labels for special occasions. This, our final child's wedding is our last perfect storm to showcase and enjoy our wine cellar selections, one we've been preparing for for literally three decades. Indeed, our collection of 1990 vintage bottles of wine spans no less than 195 bottles from 65 different labels. 

A complication or added dimension to this whole concept and philosophy is that the bride is from a different vintage/birthyear. Hence, if we add the 1991 vintage to the inventory search of our cellar collection, we add another 42 bottles from 16 different labels. Of course, we did not anticipate and plan for this in our collecting over the decades, it just happens that we have these in our collection. 

So, for the festivities, there are numerous story lines, themes and approaches to how we will serve these wines. Non super wine geeks may tune out at this point and move on to the next blogpost. 

Birthyear / vintage highlights: I've written in these pages about the vintages of the birthyears of our kids, and how the 1990 vintage, birthyear of son Alec was extraordinary, one of the best of the century and perhaps in history. Not only were there three Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 wines from this vintage, three years in a row, but they hailed from three different disparate regions of the Old and New world, France, US Napa Valley, and Australia. All three were spectacular wines from ultra-premium absolute premier legendary labels:

Chateau Grand Vin Latour Pauillac Bordeaux 1990 - Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1993

Moreover, for this vintage, nine of the Top Ten Wines of the year were from the 1990 vintage. 

Caymus Special Select Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvigon 1990 - Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1994

Penfold's Grange (Hermitage) Shiraz 1990 - Wine Spectator Top 100 #1 Wine of the Year for 1995

So, if you had a child born in 1990 and wanted to collect special birth year wines to enjoy sometime in the future, it was easy to do, or hard to go wrong.  We got lucky and were blessed in so many respects, this being but another one. We'll have the luxury of tasting each of these wines this weekend. Watch for our tasting experiences.

The second dimension, the bride/groom's birthyear. In our case, our son's fiance, Vivianna was born a year later, in the following year, the next vintage, so to speak. Here I got lucky, I already had picked up the Caymus Special Select 1990 and 1991. The #2 wine in 1995 was, alas, Caymus Special Select 1991. That turns out to be the premier finest label selection from the vintage, during this era. Bingo! The other 1991 vintage labels from this period in the top tens were FLORA SPRINGS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1991 and CROFT Vintage Port 1991. I happened to have also picked up the Flora Springs Napa Cab 1990 and 1991 over the years, so we have another perfect pairing for the betrothed couple. And we'll serve vintage ports collected from the vintage as well.  

Watch this space as we open and enjoy these vintage select special bottles as part of our celebrations. 

The next dimension of our celebrations is large format bottles. We have a collection of large format bottles from the vintage that we'll serve this weekend, and on special occasions in the future. This includes four six liter Imperials, and numerous Magnums of select wines. Watch for these as they are presented and served as part of our family and friends celebrations.  

Lastly, as you have seen in these pages, we have fun with various labels and producers based on numerous criteria. One example is namesake labels, wines sharing names of our family or friends. One of our favorite such producers and labels is Alec's Blend by Napa Valley Lewis Cellars. This is one of our namesake labels for the groom, Alec. Watch as we serve a decade vertical of vintages of Alec's Blend Napa Valley Red Wine this weekend.  

Lastly, we also have find with labels in other ways. Watch for how "V" (for Vivianna) becomes centerpiece of some of our wine selections this weekend as well! 

 

 

One other factor in a horizontal collection (a collection of multiple wines from the same vintage) of a particular vintage, is the intersection with a vertical collection, where we hold a series of vintages of the same label. In this case, there are a number of labels where we have collected a series of vintages including each of the birthyears of our four kids, and in many cases, now, also the birthyear vintages of our grandkids. This allows for comparison tastings of a particular label from different vintages seeing how the wine ages over time and how it compares in different vintage harvests. A top vertical collection will invariably also include top rated years as well, as standard bearers and benchmarks for comparison. There are a dozen or more labels where we hold such vertical collections that include key vintages including, of course, birthyears and anniversaries. Many of these are the basis for our studies into the producers' and their histories, estate vineyards and their terroir, and contributing producers' winemakers and consultants. 

 

These pages are filled with references and features of our visits to producer estate wineries and vineyards where we hold deep vertical collections of such wines. Our visit to Bordeaux last year featured tours of estates of which we hold extensive collections spanning several decades - Château Ducru Beaucaillou, Léoville Las Cases, Château Gruaud-Larose and Pichon Lalande, for example. 

 

Lastly, a wine flight over the course of a dinner can include champagne, white wine, multiple red wines matched to food pairings, a dessert wine and an after dinner port or aperitif.  Watch how many different wines or wine types we can present from multiple (large) formats or vintage year releases over the course of a dinner or multiple events.

The 1994 Top 10
Rank	Wine	Score	Price
#1	CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1990	98	$75
#2	E. GUIGAL Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 1990	98	$135
#3	FLORA SPRINGS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1991	97	$33
#4	LEONETTI Merlot Washington 1992	96	$25
#5	FERRARI-CARANO Chardonnay Alexander Valley 1992	93	$20
#6	DOMAINE ZIND-HUMBRECHT Gewürztraminer Alsace Grand Cru Goldert Vendange Tardive 1990	96	$45
#7	LUCIANO SANDRONE Barolo Cannubi Boschis 1990	96	$46
#8	JEAN-LOUIS CHAVE Hermitage 1990	96	$63
#9	CROFT Vintage Port 1991	94	$32
#10	RIDGE Zinfandel Sonoma Valley Pagani Ranch Late Picked 1992	93	$16

 

#1

CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1990

98

$75

The 1994 Top 10
Rank	Wine	Score
#1	CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1990	98
#2	E. GUIGAL Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 1990	98
#3	FLORA SPRINGS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1991	97

The Top 10 Wines of 1993

Wine	Score	Price*
1. CHÂTEAU LATOUR Pauillac 1990	100	$80
2. GAJA Barolo Sperss 1989	96	$60
3. SILVERADO VINEYARDS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Limited Reserve 1990	97	$40
4. CHÂTEAU LA LOUVIÈRE Pessac-Léognan 1990	94	$22
5. LOUIS LATOUR Corton-Charlemagne 1990	95	$83
6. CHÂTEAU PICHON-LONGUEVILLE-LALANDE Pauillac 1990	97	$40
7. MOUNT VEEDER Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1990	94	$15
8. TENUTA DELL'ORNELLAIA Ornellaia 1990	96	$42
9. CHÂTEAU LAGRANGE St.-Julien 1990	95	$26
10. CHÂTEAU LAFITE ROTHSCHILD Pauillac 1990

 The 1995 Top 10

Rank	Wine	Score	Price
#1	PENFOLDS Shiraz South Australia Grange 1990	97	$100
#2	CAYMUS Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Special Selection 1991	99	$100
#3	THE HESS COLLECTION Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1992	94	$18
#4	FONSECA Vintage Port 1992	96	$45
#5	COMTE GEORGES DE VOGÜÉ Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 1993	96	$140
#6	ZACA MESA Syrah Santa Barbara County Zaca Vineyards 1993	94	$13
#7	CAMPOGIOVANNI Brunello di Montalcino 1990	95	$43
#8	KISTLER Chardonnay Sonoma Valley Kistler Vineyard 1992	94	$40
#9	BERINGER Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Private Reserve 1992	95	$45
#10	TRIMBACH Riesling Alsace Cuvée Frédéric Emile 1990	96	$27