Lewis Cellars Ethan's Blend Syrah 2014

Lewis Cellars Ethan's Blend Syrah 2014

For mid-week sipping with some hearty cheeses, we opened this 100% Syrah from one of our favored producers, Lewis, known for Cabernets and another big bold blend, Alec's Blend.

We featured a vertical tasting of another Lewis label, Alec's Blend, a family signature wine for our son Alec, at his wedding celebration last week. Like Alec's Blend, this Ethan's Blend is named for one of the Lewis grandsons. We feature a lot of Lewis wines in these pages from our collection that goes back three decades. 

Our visit and private tasting at the Lewis Cellars chateau was one of the highlights of our Napa Valley Wine Experience in 2015.  Alec and new bride Vivianna were scheduled to visit Lewis during their Napa Valley honeymoon this week but their trip is bring severely disrupted and is day to day due to the Glass Fire ravaging the Napa region.

Lewis Cellars Ethan's Blend Syrah 2014

This 100% Syrah is crafted from small lots of Mt. Veeder and Pritchard Hill mountain fruits resulting in a big bold thick concentrated style that we love in a Syrah. 

This wine got 94 points from Wine Spectator.  One reviewer describes it as "minerals, charred meat, scorched earth, vanilla, violets and dark chocolate."

Dark inky purple colored, full bodied, thick concentrated, firmly structured, not for the feint of heart, ripe black berry and ripe plum fruits are accented by a layer of spice, smoke, bittersweet dark chocolate, hints of licorice and creosote on a full firm tannin laced finish. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.lewiscellars.com/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2436973 

Château Croizet Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux 2014

Château Croizet Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux 2014

Anne-Françoise Quié,
Owner of Château Croizet-Bages
at UGCB Chicago

I have had the pleasure of meeting Anne-Françoise Quié, owner of Château Croizet-Bages several years at the annual release tours of the UGCB tastings in Chicago.

Ever since, I have sought out the chance to acquire and to taste their labels including vintages of this fifth growth Grand Cru Bordeaux. Their other property, Château Rauzan-Gassies, a great growth of Margaux, seems to be more popular and more widely distributed and thus easier to obtain.

So it was that I was delighted to find a couple vintages of Château Croizet Bages at Binny's last weekend and I picked them up and was eager to taste them.

We drove by the estate property on the plateau of Bages, near Lynch-Bages and Grand Puy Lacoste, during our visit to the Pauillac area last year. The 30 hectare estate vineyards lie just off the highway, as you enter Pauillac from Saint Julien, there near the landmark Cordeillan Bages property on the Route D2 as you approach the city of Pauillac. We'll look forward to including it on our next trip to the region when our focus will be on Pauillac. 

According to the producer, Château Croizet Bages dates back to the early 18th century when the Croizet brothers, both members of the Bordeaux parliament, consolidated a number of small vineyard plots in order to form a wine estate in the famous hamlet of Bages, in Pauillac. The estate was designated among the fifth growths in the famous 1855 classification under the name of Château Croizet-Bages, which remains to this day.

Jean-Baptiste Monnot, an American citizen and owner of the famous Klaxon brand, acquired Croizet Bages soon after the First World War. He sold it to Paul Quié, owner of châteaux Rauzan-Gassies (a great growth of Margaux) and Bel Orme Tronquoy de Lalande, in 1942. Monsieur Quié undertook a renovation of the vineyard during the postwar period. This was completed by his son, Jean-Michel, who took over management in 1968. who continued to upgrade the vineyards and build a new winery and vinification facilities.

Ownership and management remains with the Quié family, Jean-Michel Quié is assisted by his children, Anne-Françoise and Jean-Philippe who took over the reins of the property in 2004.
 
 

Château Croizet Bages 5ème Grand Cru Classé, Pauillac, Bordeaux 2014

Antonio Galloni of vinous.com says "The 2014 Croizet-Bages is a gorgeous wine, not to mention a potential sleeper for the vintage", and rated it 91 points.

The blend is 62% Cabernet Sauvignon 28% Merlot 6% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot.

We would've first tasted this label at the UGCB North American Release Tour tasting in 2017. 

Classic left bank Bordeaux characteristics, dark garnet color, medium bodied, dark berry fruits with notes of licorice and black tea, hints of graphite and cherry with pleasant approachable tannins on a graceful finish.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2075226

https://www.ugcb.net/en/chateau-croizet-bages

Sweet and tart with plums, earth and tobacco on the forefront with a conspicuous note of rusticity in the tannins surfacing in the end notes.
Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2014&wine=Ch%E2teau%20Croizet-Bages

Sweet and tart with plums, earth and tobacco on the forefront with a conspicuous note of rusticity in the tannins surfacing in the end notes.
Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2014&wine=Ch%E2teau%20Croizet-Bages

Whitehall Lane Petit Verdot

Petit Verdot Redux - Whitehall Lane

After the sensational Petit Verdot tasting with dinner the other evening, I pulled another 100% Petit Verdot from the cellar for a repeat, comparison tasting experience. We tasted another Napa Valley Petit Verdot, this time from Whitehall Lane which is just up the Route 29 Napa Highway from Piazza Del Dotto. This was the same vintage, 2014, as the Piazza Del Dotto we tasted the other evening.

We tasted and acquired this label during our visit to the winery during our Napa Wine Experience in 2018.

Whitehall Vineyards Napa Valley Rutherford Fawn Park Vineyard Petit Verdot 2014

This is 100% Petit Verdot, sourced from the Whitehall estate Fawn Park Vineyard, located in the Rutherford AVA, just off the Napa Valley floor on the eastern hillside in St. Helena. It is one of seven vineyards on the Whitehall Lane estate.

Like the traditional Bordeaux producers, consistent with the percentage of fruit in a typical Bordeaux Blend, the vineyard is planted primarily to high-power Cabernet Sauvignon with just a small two-acre block of Petit Verdot. As I wrote the other evening, Petit Verdot is usually added to the blend in a small portion, usually less than ten percent, to add color and structure to the mix.
 

According to Whitehall Lane, the vineyard has been producing for about twenty-five years but the property’s history pre-dates the vines or its buildings. It’s been told that local Native Americans mined the neighboring Glass Mountain where they turned the mined obsidian into tools and arrowheads. There is a home on the property that was constructed in 1865 with a second story addition made when Judge Chiles owned the estate in 1915.

A vintage barn pre-dates the house and was constructed in 1905 using timbers harvested from Howell Mountain. The property was originally used as a dairy to supply milk to the nearby St. Helena Sanitarium—now known as St. Helena Hospital.

The property was owned by the Hultman Family from 1928 to 1978, and they ran the dairy and raised chickens there. In 1978, Loren Sorenson purchased the land, planted the vineyard, dug a spring-fed pond and continued a small farm for the local 4-H program. 

Whitehall Lane was founded in 1979 and was acquired in 1993 by the current owners, the Leonardini Family of San Francisco and Saint Helena.

The property is named Fawn Park Vineyard after the road that borders the southern side of the estate. This road was originally the stagecoach road going up and over Howell Mountain to Angwin and Pope Valley.

Tasting this again, I wish I had bought more as this is a big bold expressive fruit forward style that we love.

Consistent with our original tasting of this wine back in 2018, "Dark inky blackish purple, full bodied, structured concentrated rich tongue coating black fruits, hints of clove spice and earth, with tongue puckering chalky tannins that form distinct 'legs' on the glass. This wine begs for hearty cheese, grilled steak or darkest mocha chocolate."


RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2545349

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2018/11/big-red-petit-verdot-for-serious-sipping.html

https://whitehalllane.com/ 

Day Wines Willamette Valley Cancilla Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014

Day Wines Willamette Valley Cancilla Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014

This is a small production single vineyard designated label of just 250 cases from producer/winemaker Brianne Day of Day Wines, a natural wine producer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley AVA. She is involved in Day Camp, Willamette Valley’s newest winemaking cooperative, a collective home of eleven small producers, including Day Wines,

Day has lived in the Willamette Valley since she was 16 where she was attracted to the orderliness and vibrancy of the vineyards which she found exotic.

While working as a bookkeeper in her 20's, she saved money to  travel throughout the world’s wine regions. For almost two years she explored wine regions and their wines learning as much as she could with a the intent on becoming a winemaker. After studying in Community College she  worked in France, New Zealand and Argentina, before returning to Oregon and to work in and learn the wine business. She  worked for producers The Eyrie Vineyards, Brooks Winery, Grochau Cellars, Belle Pente, and Scott Paul and at Storyteller Wine Company where she learned the retail side of the wine world. She worked as a server and sold barrels for Bordeaux cooperage, Saury, which introduced her to many winemakers throughout the Willamette Valley.

In 2012, she was offered the chance to buy fruit from a friend's family’s vineyard. She did so and started out making 125 cases of single vineyard Pinot Noir that gained the attention of distributors in Chicago and New York City. Since that first vintage, Day Wines has grown from 125 cases in 2012 to 5,000 cases in 2017 and are now distributed in twelve states and three countries.

Fruit for this label is sourced from Cancilla Vineyard, owned and organically dry farmed by Ken Cancilla. The vineyard, identified as source to several producers' labels, is a 20 acre former Christmas tree farm just north of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA in the north-western Willamette Valley. The vineyard sits close to the Coast Range, exactly halfway between Tillamook and Portland. This proximity provides access to coastal rain water.

This 2015 vintage year was exceptionally warm producing especially ripe fruit. The resulting wine was noted by the winemaker as robust and full, with acid & tannins and spicy and floral aromas and flavors in the wine like cinnamon, sweet spices, and black pepper.

Day Wines Willamette Valley Cancilla Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014

This was opaque garnet colored, medium bodied with dusty rose, leather and tangy black cherry tones accented by notes of cinnamon spice and pepper.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2238946 

http://www.daywines.com/

Louis Martini Alexander Valley 14 - Melka CJ 04 Napa Cabs

Louis Martini Alexander Valley 2014 and Melka CJ 2004 Cabernet

For a belated birthday dinner for his mother, son Ryan invited us over for dinner with the kids and grandkids. He served grilled Prime New York strip steaks, asparagus and baked potatoes. With dinner, he served the just released Louis Martini Alexander Valley Cabernet 2014 that got a rave 97 point review from Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate. I brought a Melka CJ Napa Cab 2004.

While such a stratospheric rating is cause for notice and worth checking out, its often in the eye of the beholder and not necessarily consensus opinion. I found the Martini a good wine from a good vintage, offering good (but not extraordinary) value QPR (quality price ratio), not extraordinary in any way.

The Martini was a great accompaniment to the grilled steaks. It had a firm structured backbone core of smooth approachable tannins, but I didn't find it to back it up with the dense, rich full body and concentrated fruits cited by Parker. It was garnet colored, medium full bodied, black currant and black cherry fruits, accented by tones of black tea, tobacco leaf, smoke and glycerin.

I would not say it calls for one to rush out and buy it and try it. With 11000 cases available, it will be available in distribution, and will face competition from many other great wines that roll out from what will be a top rated vintage with many high achievers. A good buyer's market since Bordeaux will also be releasing a highly rated vintage this year as well.

RM 90 points. 

Parker wrote - "... this big, full-bodied, boisterous Cabernet Sauvignon (that) has a dense ruby/purple color, notes of underbrush, forest floor, tobacco leaf and oodles of blackcurrants and black cherries, with a touch of woodsmoke. The full-bodied wine hits the palate with a cascade of glycerin, fruit and purity. This is a beauty – dense, rich, and structured, but capable of lasting 20 or more years."

The Wine Advocate. 97 Points. Robert M. Parker Jr. October 2016

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2506134

Peter Melka 'CJ' Napa Valley Cabernet 2004

For dinner with the kids and two grandkids, I was drawn to bring this label that is a namesake celebration tribute to Melka's two children, Chloe and Jeremy. Indeed, Melka writes on the rear label, "CJ reflects the balance and harmony that Chloe and Jeremy bring to the Melka family." The messaging and fun branding is reinforced with the 'children's' handprints represented on the label and on the wine capsule (shown below).

 

The 2004 Melka is dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, with subdued but nicely balanced black berry fruits with tones of spicy oak, hints of dark mocha, sweet vanilla, tea and tobacco leaf with moderate lingering tannins on the modest finish. 

Blend of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 93% and Cabernet Franc 7%.

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=283194

https://www.melkawines.com/

UGCB 2014 Release Tour Chicago

UGCB 2014 Release Tour Chicago

The UGC Bordeaux' (Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB)) annual release tour traversed America this week showcasing their 2014 vintage release wines. The tour visited Miami, New York, Chicago, LA and San Francisco.

Once again, our 'Pour Boys' wine group helped host the event in Chicago at the Drake Hotel in the elegant grand ballroom (shown left). 

Close to one hundred producers were represented at the event that was attended by over three hundred members of the trade, media and industry.

This annual roadshow is a marathon trek across America by the producers and their representatives offering Americans the chance to meet the Bordeaux principles, winemakers and commercial directors. We appreciate the investment in time and effort expended by the winemakers to visit Chicago. It provides a wonderful opportunity to meet them firsthand and discuss their perspectives on their brand, approach to crafting their style, their history, businesses, and their vintages.

As a collector and holder of a significant collection of Bordeaux wines dating back four decades, I hold as many as a dozen vintages or more of some of these labels. Meeting the producer / winemaker / representative is a great privilege and offers one a chance to learn more about their investment and wines. As such, I tend to focus on and taste those wines that I know well and of which my wine buddies and I have holdings.

This was the seventh Bordeaux release event that wine buddies Dr Dan and Lyle accompanied me to assist the team at Balzac Communications to host the event, helping with set up, logistics and then standing in to pour wine for any featured producers that were not able to attend in person. Earlier UGCB and related events are featured in earlier unwindwine blogposts. More than once, winter storms delayed or disrupted travel prohibiting some of them to get to Chicago for the event which started our standing in, hence we coined the name the 'pour' boys.


The 2014 vintage showed well in all the wines tasted, generally showing the best of recent years dating back to the highly acclaimed 2010. Following a couple lackluster vintages and quantities of high quality 2009 and '10 in the market, prices for the 2014's should provide reasonable values. They showed well on release and promise to provide early gratification in their youth without holding for several years to reveal pleasant quality drinking.

Some of my observations and highlights of the tasting:

The Margaux appellation was well represented and its wines showed very well with highlights from Brane Cantenac, Cantenac Brown, Lascombes, Desmirails and Dauzac. I loved their full complex fruits, nice balance and structure.

Chateau Brane Cantenac, represented by Marie Hélène Dussech, Commercial Director (shown above right) was a standout showing a delightful pronounced floral accent layer. Chateau Dauzac was represented by me, your's truly, standing in for the commercial representative.

Cantenac Brown, represented by technical director José Sanfins (shown left), was highlighted by sweet ripe berry fruits.

Returning to Chicago again and representing Lascombes was director Dominique Befve (left) who has headed up the estate since 2001. Previously he served ten years as technical director of Châteaux Lafite Rothschild and Duhart-Milon, after a stint at L’Evangile in Pomerol.

Chateau Desmirails represented by Director Denis Lurton (below) showed some distinctive exotic accent notes of black truffles and mushrooms.

All these wines were memorable and are worth exploring further. I gave all of these wines 92 or + points.

The Paulliac appellation showed well with strong representation from Phelan Segur, Pichon Baron and Clerc Milon.

St Julien seemed to be more subdued with offerings from Chateaus Leoville Barton, Gruaud Larose, Beyechevelle and LaGrange being nicely balanced but a bit tight and closed calling for some time reveal their character and profile. Leoville Poyferre seemed to show a slightly softer more approachable profile.

Chateau Domaine Chevalier was represented by proprietor next generation Hugo Bernard (above left). This was the best feature release from that property in recent memory.

There was a strong showing across the board from Sauterne. Standout highlights included Suideraut showing a pleasant firmness with soft smoke and nut tones, Lefaurie Peyraguey and Haut Peyraguey which both showed nice highlights of citrus and sweet ripe orange and apricot notes.

More to come ...

Ronan Laborde
Director Chateau Clinet

Denis Lurton -
Chateau Desmirails

With David Launay of Chateau
Grand Puy Lacoste

Linda M - Pour Boy Dr Dan

Pamela Wittman - Phelan Segur

Lefaurie-Peyraguey

4 Bordeaux Wine – Great vintage for the Cabernet Sauvignon based wines of the Medoc. The wines are especially strong the further north you go, with Pauillac and St. Estephe producing really good wine, followed by St. Julien and Margaux. The wines are soft, ripe and display silky tannins with good concentration. Due to their forward style, while age worthy, many of the wines will be fun to drink early. The vintage is mixed in St. Emilion and moderate in Pomerol, with many wines possessing a slightly dilute character. It’s a good vintage for dry, white Bordeaux wine, in a bright, acidic style. Sauternes and Barsac was also successful. Drink or hold. 92 Pts
Read more at:http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-topics/bordeaux-wine-buying-guide-tasting-notes-ratings/bordeaux-wine-vintage-chart/

2014 Bordeaux Wine – Great vintage for the Cabernet Sauvignon based wines of the Medoc. The wines are especially strong the further north you go, with Pauillac and St. Estephe producing really good wine, followed by St. Julien and Margaux. The wines are soft, ripe and display silky tannins with good concentration. Due to their forward style, while age worthy, many of the wines will be fun to drink early. The vintage is mixed in St. Emilion and moderate in Pomerol, with many wines possessing a slightly dilute character. It’s a good vintage for dry, white Bordeaux wine, in a bright, acidic style. Sauternes and Barsac was also successful. Drink or hold. 92 Pts
Read more at:http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-topics/bordeaux-wine-buying-guide-tasting-notes-ratings/bordeaux-wine-vintage-chart/

Etude Lyric Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2014

Etude Lyric Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2014

For a team meeting and planning session we all parachuted in to Columbus, Ohio for two days. In the evening, we had an informal causal pizza dinner at Dewey's Pizza. Dewey's promotes a selection of craft beers from the region and across the country. They have a minimal wine list of four reds and four whites offered by the glass (BTG). The reds selection features a cabernet, a red blend, a malbec and a Pinot. I tried the Pinot. Although I am not a big fan of Pinot, especially with pizza, I was intrigued by and interested to try this newly discovered label from Etude. The winelist described this as a California Central Coast Pinot Noir which didn't do it justice since this Lyric from Etude was from Santa Barbara County, a popular Pinot Noir varietal wine growing region.

Etude is based in the Carneros appellation, at the bottom of the Mayacamas Range that separates Napa and Sonoma Valleys, in the flatlands above San Pablo Bay. The area, with its milder micro-climate from the cool breezes and fog that roll in from the Bay is suitable for and known for Burgundy varietals, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, rather than the Bordeaux varietals more typically associated with the warmer climes up in Napa and Sonoma Valleys.

Etude is known for Carneros Pinot's so it was interesting to find this secondary label from Santa Barbara County, near the cooling effects of the Pacific coast, another area known for and associated with Pinot Noir.

This provides reasonable QPR for a pleasant casual sipping Pinot Noir that is difficult to find in the sub $20 price point. According to on-line merchants, this is generally available in the $20-25 range.

This was ruby colored and light bodied, lacking in aromatics or distinguishable nose and that classic dusty rose of more sophisticated Pinots, this had moderate flavors of cherry and raspberry fruits with tones of subdued cinnamon and spice with soft tannins on the moderate finish.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2191962