Clark-Claudon Napa Cabernet 2004

Clark-Claudon Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

For beef stroganoff dinner I pulled from the cellar this aged mountain fruit Napa Cabernet - a perfect match! 

The producer, Clark-Claudon estate is situated on the ‘backside’ of Howell Mountain in an area known as Pope Valley. Their 17 acres of vineyards are carved out of a 117 acre property located on the north east side of Howell Mountain between Ink Grade and Howell Mountain Road, from 800 ft to 1,200 ft elevation. It’s shallow, mountain soils, cool evening breezes and excellent sun exposure are ideal for a low yield of small, intense Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot grapes. The 17 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon are planted with clone 7 which grows well in hillside rocky soil and produces small berries with concentrated flavors. A small vineyard block is planted to Petite Verdot. After completing their initial vineyard planting, Clark decided to leave the  remaining 100 acres of forests, creeks, meadows and ponds in their natural state which serves as a preserve for native birds and wildlife.

Interesting, following my discussions in recent blogpost about the terroir and appellation specificity line of demarcation being at the 1200 foot elevation level to differentiate between Howell Mountain and Napa Valley designation, we have another such-situated Napa/Howell Mountain Cabernet. Similar to the Viader Napa Valley Cabernet Red Blend we drank the other night, this Clark Claudon Napa Cab vineyard is at 1000 foot elevation on the lower reaches of Howell Mountain. That terroir distinction doesn't apply here as the Clark Claudon property is on the backside of Howell Mountain which never sees the fog that is experienced on the Napa Valley side of the hill.

We have been collecting this label since its introduction back in 1993 and hold two decades of vintages since. We first met Tom Clark and Laurie Claudon-Clark during our Napa Wine Experience 1999 when we hosted them at one of our wine producer dinners. That night, held at what was then Pinot Blanc Restaurant in St Helena (see picture left), we tasted Clark Claudon 1995-96 against ten year old 1989 Bordeaux. 

During our Napa Wine Experience visits of 1997 through 2000 we hosted gala tasting dinners with the "'Undisccovered Dozen', emerging new wine producers to watch", featured in an article in Wine Spectator Magazine. Many of these producers released their inaugural vintage releases in or about the 1994 vintage. Those producers and winery visits included Plumpjack, David Arthur, Clark-Claudon, Robert Craig, Del Dotto, Elan, Paradigm, Pride Vineyards, Snowden, Nils Venge and White Cottage and are featured variously on my winesite http://www.unwindwine.com. An complete index of my tasting notes of these wines over the years is on the site at this link to California Producers Index. These producers make up a foundation of our wine cellar collection even today. In many of these wines, we still have vertical selections, several dating back to those early release vintages.  

We love the distinctive unique Clark-Claudon packaging with the tall slender bottles. An interesting and trivial wine-geek's observation about the Clark-Claudon branding and packaging; as mentioned, we hold close to a score of vintages of this label. All our vintage holdings but this one, the 2004 release, are packaged with the wax cap inside the rim of the bottle, topping the cork, as shown left. This one, 2004, has a 'traditional' foil top of the bottle (shown below). Not sure why?

This release was awarded 93 points from Wine Enthusiast who wrote, " ... it really needs time. Give it until after 2008, if you can keep your hands off, and will come into its own after 2010."

A decade later, going on seventeen years, this release is holding its own very nicely and showing no signs of diminution whatsoever. The fill level, label and most importantly the cork were in perfect condition.

Wine Enthusiast wrote, "The 2004 Clark-Claudon Napa Cabernet Sauvignon blends fruit from all over the winery's estate, combining multiple expressions of the fruit. The higher portions of the estate yielded fruit that was rich, deeply colored with intense tannins. The lower portions of the estate produced softer, more perfumed wine."

Tonight's tasting was consistent with previous tastings in 2015 and 2016. In 2016 I wrote it was more expressive than earlier tastings. I sense this is at its peak, not likely to improve further, but grand and capable of aging several more years none-the-less.

Like before, the room filled with dark berry fruit aromatics as soon the cork was pulled. This was dark garnet colored, rich, full, concentrated, but nicely integrated and elegant black berry and black currant fruits with accents of cassis, mocha, floral and notes of spicy oak and hints of black cherry on a lingering fine-grained silky tannin finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=229261

https://www.clarkclaudon.com

@ClarkClaudon 

Earlier tasting posts ...  

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2015/01/clark-claudon-howell-mountain-napa.html

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2015/12/festive-holiday-dinner-showcases.html

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2016/05/clark-claudon-napa-valley-cabernet.html

Hungry Blond Napa Chardonnay Fantesca Napa Cabernet

 Hungry Blond Napa Chardonnay and Fantesca Napa Cabernet for surf and turf dinner

Newlyweds Sean and Michelle joined us for an intimate dinner Linda prepared, serving lobster tails with cheese pasta and grilled tenderloin beef steaks. I pulled from our cellar two fun, special bottles of wine to commemorate the occasion, Hungry Blond Chardonnay and Fantesca Napa Cabernet.

Davis Estate Hungry Blonde Carneros Chardonnay 2016

 
This Hungry Blonde is the last bottle of several we special ordered last year. It was one of our favorite drinking everyday Chardonnays, a fun label to serve celebrating our two blonde daughters-in-law.

We discovered this wine from the winelist at Fiora Restaurant in Geneva during a lunch outing there last year during a pleasant summer afternoon outing. Interestingly, Sean now works out of an office nearby and walks past Fiora which lies between his office and the local trainstop on days he visits the office. 

 

At the time, I wrote about Davis Estate Hungry Blonde Carneros Chardonnay and how we liked it so much we went out and bought all the remaining inventory in local merchants, then special ordered more of this label, the then new vintage release.

"We love the distinctive taste profile of this full bodied, forward fruit filled Chardonnay. Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com  said of the the 2015 release of this wine, "There's 2000 cases of the 2015 Chardonnay Hungry Blonde, and it's one seriously good Chardonnay.  It's the real deal and will keep for 5+ years. At 30 bucks it's a killer value." He gave it 94 points."

James Suckling gave the 2016 90 points. "A chardonnay with plenty of butter, apricot, flan and bread dough. There is good density to this and the acidity gives some form and clarity'"

Davis Estate Hungry Blonde Carneros Chardonnay 2016

Winemaker notes for the 2016, "Our Hungry Blonde Chardonnay is the perfect expression of cool-climate Napa Valley Chardonnay from the Carneros region. Inviting aromas of lemon zest and white flowers make way for waves of bosc pear, Tahitian vanilla, and baked apple tart. All held together with fresh acidity and a supple texture inviting another sip."

According to Wine Country Connection, Hungry Blonde is made by the well known Napa producer Cary Gott. The fruit comes from the Poe Vineyard, which sits adjacent to the world renowned Hyde Vineyard. Larry Hyde’s HDV Chardonnay, sells for $60.

 

Straw colored, full bodied, a rich concentrated buttery flavors that resemble butterscotch, notes of vanilla, oak and citrus fruits, stone fruit and white flowers. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3289150

 

Continuing the theme for the occasion, we served this whimsically named Napa Cab, another fun tribute to our new daughter-in-law. 

 

The elegant upscale Fantesca packaging and branding features etched and painted weighty bottles each explaining the namesake Fantesca. 

 

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 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.

 

We first met owner/producer Dwayne Hoff when we hosted him in our home during his promotion tour to Chicago shortly after acquiring the Spring Mountain Estate. 

 

 

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.

As always, this was the blockbuster hit of the evening, a great complement to grilled beef tenderloin steaks.

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

http://www.fantesca.com

 

@FantescaWine -  https://twitter.com/FantescaWine

Taken Napa Valley Proprietary Red Wine 2012

Taken Napa Valley Proprietary Red Wine 2012 Replay

I discovered and wrote about this Taken Napa Valley Red Wine after a recent trip to New York, when I found this high QPR Big Napa Red in several wine merchants. Taken is a joint venture between  Josh Phelps and Carlo Trinchero, two well known family names in the world of wine, next generation producers from at least one wine making family known for Swanson Vineyards and Trinchero Family Estates, which is one of the largest wine producers in the US. (Its not certain that Josh is related to that Phelps).

I went back to Buy Rite Wines and Liquors in Jersey City where they had a few bottles left of the 2012 vintage, which I picked up for a BYOB dinner with son Alec and friends Liz and Ryan, a short walk from his flat in Hoboken at Cafe Michelina Italian Restaurant.

As I wrote last month, this 2012 Red Blend reflects the much heralded vintage in Napa Valley, which benefited from an ideal growing season - rainfall in the spring, optimal temperatures in the early summer with warm days followed by cool nights, through to an early October harvest. Yields were high and the fruit was high quality.

It was a great year to be in the wine business, and to be a consumer, since high quality wines should be in abundance that should result in some great value high QPR - Quality to Price Ratio wines. Taken Red Blend emerges as such a find! It is a blend of 60% Cabernet and 40% Merlot of Napa Valley fruit, aged in French Oak Barrels.

From a packaging / branding perspective, readers of this blog know I buy, collect and drink a lot of wine, and this Taken release is packaged in a heavy oversize bottle that has the biggest 'punt' I have ever seen - seemingly larger than the size of a shot glass.

The "punt" is the concave indentation in the bottom base of the bottle. In old days, glass bottles were made by hand and this was a result of the glass making process. Today, glass bottles are mass produced using molds, so the punt is no longer a function of the historic primitive process, but rather part of the bottle design.

Most white wine bottles are produced with flat or mostly flat bottoms, while most red wine bottles are still made with punts. It is generally believed that the punt helps separate and collect the sediment down in the bottle ring, so that it doesn't pour out with the wine into the serving glass or decanter. 

This Taken release was a great accompaniment to Cafe Michelina's hearty pasta dishes - the crab and lobster stuffed pasta in vodka cream sauce, and the rigatoni with meat sauce and ricotta cheese.

Dark inky purple colored, medium to full bodied, intense concentrated forward ripe blackberry and blueberry fruits accented by layers of dark chocolate, anise and expresso with tones of graphite, earthy notes, and hints of vanilla and sweet spicy French oak. Only a bit of heat from the 14.5% alcohol and the graphite tone detract from the balance and polish of this wine.

RM 92 points.

http://takenwine.com/