Groth Birthyear Vintage Napa Cab for festive family holiday dinner

Groth Birthyear Vintage Napa Cab for festive family holiday dinner

Further to our Festive Christmas Eve family dinner featured in an earlier blogpost, we also opened an aged birthyear vintage bottle for the occasion.,

We hold in our cellar collection a horizontal of wines for each of our kids’ (and grandkids’) birth year vintages that we hold to open for special occasions and family gatherings. So it was that tonight I also pulled from the cellar a birthyear vintage wine for son Alec, joining us for Christmas Eve dinner. 

As our kid’s get older, the window for holding and tasting birth year wines is rapidly closing, and, we still hold a collection of wines that need to be consumed. In this case, for our youngest son Alec, the 1990 vintage was especially extraordinary.  

Three #1 Wine Spectator Top 
100 Wines from 1990 vintage

Three times, three different wines from the 1990 vintage were awarded #1 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator Magazine as part of their annual Top 100 Wines of the Year.. 

This is 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.  

We also hold large format bottles of birth year vintage wines for these years in our collection. I blogged about these wines and big bottles in a previous blogposts. 

Tonight, with the hearty beef roast dinner, I pulled from the cellar this 1990 Napa Cabernet for a wine pairing. 

Groth Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 

This is the standard Groth estate cuvee’ offering. It had 15% Merlot added to round out the blend. 

We visited the Groth Estate back in the late nineties for a tour and tasting.

Notably winemaker for this wine was none other than Nils Venge.  

This release awarded 90-92 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, and 90 points by Wine Spectator.  

The Wine Advocate Review was back in 06/1992. The Wine Spectator Review was a decade later  in 02/2001.

Parker referred to the classic Groth style - sweet, almost intensely opulent fruit flavors, silky tannins, and hedonistic.

At thirty four years of age, aside the soiled label, the foil, and most importantly the fill level and the cork were in ideal condition. 

This bottle was past its prime drinking window and was showing diminution from age. The body was slightly murky and the dark garnet color was taking on a slight brownish hue. The blackberry fruits were turning slightly tart and starting to give way to non-fruit flavors of earth, tobacco and leather, with notes still apparent of herbs, coffee, spice and cassis with tangy acid predominating on the finish. A momento tasting but time to drink up as a last vestige of this vintage cuvée. 

RM 86 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=35189

https://grothwines.com/

https://x.com/GrothWines

@GrothWines

@unwindwine

Venge Silencieux for Christmas Eve dinner

Venge Silencieux for hearty festive Christmas Eve dinner - Silent One for Silent Night, Holy Night

Just returned from a family Christmas gathering in Conneticut, Alec, Vivianna and the girls joined us for a festive Christmas Eve dinner. 

Linda prepared a delicious hearty beef roast with potatoes, carrots, green beans and onions, with a garden salad and fresh brioche rolls.  

As is customary, when dining with Alec and Viv, I pulled from the cellar one of our ‘V’ collection of wines, having fun paying tribute to daughter-in-law Vivianna. 

Readers of these pages know about this tradition and how we can fulfill it with bottles from Venge Vineyards, or Viader, or some occasional others - Verite’, Vine Cliff, Varner …. 

This premium selection featured a large, oversized, heavy painted bottle, predominantly bearing the ‘V’ Venge Vineyards logo.

We feature Venge Vineyards often in these pages going back many years, and highlighting many family gatherings - 

Visit to Venge Vineyards and Nils Venge

Gala Family Celebration Dinner at Angelis Italian

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/12/venge-napa-valley-oakville-penny-lane.html

Venge "Silencieux" Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 

We hold dozens of Venge labels dating back decades, and chose this large, heavy, oversized painted bottle for the occasion - and, selected the oldest of half a dozen vintages of this label, as part of cellar management. 

Silencieux 2011 was a big bold expressive Napa Cab, and proved an ideal pairing with the hearty beef meal. 

Venge describes this wine and the inspiration for the Silencieux (Silent One) name on the rear label, shown below - fitting for this Silent Night, Holy Night! 

This is 100% Cabernet that was blended by winemaker/producer Kirk Venge from five different vineyard sources in Oakville, Calistoga, Mount Veeder, Spring Mountain and Coombsville. Hence, a Napa Valley designation, but no further sub-classification single AVA granularity. (There are seventeen appellations (AVA’s) in Napa Valley. 

Reviewing my experience with this wine, and reading the pundit’s expressions, this is perhaps an object lesson in interpreting reviewers comments of a wine. Or perhaps I obsess, but that’s what makes these assessments fun!

Being a blend of no less than five different vineyards, perhaps its my imagination, but this seemed to be slightly obtuse, a cacophony of flavors, big, bold and forward, almost slightly aggressive in its boldness - but delicious nonetheless. 

I felt that at fourteen years in 2024, that it might need another couple years to integrate and settle, but alas, perhaps not. Time will tell but I suspect it’s at the peak of its tasting window and will not improve, or be tamed, with further aging. 

Wine Enthusiast, who rated it 93 points and anointed it a “Cellar Selection”, projected it to  “age effortlessly through at least 2021.” 

Wine Enthusiast noted further, “It makes you wonder why we obsess with single-vineyard bottlings.” And, more to that pint, it is available at a big discount to those single vineyard labels providing nice QPR - Quality Price Ratio. 

It was also rated 92 and 91 points by Wine Advocate and International Wine Cellar, respectively. 

Wine Advocate said, “The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Silencieux is a much larger cuvee, …. Rich, concentrated, round and generous, this is a sumptuous Cabernet Sauvignon with no hard edges” Large and generous stand out in my purview, indeed, and I might disagree about the ‘hard edges’.  

International Wine Cellar referred to it as “Slightly high-toned … very good vinosity and serious length. Excellent for the vintage.“ Which ends on the point that 2011 was a slightly ‘off’ vintage in Napa Valley, and perhaps it’s simply that lack of perfection in the vintage that shows in this slightly less than stellar showing. 

Delicious, none-the-less, my words, which I later discover echo Wine Advocate sentiments -  … “but it is a delicious, reasonably priced Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that showcases Venge’s Midas touch with this varietal.” 

Dark, bright ruby-red, medium-full bodied, rich, concentrated, round, forward ripe black currant and blackberry fruits, highlighted by dark mocha, graphite, currant, clove spice, anise and sweet oak, with full round tannins and tangy acidity on the sumptuous finish. 

RM 92 points.   

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1678403

We also opened a Groth Birthyear Vintage Napa Cab which we featured in this follow on blogpost. Notably, winemaker for this wine was Nils Venge! 

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/12/venge-napa-valley-oakville-penny-lane.html

http://www.vengevineyards.com/

https://twitter.com/VengeVineyards

@VengeVineyards 

@unwindwine @rickmcnees

Cantina Fratelli Pardi Montefalco Rosso

Cantina Fratelli Pardi Montefalco Rosso Italian Red Blend

Sis-in-law Dr Pat gifted us this interesting Italian red that she discovered and acquired at the winery in Umbria, Italy during her visit to the region this fall. She brought it during our holiday get-together and we opened it with carry-out pizza for Saturday evening dinner. 

This is a unique label from the town of Montefalco located in central Umbria, south of the town of Assisi and north of Spoleto on the lush Apennine Range in the center if the Italian peninsula. Umbria is one of the few completely landlocked regions in Italy. 

One of the primary and leading red grape varieties in the region is Sagrantino, grown around the picturesque hilltop village of Montefalco. Along with Montefalco Sagrantino - made exclusively from the Sagrantino grape - other reds include this Montefalco Rosso (and Montefalco Rosso riserva), such as this one, that are primarily Sangiovese. The area also produces some white wines include Montefalco Grechetto and Trebbino Spoletino.

Sangiovese is the actually the  most widely planted grape in the area, with Montefalco Rosso, defined by this grape, being a less tannic and less powerful wine that is more approachable upon release, more drinkable and at less expensive pricing, available to enjoy while waiting for the Sagrantinos to mellow out. 

Since the primary varietal is Sangiovese rather than Sagrantino, this Montefalco Rosso is a lighter-bodied, and more approachable wine, that also can be enjoyed earlier at a younger age.  

This label produced by Cantina Fratelli Pardi is a notable example of Montefalco Rosso. They also produce a Montefalco Rosso Riserva (basically a Montefalco Rosso from better quality grapes that has been aged longer before release).

As shown on the rear label (below), in Italian since this bottle was procured overseas at the winery, Pardi Montefalco Rosso is a Red Blend made predominantly from 70% Sangiovese, 15% “Vitigno Autoctono” which translated to English means "native grape variety" or "local grape variety", which refers to the local Sagrantino, with the remaining amounts of 7.5% Merlot and 7.5% of Cabernet. 

This release was awarded 90 points by Vinous’s Eric Guido and James Suckling. 

Bright ruby colored, medium bodied, full and round pleasant easy drinking, bright blackberry and black cherry and some red fruit notes, dusty rose, olives and spicy and savoury, with balanced acidity and pronounced but approachable tannins on the lively lingering finish. 

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?5118851

https://www.cantinapardi.it/tablet/index.html

Sesta di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese

Sesta di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese with tangy homemade spaghetti

With Linda’s homemade spaghetti and tangy marinara bolognese sauce, I pulled from the cellar a premium Brunello di Montalcino for a wine accompaniment. Readers of these pages know this wine has become one of our favorite ‘go-to’ wines, especially for this particular food-wine pairing.  I’ve written in several of those posts what makes Brunello di Montalcino special. 

This is from the Spina family who in 1980 acquired the 110 acre estate Sesta di Sopra in Abate, located southwest of Montalcino and about four kilometers from Castelnuovo dell. 

Sesta di Sopra is located in an area ideally suited for viticulture, situated near the river Orcia, the calcareous soil and the microclimate are favourable for the vines to thrive. 

They set upon to renovate the property, first the main house, an old lookout tower, amidst a six acre area covered with olive trees. Vines were first planted on six adjoining acres and beyond in the  vineyards located in the upper part of the Sesta zone. 

Ettore Spina took great care planting and operating the vineyards according to the latest viticulture practices. The total of fifteen acres of vineyards were planted in the early 1990s with different clones of the Sangiovese grosso variety. The first vintage of aristocratic wine was pressed in 1999. While not highly productive, they produced very high-quality grapes reflecting their terroir.

In the planting and viticulture management, as well as the production of Brunello and Rosso, Ettore Spina was aided by the professional advice of his good friend Giancarlo Pacenti, until recently Vice President of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino. Today, owner Enrica Bandirola is assisted by Oenologist  Giancarlo Pacenti.

Over the next decade, Sesta di Sopra, while small and little-known became a leading Brunello producer who Vilnius says rates among the best. 

After they have been harvested, the grapes are placed in crates to protect them from damage. Arrived at the tiny winery, the grapes are fermented in temperature-controlled steel tanks according to traditional methods. The Brunello is aged in traditional Slavonian oak barrels with a capacity of 30 hectolitres. The Rosso is matured in French oak barrels.

The branding features labels with an Ethhruscan symbol of the sun found on the farm, a trademark along with the name of the country estate dating back to the 13th century. 

Sesta di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese 2013

This release was rated 95 points by Vinpous and Wine Enthusiast, 94 by James Suckling, and 93 by Wine Spectator. 

Annual production is approximately 7,000 bottles. 

Deep garnet red colored, medium full bodied, dense by refined and elegant, plum, raspberry and black cherry fruits with notes of licorice, leather, tobacco leaf, spice and hints of tar with firm but approachable tannins on the lingering spicy, underbrush aftertaste. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2129586

https://www.sestadisopra.it/

Gala family birthday celebration and Christmas Lights bus tour

Gala family birthday celebration and Christmas Lights bus tour, foods and some vintage wine

The family and friends gathered for a gala grand-daughter Millie’s birthday celebration.

All the grandkids/cousins were there … 

 Taking in the joyous holiday season, the evening culminated in a festive Christmas Lights bus tour to tour the neighbors and see the holiday lights decorations, …. 

And, the neighbors Taylor Swift holiday display! 

Alec and Viv prepared an extensive selection of artisan cheeses, chips and dips, Alec’s signature beef tenderloin sandwiches …. (Here with sibling, Erin) … 

… in addition to the grand birthday cake. 

Fun with wine! Alec served a medley of red and white wines. As is customary for such occasions, I took from our cellar a commemorative birthyear vintage wine to taste and share.

We served a horizontal selection of birthyear wines for Alec and Vivianna’s wedding celebration that included Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for both their birthyear vintages as featured in these blogposts - 

Wedding Wines - Birthyear and Big Bottle Extravaganza Continues

We still hold several cases of their birthyear vintage wines and are working through them at occasions such as this. 

Birthyear vintage labels and large format bottles

Special Silver Oak Birthyear wines for Festive Holiday Open House

Tonight we brought Vivianna’s birthyear vintage from our collection … which is a bit more challenging since 1991 was a less than stellar vintage in Napa, especially when compared to Alec’s spectacular 1990 vintage year. 

Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1991

Earlier previous Producer notes for the Alexander Valley label; "The 1991 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon has a dense, rich, crimson hue with slight bricking. The aromatics are complex and very interesting with notes of sandalwood, caramel, black pepper, cedar and strawberry fruit. It has a moderate entry, with espresso bean flavors and a finish buttressed by fresh acidity. On the finish, leather and Roquefort linger on the palate. Decanting recommended due to light sediment. Enjoy now."

Winemaker Notes: "The 1991 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon has a youthful glow, with an opaque crimson hue and no signs of bricking. It offers aromas of blackberry compote and sandalwood. It is a full-bodied wine upon entry, but is dominated by ample acidity and coffee flavors on the mid-palate. The finish has moderate length, lively tannins and flavors consistent with the mid-palate. Decanting suggested."

This label release was awarded 92 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, and  91 points by Wine Spectator, one of  their *Highly Recommended, Top 100 Wines of 1995*.

Currant Producer’s notes on this label release - “The 1991 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon has a strong scarlet-red hue with no signs of bricking. The nose is somewhat muted and earthy but has inviting and interesting aromatics like new leather, dried ginger and cocoa beans. The entry is somewhat dilute and lower in acidity than most Silver Oak wines of the era but is broad and has depth along with cured meat and orange peel flavors. The mid-palate is layered and mouth-coating. This is not a huge wine but is bold and authoritative with strong tannins that still accent the long return. Decanting suggested due to moderate sediment. Enjoy now.”

At thirty three years, the label and foil were in good condition while the importantly fill level and cork will also still acceptable for their age. 

While understandably passed its prime optimal drinking window, this bottle is still holding on but is reaching its end of life and needs to be consumed. 

The dark garnet colored has taken on a slight brownish hue. Still medium to full bodied, the black berry and plum fruits are taking on a bit of tartness and giving way to spice, oak and non-fruit flavors or leather, smoke, and earthy tobacco, with moderate tannins on the lingering finish. 

RM 87 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=21346

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=25548 

https://silveroak.com/  

@SilverOak

Montecappone Rosso Piceno Marche Italian Red Blend

Montecappone Rosso Piceno Marche Italian Red Blend 2021

Our exploration of Italian wines continues. With left over spaghetti, for an ideal wine-food pairing, we opened from the cellar this easy drinking enjoyable Italian Red Blend wine.

This is from the Montecappone estate, founded in the late 1960s in the village of Jesi in the Ancona region of Marche in Central Italy. 

In 1997 the property was acquired by the Bomprezzi-Mirizzi family, who are owners of the famous wine shop in Rome called Enoteca Tuscolana. They immediately began renovating and expanding the winery and replanting almost all of the vineyards.

The Montecappone property lies in the jurisdiction of the Rosso Piceno DOC, first established in 1968 and is the largest DOC in Marche. According to Vivino, there are 34 registered wineries producing over 500 wines This hilly region lies mostly in the provinces of Ancona, Macerata, and a limited area of Ascoli Piceno.

Today, the Montecappone property covers nearly 135 acres of vineyards and 30 acres of olive groves scattered amongst the hills and castles of Jesi. They are planted to Verdicchio, Sauvignon, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, and Syrah varietals.

The vineyards are managed for low yields with careful selection of grapes for optimal wine fruit production through the advise of consultants, agronomists, and wine experts. The winemaker for this release was Lorenzo Landi. The wine was vinified and bottled in Montecappone's modern updated winery.

In addition to this modest entry level Rosso Piceno DOC label, they also produce more premium labels - Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico DOC and Utopia Castelli di Jesi Verdicchio Riserva Classico DOCG. 

This label is a blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese. The Montepulciano and Sangiovese grapes are vinified separately in concrete tanks with a long maceration on the skins for each. The wines ages for about 4 months in the cellar and an additional 1 month in bottle before release, creating a young wine of great concentration. The wine does not see oak in the vinification or aging process.

This release was given 90 points by Vinous, one less than the 2020 vintage release, and 89 points by Wine Enthusiast. 

Bright ruby colored, medium bodied, smooth and balanced, expressive ripe plum and red fruit flavors with dusty chalk and stone character, spice and a touch of earth, leather and smoke on the tangy finish. 

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4524787

https://www.montecapponevini.it/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4524787

Central Italy / Marche / Rosso Piceno

Piedlong CDP Red Blend with BBQ Ribs

Brunier Family “Piedlong” CDP Red Blend with BBQ Ribs

With the left over BBQ ribs from the other night, as noted at the time, the best ribs I’ve had in a long time, I opened a CDP (Châteauneuf-du-Pape) from Familie Brunier. We had these ribs the other night and they were spectacular, and enjoyable a couple days later to dust up the leftovers! 

I pulled this wine to take to son Alec’s last night but we arrived to find he had already opened a Big Red for pairing with our Pizza. So it was to open this for Sunday dinner with the remaining BBQ Ribs. 

This is from one of favorite Rhône producers that we visited at the Vieux Télégraphe estate during our CDP appellation tour back in 1998, and then again during our 2019 visit with Alec & Viviana with owner/producer Daniel Brunier at the Estate, which was a highlight of our visit to the Luberon and Southern Rhône that year.

Also notable, pertaining to Alec and Viv, we discovered this label during a visit to New York City to visit  when they were still living there. We discovered and enjoyed this label at Il Fiore Restaurant and Bar at the Langham Hotel in NYC back in 2018. 

Vignobles Brunier Chateauneuf-du-Pape Piedlong 2017

As I’ve written in these pages, Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe has been in the Brunier family since 1898,  it lies on the eastern edge of Châteauneuf du Pape and covers 150 acres of some of the finest terroir there on the famed “la Crau” plateau.

Famille Brunier embodies the group of holdings by the Brunier family, notably Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, Domaine La Roquète, Domaine Les Pallières (along with Kermit), and other vineyards for wines under the Brunier label. 

Henri Brunier founded the estate back in 1891. Four generations later, at the very beginning of the 80s, Frédéric and Daniel Brunier took over the destiny of the family business in tandem to farm the land in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The brothers solidify the legacy left by their father, Henri, and their great-grandfather, Hippolyte. 

In 2015 and 2016, Nicolas son of Frédéric and Edouard, son of Daniel, entered the history of the Old Telegraph, fully integrating the company in key positions. Manon, daughter of Frédéric, joined them in 2018 now extending to the sixth generation stewardship of the family business. 

The Bruniers’ vineyards in the La Crau cru of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, most notably the flagship Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, are the most pedigreed of the appellation, producing wines of exceptional quality and longevity. Since purchasing Domaine La Roquète in 1986, the family has complemented their portfolio with additional wines, offering more affordable cuvées that showcase the diversity of terroirs within their holdings. The “Pigeoulet” and “Mégaphone” are fresh, rich in fruit, pleasantly representative of their terroir, and easy to appreciate young. 

This red Châteauneuf “Piedlong”, is sourced from the famed Piélong lieu-dit with some fruit from the Pignan vineyard as well, is a deeply mineral wine that balances elegance and purity with the muscle that is commonly found in wines from this great appellation.

The estate gets its name from the history of this site. Back in the 1800's , Claude Chappe, inventor of the optical telegraph, built a signal tower on the property due to its high elevation in the region, hence the property was given the name “Vieux Télégraphe”. 

When we met with owner/producer Daniel Brunier at the Estate, during our 2019 visit with Alec & Viviana, he asked, “what do you want to know about Vieux Telegraph?” I said, “we want to meet you, see the estate, and learn the essence of your wines and how they manifest the terroir of the estate”. He emphasized the care they use in gravity feeding the grapes with minimal intervention, how they have destemmed all their grapes since 1989 and how the wines see all native ferments, with no temperature control, and aging all in older foudre. The gravity feeding was a result of the recent completion of a new state of the art winery. 

Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe "Piedlong" Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rhône Valley 2017 

This Piedlong label that was first released in 2011, it is a blend of 90% Genache Noir and 10% Mourvèdre. Comprised of but two varietals of the thirteen that are allowed in the AOC sanctioned blend, its a simpler less complex wine than the flagship label which under appellation rules can contain up to thirteen different varietals. 

The 90% Grenache for the Piedlong section and 10% Mourvedre from the Pignan section, are both old-vine parcels. 

The predominant Grenache grapes are sourced from 70 year old vines on the Vieux Telegraph 27 acre site on the stony Piedlong Plateau which is in the heart of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC area. 

Piedlong is north of the village at the highest point of the appellation. The Mourvèdre fruit is sourced from 50 year old vines on the 22 acre Pignan lieu-dit, east of Piedlong.

This release was awarded 94 points by Jeb Dunnuck and Wine Spectator, 93-94 by Vinous, 92-94 by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, 93 by James Suckling and 92 by DC

Whether a Grenache blend from Châteauneuf–du-Pape, a Bandol Mourvédre or a rosé from Pic Saint-Loup, classic wines from the Southern Rhône, Provence or Languedoc are often described as having notes of garrigue. 

In wine, the term garrigue suggests distinctly herbaceous, peppery or smoky tones reminiscent of the low-lying vegetation that grows wild in sun-scorched limestone soils along the Mediterranean, particularly the South of France.

Rather than a single plant or scent, garrigue refers to a variety of aromatic, resinous herbs like rosemary, sage, bay leaves and thyme. It also includes shrubs like juniper and artemisia as well as lavender and mint. 

The 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Piedlong  was an ideal pairing with the tangy BBQ. I note often in these pages the importance of an effective pairing between food and wine, and how it amplifies the enjoyment of both. 

This was  dark ruby colored, medium to full-bodied, round, layered with core of ripe raspberry, red currant, cherry and plum fruits accented by herbes de Provence, roses, dried spices, licorice, with that signature garrigue and with minerality on the long smooth polished finish. 

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3187675  

https://www.vieux-telegraphe.fr/en/

Beau Vigne Old Rutherford Napa Cab

Beau Vigne Old Rutherford Napa Cab with Calogero’s Pizza 

Son Alec and D-in-law Viviana dined in the city at Juno Sushi in Lincoln Park, so we were called to grandparent babysitter duty. Alec arranged for pizza pick-up at Calogero’s Pizza, Naperville, their neighborhood pizza shop. He also set out a nice Napa Cab from his cellar for a wine pairing.

Calogero’s has become a regular dining experience when we serve at Alec & Viv’s. They take pride in their mission to create the highest quality food using only the best and freshest ingredients possible - certified imported Italian products and local fresh produce. All their meat comes from farm-fed, humanely raised cattle, toppings are 100% organic and arrive fresh daily. All of their cheeses are made from organic goat, sheep, cow and water buffalo milk, and the flour used to make their pizzas, breads and sweets are organic & imported from Italy.

The pizza and wine were wonderful - a perfect, delicious pairing with the arugula salad, bruschetta and the sausage and cheese pizza; ‘Bruschette al Pomodoro’ - wood fire bread with cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano, and evoo; ‘Salsiccia Pizze Rosse’ - Italian plum tomato sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella, fennel italian sausage, pecorino romano.

Beau Vigne “Old Rutherford” Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

This is a producer we know well as we hold a half dozen of their labels in our cellar (s) dating back nearly a decade. I featured this producer in detail in a blogpost last summer when we took their wine along on holiday - Beau Vigne Napa Valley Proprietary Red.

Ironically, we just ordered a half case of Beau Vigne wine earlier in the day from their just published winter releases.

As the producer exclaimed, “This is 100% Cabernet from a 100 Point Winery, a rare single vineyard designated label”. Old Rutherford is the sourced from the highly acclaimed Missouri Hopper Vineyard (known for year-over-year 96-99 point ratings). 

The producer writes, “The utmost rarity because you can’t always get this fruit (it’s an outright bidding war), and is reserved for some of the most expensive wines in Napa Valley.”

I wrote in a recent blogpost about getting ‘invested’ in a wine from a producer that doesn’t own or control their vineyard source (s). This is another such case, as the producer admits. 

While they call this wine “Old Rutherford”, the vineyard source is actually in the Napa Valley Oakville AVA. It is part of the iconic Beckstoffer Vineyard holdings. 

Located north of the town of Yountville in the Oakville AVA, Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper was originally part of a large piece of land owned by George C. Yount, from whom the town of Yountville takes its name. It is name for Charles Hopper who purchased it and gave it to his daughter Missouri in 1877. The land was planted to wine grapes, prunes and walnuts. 

In 1960, the land was purchased by Bruce Kelham as part of the historic Vine Hill Ranch and subsequently purchased by Beckstoffer Vineyards from the Kelham family in 1996. As noted in the release notes, the vineyard is today planted with multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon.

In 2002, the property was placed under a land conservation easement that forever prohibits non-agricultural development.

The total vineyard site is 46 acres of which 36 acres are planted to vines. 

Producer Notes - “The Old Rutherford project is a clonal micro-terroir look at different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Rutherford Appellation. Our 2020 is a 50/50 blend of Clones 4 & 6. The fascinating thing is, this wine tastes young, with 10-15 years of aging potential. The integration is likely to become more apparent with 3 years of cellaring.”

Winemaker notes - “The 2020 Old Rutherford Cabernet displays an intense array of wild blackberry, boysenberry, blueberry jam and dark chocolate aromas. Its inky/ruby/purple color is accompanied by classic notes of dusty Rutherford and beautifully balanced French oak frame the dark berry flavors, with notes of graphite, cracked pepper, caramel, and blackberry adding depth to a long finish.”

Robert Parker’s assessment of Beau Vigne: “this winery is currently on a qualitative roll”, “wine that even eclipses the other fabulous wines in the Beau Vigne portfolio.’

This was delicious and exceeded my expectations. 

Dark ruby purple colored, medium full bodied, bright vibrant expressive sweet blackberry and boysenberry fruits accented by clove spice, graphite chalk from that famous ‘Rutherford Dust’, hints of bitter mocha dark chocolate and sweet oak on a smooth polished refined finish.

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?4591751

http://www.beauvigne.com/

Clarendon Hills Romas Vineyard Grenache 2007

Clarendon Hills McLaren Vale Clarendon Romas Vineyard Grenache 2007

Friday night dinner, Linda prepared BBQ ribs with roasted potatoes and carrots, one of my favorite meals for pairing with full bodied, bold expressive wines. 

Following the trend of this week, for the third time I pulled from the cellar a 2007 vintage release wine to compare the relative aging of that vintage, albeit across different wine varietals and regions. 

One of our favorite varietals with BBQ is the Syrah grape from the Rhône Valley in France, Australia and parts of California. Syrah is one of a trio of grapes often paired together in blends, along with Grenache and Mourvèdre - together referred to as GSM’s. 

Generally we have favored Syrah over Grenache, but tonight, this single vineyard designated label exceeded our most lofty expectations. 

I featured this same label vintage release in an earlier blogpost in which I also featured this iconic producer in detail -  October, 2020 - Trio of Clarendon Hills labels - Astralis, Bakers Gully and Romas , excerpted below.

Clarendon Hills winery was founded in 1990 by Roman Bratasiuk in Clarendon, a town 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Adelaide, part of the McLaren Vale Wine Region in South Australia. Bratasiuk, a viticulturalist as much as a winemaker, selected Clarendon as a base because of the significant number of old vine vineyards that were planted there, vineyards of 50 to 90 years. 

The township of Clarendon was established in 1880 by European migrants, who brought with them pre-clonal, original French vine cuttings that they planted and propagated across the surrounding hilltops. Clarendon is home to hugely varied terrain with sandy, clay based soils in the lower elevated regions and contrasted with shattered shale and ironstone rich, quartz ridden soils in the highest areas. It is ideal growing conditions for traditional French Rhone varietals - Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre as well as Bordeaux varietals Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Clarendon Hills vineyards sources lie within the Clarendon, Blewitt Springs and Kangarilla districts. Using single vineyard designated fruits, Clarendon Hills seeks to express terroir driven varietal expression in its wines.

Today, there are many single vineyard wines in Australia, but when Roman started in 1990, he was a pioneer in this approach. In the early 1990s, Roman started becoming known for his Grenache, but today he has an extensive portfolio of premium and ultra premium quality wines across 19 single vineyard cuvee labels.

With the release of the 1994 vintage. Roman hired his first employee and rebranded his $30 Clarendon Hills Shiraz as 1994 Clarendon Hills Astralis. It was the first bottle in Australia to be priced at $100. It sold out and became his signature flagship label which remains to this day.

Robert Parker has written that "Clarendon Hills is one of the world’s elite wine estates". In 1996, Parker tasted the 1994 Astralis and wrote in his newsletter, Wine Advocate issue 110: "This is the hottest wine in Australian wine circles, as it came out ahead of two great vintages of Henschke and Penfolds’ Grange in a recent tasting. If readers can believe it, it is a bigger denser, more concentrated wine than the Grange," and in issue 108 (1996) he named Roman wine producer of the year. Thereafter, Astralis became a cult wine.

Two vintages of Astralis (1996 and 1994) were recently included within the 'Greatest 1000 Wines of all time 1727-2006" as a result of 15 international MW's collaborating with Scandinavian publisher FINE.

Clarendon Hills was awarded New World Winery of the Year in 2006 by Wine Enthusiast. To date, Astralis is either the highest or equivocally scored as the best Australian Shiraz/Syrah based wine every year according to US publications Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate.

Today, Clarendon Hills produces broad portfolio of nineteen labels; eight Syrah, six Grenache, three Cabernet Sauvignon and one Merlot and Mourvedre wine. Roman exclusively produces single vineyard wines, all single vineyard, single varietal wines, produced from low yielding, dry grown old vines which are hand pruned, hand picked. All wines are aged in high quality French oak barriques.

One of Australia's iconic producers, Clarendon Hills marches confidently to its own drum, crafting deeply flavoured, profoundly structured and often rather savoury and Old Worldly reds from shiraz and grenache from a variety of sites in the higher Clarendon subregion of McLaren Vale. Each are made and bottled separately, so a new vintage tasting of Clarendon Hills wine will take more than half an hour! 

It's also home to some steadily improving cabernet sauvignons and some slightly idiosyncratic Mourvedre and Merlot. The winery's two top red wines, the Astralis Syrah and the Romas Grenache, easily justify their 5-Star status. The Domaine Clarendon Syrah is an exciting and relatively new project that should gain more standing and status as the vineyard matures. I love the ambition and attitude behind Clarendon Hills. It's pushing the envelopes of style and quality, and it's spectacular when it succeeds.

Clarendon Hills "Romas" Grenache 2007 South Australia

This is Clarendon Hill's top Grenache, single vineyard designated, sourced from the Romas Vineyard Block, in the Clarendon hills, in the tenderloin/best part of the more famous Blewitt Springs Vineyard, located just north-east of McLaren Vale, to the south of Adelaide, Australia

The vineyard was planted in 1920 and the 1940's with the 'Romas Grenache' the steepest, most elevated section. What makes this site special is its elevation of almost 1000 ft and its proximity to the ocean, which sits only a few miles away. The hillside site in some places reaches above a +40˚ slope gradient where the old vines struggle to survive on a steep rock hill face with yields a microscopic 1.2 ton to the acre.

The elevation and slope combined with the proximity to the ocean results in a cooler-climate site and not prone to producing the ‘jammy’, ‘porty’ styles of Aussie Grenache so popular from the broader area, rather, this wine is more like wines from the north side of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. 

Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.

Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. In those cases, Appellation rules require it to be included along with Syrah and Mourvèdre to be at least 70% of the blend, which can include up to thirteen specified varietals. 

Grenache is also grown on the Italian island of Sardinia where they produce bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). It is also grown in California, Washington and Australia who have all achieved found success with Grenache, both stand along single varietal bottlings and in blends.

We held several labels of Clarendon Hills in our cellar going back two and half decades, and several vintages of this one. I selected the oldest vintage, as part of cellar/inventory management, and as a continuing fun comparison of this particular vintage release this week - Garric Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and another, in a post coming soon. 

As I write often in these pages, the optimal pairing of a wine with food will greatly amplify and enhance the enjoyment of both! 

Tonight, these was extraordinary with the delicious BBQ ribs, roasted potatoes and carrots and was perhaps the best showing of a Grenache that I can remember. 

Historically, we not huge fans of Grenache, much less desired than our more favored Syrah varietal. Moreover, in the earlier blogpost review of this specific label, I gave it very low lackluster marks. 

Clarendon Hills McLaren Vale Clarendon Romas Vineyard Grenache 2007

While usually we’re not huge fans of Grenache, tonight, this showed extraordinarily well, enhanced by the ideal food pairing. I believe that the extra couple years aging in the bottle allowed this to settle further as it showed great balance and harmony. 

This label release was awarded 91 points by both Wine Enthusiast and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. 

It was matured for 18 months in 1-5 year old tightly grained French Oak.

This may have been my best tasting experience in memory for a Grenache varietal wine. 

Dark garnet purple colored, full bodied, bold and expressive, textured but balanced black berry, black currant and plum fruits were accented by savory rustic, meaty and spice tones of black tea and tobacco leaf with firm but fine approachable tannins on a long gripping finish. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=933956

https://clarendonhills.com.au/

Garric Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Garric Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

I wrote in a recent blogpost about wines/labels from producers who purchase grapes and have hired winemakers produce their wines. And how this practice has lead to the proliferation in the number of producers and labels. While it may produce some interesting wines, these are not wines to get ‘invested’ in since many may prove to be ‘one hit wonders’, so to speak. 

This may be another such label, two enthusiasts who dip into the wine business, buying grapes and having a hired winemaker to produce their own label. Dare I call this a ‘vanity’ label? It is a name formed from the names of the co-proprietors. 

"The name 'Garric' combines the first names of co-proprietors and Chicago physicians Gary Ochwat, a foot surgeon, and Ricardo Cajulis, a pathologist. The two began dreaming of owning their own Cabernet label after their many trips to Napa Valley, and bought a home in Calistoga in 2002. The next year, they purchased grapes from two different vineyard sites to make their inaugural wine, a 2003, crafted by winemaker Pam Starr." 

MaryAnn Worobiec wrote in the November 2007 Wine Spectator, "20 Exciting New Cabernet Labels to Watch". I don’t subscribe to this hype and think Wine Spectator was short sighted to do so. Notable wine producers purchase vineyards and invest in building a brand promulgated on the terroir of the site. Indeed the great iconic brands cross multiple generations of family owned estates. 

That said, in any event, such labels can provide some great wines, but only time will tell if they last across multiple vintages so that they allow for comparisons from one year to the next. I’ve written in these pages about an earlier similarly situated Wine Spectator article about new producers that emerged with the 1994 vintage - Twenty New Producers, Hot New Labels to Watch, which formed our Napa wine discovery and pursuit and collecting for decades to follow! In retrospect, they all were founded on or ended up with estate wines from vineyard holdings. 

Garric first appeared in 2003, seemed to hit their stride with this 2007 and near vintages, but disappeared from the scene in 2016. 

CellarTracker, with its vast number of collectors’ inventory of millions of bottles is a valid testament of a producer’s and label’s presence. The CellarTracker mentions of Garric Cellar wines shows 23 labels across five wines from 2002 to 2014. A couple were only produced in one or three vintage years, with this Garric Cabernet (their ‘flagship’) label showing a dozen continuous vintages. (From CellarTracker - “CellarTracker is the leading cellar management tool with hundreds of thousands of collectors tracking more than 158 million bottles. CellarTracker has also grown to become the largest database of community tasting notes with 10 million such notes as of early 2023.”) 

My CellarTracker record shows I purchased this 2007 vintage release from Binny’s Beverage Depot, the Chicagoland big box wine superstore, in 2010, so they had a sufficient distribution presence. Published records indicate they produced 545 cases of this release. 

The Garric Cellars website and domain name are dark, hence the brand has for intents and purposes disappeared completely.

Garric Cellars GRX Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

At seventeen years, the label, foil and most importantly, the fill level and cork were in pristine condition. This wine had another decade of life remaining in its prime drinking window. 

Never-the-less, this was enjoyable drinking for the evening. From the winemaker: "2007 gave us a beautifully concentrated wine with soft velvety tannins. Bright purple black color. The nose shows off layered complexity, loaded with aromas of sweet blueberries, currants and black cherries with a hint of caramel and vanilla. In the mouth, the wine reveals flavors layered with sweet blueberries, cassis, plums and black cherries. The wine is chewy and has great balance with a long luscious finish. The wine can be approached early with decanting, yet will age effortlessly for 15+ years. This is undoubtedly the most profound Garric to date!"

545 cases were produced

We enjoyed this with winter comfort food chili dinner and a selection of artisan cheeses.

Dark blackish garnet colored, medium to full bodied, full round bright vibrant concentrated black berry plum and black currant fruits were accented with sprites of spice, cassis and tobacco leaf with chewy grainy tannins on the lingering finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?862654

www.GarricCellars.com

Juslyn Napa Valley Perry’s Blend Cabernet

Juslyn Napa Valley Perry’s Blend Cabernet 2002

With delicious grilled tenderloin beefsteaks and avocado sandwiches I pulled from the cellar this two decade old aged Napa red blend. 

This is from Juslyn Vineyards, founded and developed by Perry and Carolyn Butler back in 1997 when their dream became a reality and they sold their Silicon Valley tech business and purchased and moved to the Spring Mountain estate. 

The British ex-pats had moved from the UK to California to start the IT company in the mid-1980's. During weekend trips to Napa Valley they developed a passion for wine and the wine country lifestyle that Napa Valley offered.

They bought a picturesque 42-acre property located slightly above historic Spring Mountain Vineyard winery. The land was once a small parcel of the 540 acres that California wine pioneer Charles Krug originally acquired as the dowry of Caroline Bale, who he married in 1860. 

The site sits near another one of our favorite producers, Fantesca Vineyards and Winery, near the bottom of Spring Mountain, just above the town of St Helena. 

The Butlers set about having a villa and gardens built, along with a winery facility, which Butler named Juslyn, for daughter Justine and wife Carolyn. 

Butlers were IT (information technology) people with no expertise in the wine business other than Butler trained as a chef in England. They turned to Renteria Vineyard Management, led by Salvador and Oscar Renteria, who produced outstanding grapes for many prestigious Napa Valley vineyards to select the most appropriate varieties for the vineyards and develop them to produce the highest quality fruit.

They set about to develop vineyards in the rocky soils of the Spring Mountain estate replanting old abandoned vineyards with Bordeaux varietals - 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with small amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Upon moving to Napa Valley, the Butler’s met Art Finklestein (the founder of Judd’s Hill Winery). He made several home vintages for them. Still several years away from the maturation of their estate vineyard, in 1998 and for several years following, they purchased grapes for their early vintages until their first commercial release in 1998. 

Long time Napa winemaker, Craig MacLean was their founding winemaker. They eventually hired Brian Kosi as winemaker. A graduate of the University of California-Davis, Kosi’s career includes positions at Acacia Vineyard, Opus One, Plumpjack Winery, Beaulieu Vineyard and Freemark Abbey. 

The first wine produced under their ownership from their property was in 2000. Their first Estate Cabernet release in 2000 was a mere 80 cases, increased in 2001 to 170 cases, a wine that displayed elegance in the style of premier cru Bordeaux. Each Estate vintage increased production and improved, growing over the following two decades to about 3 tons/acre from the 8-acre hillside vineyard. 

Located in the Spring Mountain District AVA, one of the very best growing regions in the Napa Valley, grapes produced in this AVA are sold at a premium price. Average grape price in Napa Valley is around $7,000/ton; in 2017 the Juslyn owners were offered $20,000 per ton for their Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

Stephanie DeMasi joined their small team in 2003 and worked with the Butlers as General Manager  until 2019. She answered an ad that Perry and Carolyn had placed for a General Manager. Her prior local wine experience involved working with Cathy Corison (well-regarded Corison Winery) and helping launch the Bounty Hunter Wine Shop in the city of Napa. She progressed to also become a partner in the brand.

The Juslyn Vineyards Perry’s Blend was sourced from both their Spring Mountain estate vineyards and some of the most highly regarded vineyards in Napa Valley. The Butler’s met Andy Beckstoffer owner of several legendary vineyards in the early years during their visits to Napa, and arranged to source fruit for this wine from some of Beckstoffer’s heritage vineyards including To Kalon, Dr. Crane and Georges III. 

Initially they simply called the wine, “Napa Blend”. During a visit to the property, wine pundit Robert Parker advised that he thought this name was too generic. Despite the fact that they had already submitted the wine to the TTB for approval, Parker wrote about it in his Wine Advocate newsletter and referred to it as “Perry’s Blend”. Calls immediately came into the winery asking for that wine and the name stuck … notably a tribute to both Mr. Parker and Perry. In later years, the wine was sourced entirely from their Spring Mountain estate fruit.

The Justyn estate was in recent years listed for sale. It was represented as “40 + acres - 6 acres planted to very high quality vines which, due to their close spacing, produce very high quailty yields that are more like 16 acres; plus an additional 4 acres that can be planted”.

The Juslyn Vineyards Wine business at the time held approximately $7.0M in inventory (2 vintages of casked wine and current vintage wine in bottle) plus about $1m plus hanging on the vines for the then current 2021 vintage.

I both hate it and love it that while trolling down in our wine cellar for a nice red blend to enjoy with grilled tenderloin beefsteaks, I come across this vintage aged wine. 

Juslyn Perry's Blend Napa Valley Red Wine 2002

This release was awarded 93 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, and 91 points by Wine Enthusiast. 

The 2002 Perry’s Blend was 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot.

At 22 years of age, the label and foil, and most importantly the fill level and cork were in pristine condition. 

Dark ruby colored with a slight grayish brownish hue settling in showing a slight diminution from aging, past its prime but sill enjoyable and should remain in drinking window for a couple more years; medium to full bodied, the black raspberry and black currant fruits were offset with notes of wood, leather, black tea and hints of cedar with moderate tannins on the lingering tangy acidic finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://juslynvineyards.com/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=274387

https://juslyn.com/