Robert Craig Affinity Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Robert Craig Affinity Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

For quiet Saturday night dinner at home to watch the Netflix series release of 'The Crown' and dine with Linda's delicious lasagna dinner, I chose this Robert Craig Affinity 2006 from the cellar. Our Cellartracker records show we hold  more than eight cases of this label from no less than eighteen vintages dating back to the inaugural release in 1993. I picked this vintage almost at random but went with it as a tasting at a decade of age, in its tenth year.

The author, Rick, Linda and
Robert Craig at '09 Harvest Party

These pages are filled with numerous postings and reminiscences of dinners, tastings, release parties (shown left) and other events with Robert Craig and Lynn Craig, Rachel, and other members of the staff there. I remember how Robert used to wax eloquent about producing several Napa Valley Cabernet labels from "three mountains and a valley", this being the Cabernet blend of Napa Valley, and Cabs from Mt Veeder, Howell Mountain, and in later years Spring Mountain, and even Mt George fruit. I've heard Robert say his favorite was Mt Veeder, while my favorite was often Howell Mtn, until the Spring Mountain was released in '07, which became my favorite.

Robert used to speak with pride about how he worked at holding the price point of this label to deliver high value (QPR - Quality Price Ratio). This is poignant today as the new management and this year's release of this label has escalated in price by almost 40% with this price point (~$45-48) being replaced by a Napa Valley Cabernet label. I haven't brought myself to acquire and sample the new current release labels, but I will eventually.

This is Craig's Bordeaux blend with 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot.

Tonight this more than met and in fact, exceeded my expectations for this vintage label.

Robert Parker gave this 92 points and said of Craig's 2006 release: "The 2006 Affinity is a steal for a high-quality Napa Cabernet-based wine... This is the best group of wines I have ever tasted from Robert Craig Winery. Not only is there not a single disappointment in this portfolio, but these are all noteworthy wines, with thrilling levels of quality. Moreover, they are moderately priced for Napa Valley as well as ageworthy. I think these are the finest wines that I have ever tasted from Robert Craig Cellars." Thankfully, we loaded up on this release.

Full bodied, polished and finely integrated symphony of flavors and supple tannins with full legs or curtains around the glass - deep purple colour, full bodied, full forward aromas and flavours of black berry fruits and bacon fat, tones of currant, tea, espresso and hints of subtle dark chocolate with tangy cinnamon spice and lingering cedar on the long tongue puckering finish.

With more than a dozen bottles in the cellar of this release, I look forward to taste and watch this vintage age gracefully over the decade (s) to come.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=633932

http://www.robertcraigwine.com

Elderton e Series Cabernet Shiraz 2013

Elderton e Series Cabernet Shiraz 2013

While in Springfield on business, for carry out dinner back to the hotel to watch the Cubs win the World Series, I picked up this Aussie Shiraz / Cab blend at Corkscrew Wine Emporium. After tasting the premium Elderton Command Shiraz the other evening, I chose this entry level 'e Series' Elderton as a basis of comparison. This is a blend of Cabernet and Shiraz.

Often I'll commend the QPR - quality price ratio for sub $20 wines. In this case, you get what you pay for.

Dark garnet colored, medium bodied, black berry and black cherry fruits are accented by tones of mineral, graphite and hints of camphor and a layer of vanilla, with a bit of 'heat' from the alcohol.

RM 88 points, one point lower the following evening.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2088398

http://www.eldertonwines.com.au

Ninety Plus Cellars Lot 101 Columbia Valley Syrah 2009

Ninety Plus Cellars Lot 101 Columbia Valley Syrah 2009

Like earlier tastings, for casual evening sipping with fruit and cheese, I pulled this full throttle Columbia Valley Shiraz from the cellar.  I've raved about this wine several times in this blog, talking about the high QPR (quality price ratio) that can occasionally be found in negociant private label wines. Of course the challenge is that often they are 'one hit wonders' since there is no guarantee of follow up vintages of the particular label. 

I've stated that this may be one of our favorite drinking wines in our cellar right now, certainly at this price point!  

This one continues to not only hold its own, but may be at the apex of its drinking window at seven years of age.

Dark inky garnet colored, medium to full bodied, this full throttle Syrah reveals layers of blackberry, black currant and blueberry fruits with tones of sweet vanilla, caramel and spice with hints of black pepper on a lingering smooth tannin finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1742790

http://www.ninetypluscellars.com/wines/lot-101-collectors-series-syrah

Del Dotto Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Del Dotto Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with Angelis Pasta

As we've done many times before, we dined at Angeli's, our favorite neighborhood trattoria, with son Alec, home for the World Series weekend from NYC. Again, as many times before, we took Del Dotto Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon BYOB, since its hearty earthy Rutherford style goes so well with the hearty pasta and these meat and other dishes there. We ordered from our usual favorites, Linda and Alec got the Mussels in white wine sauce, Butternut Squash Gnochi, and I ordered one of the simplest but most hearty dishes, Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce with Italian Sausage and Veal Meatballs.

Del Dotto Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

This 2001 has been drinking wonderfully, certainly at the apex of its drinking window, for several years now. This demonstrates the longevity of quality Napa Valley Cabernets. While it will not likely improve any further with aging, it still has several years to go at this level.

Consistent with earlier tastings notes, medium to full bodied , deep dark ruby color - black berry and sweet black cherry fruits accented by clove spice and a hint cassis and whisper of English toffee on the 'Rutherford Dust' moderate silky tannin finish.

RM 91 points.

This same wine is featured in their extraordinary Connoisseurs Series in which they age the same wine in a variety of oak cooperages to highlight the different oak influences on the wine. We featured a horizontal tasting of the 2001 Del Dotto Connoisseur Series last year as listed on unwindWine.com site. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=485814

http://www.deldottovineyards.com/

Nino Negri 5 Stelle Sfursat 2004

Nino Negri 5 Stelle Sfursat 2004 - big bold Italian Red for pizza pasta dinner

Our exploration of non-conventional wines (for us) continues with this Italian Nebbiolo pullled from the cellar to enjoy with Suparossa pizza watching the Cubs in game four of the world series. We ordered out for premium pizza and I scoured the cellar for a premium Italian wine suitable for the occasion. 

As written in earlier blogposts, readers of this blog know we don't do a lot of Italian wines. Less than 1% of our cellar is in Italian labels. There are so many appellations and varietals and producers across all the regions, I advise folks to find one you like and focus on a few to develop knowledge and understanding of that area, and then move on. We focus on Bordeaux and Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot...) and Rhone and its varietals (which includes Syrah/Shiraz and thus includes Australia's popular varietal).

I admit, I am not well versed in Italian wine regions and their associated grape varietals. I've written before that in the 'new world', we name or label our wines based on the primary grape varietal in the bottle. In the 'old world', they, (the French, Italians, Germans), name the wine for the region or appellation, and its up to the consumer to understand the applicable wine grape varietal associated with that area. For example, Left Bank Bordeaux appellations (growing areas) such as St Julien and Paulliac are Cabernet Sauvignon based blends, while Right Bank Bordeaux such as St Emilion and Pomerol are Merlot based blends.

In this case of Italy and Lombardia, the wines are based on the Nebbiolo grape varietal.  Perhaps this is obvious, but the neophyte, or even learned wine geeks who don't know Italian wines, don't necessarily know the association of Sangiovese or Nebbiolo varietals and their regions and appellations, Lombardia, Barolo, Piedmont, Tuscany etc.

Skip ahead if this is known and basic, or bear with me if you're interested in learning these fundamentals of Lombardia Valtellina Superiore, and Sforzato di Valtellina which are two Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) (aka appellation in France or AVA (American (Agriculture) Viticultural Area) in America) in the northern Italian region of Lombardia. Stella Sfursat are red wines made primarily from the Nebbiolo grape varietal.

This is like in the Piedmont Barolo DOCG with its communes of Barolo, Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga d'Alba, and parts of the communes of Cherasco, Diano d'Alba, Grinzane Cavour, La Morra, Monforte d'Alba, Novello, Roddi and Verduno. These sub-appellations as they might be called in America, are mentioned on the label, but are secondary to the region name. To many, me included, this adds to the confusion of interpreting or parsing an Italian wine label.

Nebbiolo based wines tend to be bold, full bodied, tannic, firm, concentrated and long lived with tasting characteristics of black fruits, tar, rose petals and smoke which made this ideal for the tangy spicy pizza tomato sauces.

5 Stelle Sfursat di Valtellina DOCG

This is Nino Negri’s flagship wine, made from the most select very best grapes, only in the best vintage years. The fruit for this wine is 100% Nebbiolo (Chiavennasca) grapes, hand picked in the most acclaimed parcels of Valtellina Superiore. The grape are dried naturally for 3 months in their skins.

The Valtellina appellation lies north of Lake Como in the province of Sondrio. It is sheltered from the cold northern winds by the Rhaetian Alps mountain range. The Valley, runs 40 kms from east to west and faces the south where it is exposed to the sun all day. The Valley is divided into four sub-zones that each are named for the different types of wine produced there: Grumello, Sassella, Inferno and Valgella. The territory has two DOCGs, the more widely known Valtellina Superiore, and Sforzato di Valtellina.

CellarTracker Drinking Window indicates this is not yet at but nearing the end of its peak drinking window.

It is brick red color and starting to show some brisking separation of its body, medium bodied, nose and flavors of black fruits with layer of tangy cinnamon spice predominating, subdued floral and nose, the black berry and black cherry fruits predominant with tones of black olive, tar, soy and hint of baking spices with supple dry tannins.

This was perfect accompaniment to the spicy tomato sauces of the Suparossa carry-out pizzas. 

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1561770


http://www.ninonegri.net/eng/index.html

http://www.suparossawoodridge.com/

Conway Wines Deep Sea Cabernet Sauvignon

Conway Family Wines Deep Sea Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

About a year ago this week, I wrote in these pages about Conway Family Wines and got a kind note from them about my post. At that time, I had just opened their wine for a casual weekend evening of wine, fruit and cheese. This week, we opened it as our second wine for a beef tenderloin dinner and it tuned out to be the highlighter of the evening.

As I have written before in these pages, I found this wine downstate and tasted it, then went back and bought more. Previously, I found their Syrah and went back and bought more, twice, ending up buying out their entire stock. After buying out this Cabernet, I returned to the same retailer again later and discovered they had another case on the shelves. I had just been questioned about wines for a holiday party by a colleague and in our discussion I spoke of this wine. As it happened another colleague was downstate and we reached out to him prompting him to go by and buy out the remaining stock from the merchant, which we split between us. Such it is with these wine finds.

Like before, we only consumed half the bottle the first evening we opened it and found the remainder of the bottle when revisited the next evening was as good or even better than it was initially. Such it is with hearty well structured wines of a half dozen years of age. This was the same as the notes from my earlier tasting experience, when we opened re-opened it, it improved upon revisiting the following day!

Here are my notes from the previous but similar tasting of this wine, earlier this year.

Consider this a Negociant wine since, according to the wine producer, it is sourced from a "number of the finest, well regarded vineyards within Napa AVA’s of Rutherford, Atlas Peak and Pritchard Hill, with each one contributing their unique characteristics to our blend".

According to the producer's release, "the dark fruit notes along with distinctive and pleasant chalky sagebrush notes greet your nose at first. This Cabernet has as plush an entry as we’ve seen in a lot of years. A round, soft, mouth filling wine that shows a smooth backbone of tannins and balanced acidity. The finish wraps up nicely with a lingering reminder of the mature dark fruits, ever so slight a hint of new oak, and the ever present palette of flavors that make Cabernet so sought after!"

This has incredible QPR - quality price ratio, at its price point below $20. The wine producer lists it at $39. 

Compared to last year when I last wrote about this wine, tonight it presented a layer of sweetness, moreso than I recall or reported on earlier. Dark garnet colored, medium to full bodied, full fruit forward black raspberry and cherry fruits with a layer of spice and hints of graphite and tea, turning to tones of sweet mocha, almost caramel like, with nice balance and smooth polished tannin finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1517213

http://www.conwayfamilywines.com

Bodegas y Viñedos Castro Ventosa Mencía Bierzo El Castro de Valtuille

Bodegas y Viñedos Castro Ventosa Mencía Bierzo El Castro de Valtuille 2005 - Parsing Spanish wines and labels

I remember I bought this highly recommended and rated Spanish wine at a wine shop in McLean, VA while on a trip to WDC several years ago. I've kept it to share with friends Bob and Gloria who have Latin ancestry and heritage. So it was that I pulled this out for dinner with them last evening with son Alec visiting home from NYC for the weekend to partake in the Cub's World Series regalia. It was a fitting accompaniment to Linda's beef tenderloin dinner.

Aside Bodegas El Nido Jumilla Clio which we collect and hold a vertical of a half dozen vintages, this is one of very few Spanish wines we hold in our cellar. I realize I know very little about Spanish wines. Hence, I took some time to parse the full name of this wine with all its names and syllables, as shown above. I see why folks can be bewildered if not overwhelmed by the complexities or intricacies of wines in general, or in this case, Spanish wines. It doesn't help that its a Spanish wine with Spanish terms and names, which exacerbates the situation in light of me being totally ignorant and non-literal in Spanish. I see why, and suppose folks can get equally tangled up in Italian and French wines and labels accordingly.

Few people realize that Spain has over 1.17 million hectares (~2 acres per hectare) of vineyards making it the most widely grape varietal planted country in the world. However. Spain is the 3rd producing country after Italy and France, due to the very low yields and wide spacing of old vines planted in the dry and infertile soils found in many Spanish regions.

Like Italy, Spain has an abundance of over 600 indigenous grape varieties, although most of their production comes from about 20 grapes including Tempranillo, Albariño, Garnacha, Palomino, Arien, Macabeu, Parellada, Xarel.lo, Cariñena and Monastrell.

The source grape for this wine is Mencía, a Spanish red grape varietal found primarily in the northwestern part of the country. Most wines produced from Mencía have characteristics of being light, pale, relatively fragrant and appropriate for early consumption.

Mencía is indigenous from the Bierzo DO appellation and some suspect that it is an ancient clone from Cabernet Franc.

Bierzo is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO), or appellation, known for wines located in the northwest of the province of León (Castile and León, Spain). The Bierzo D.O. is located in the northwest of the Province of Castilla y León, just above Portugal. Bierzo covers about 3,000 km² and borders the provinces of Ourense, Lugo and Oviedo in the north and in the south on areas of La Montaña, la Cabrera and La Meseta, in Léon. 

The producer Castro Ventosa was founded by the Perez family in 1752 and has been in the family ever since. They have 75 hectares of Mencía vineyards in the appellation of Bierzo, making them the biggest owners of this varietal within the Bierzo D.O. (Denominación de origen). The Bierzo appellation is made of 5000 hectares (ha) with 2500 planted with white varietals and 2500 ha planted with Mencía. Interestingly, there are 5000 landowners within the appellation.

Rear label

The current proprietor of Castro Ventoza is Raúl Pérez, who runs the winery and has become a figurehead for Bierzo wines in Spain. Castro Ventosa produces three different Mencía; Valtuille, El Castro de Valtuille and El Castro de Valtuille “Joven Mencia”.

So then, lets parse this wine based on its label information -
Bodegas y Viñedos Castro Ventosa Mencía Bierzo El Castro de Valtuille 2005.

Bodegas y Viñedos is Spanish for wineries and vineyards.

Castro Ventosa is the name of the producer.

El Castro de Valtuille is the name of this particular wine.

Bierzo is the Spanish DO (Denominación de Origen) or appellation.

Mencía is the Spanish grape variety in the wine. Note the only reference to Mencia is on the rear label (shown left).


2005 - the vintage release of this bottle - all the grapes were harvested during this vintage year.

Tonight this wine was dark bright ruby colored, medium bodied, firm, tight, somewhat concentrated and coming across as a bit flabby, with black fruits with tones of spice, black olive, hints of cresote and tangy black cherry on the finish.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=269778

http://www.boutiquewines.info/wine.php?supplier_id=71&winename=El%20Castro%20de%20Valtuille%20-%20Crianza&varietal_id=49&country_id=5

Elderton Command Shiraz Single Vineyard Shiraz

Elderton Command Shiraz Single Vineyard Shiraz (Syrah) 2002 to celebrate Cubs in the World Series

For game one of the World Series featuring my beloved Cubs, I pulled from the cellar a special premium bottle to celebrate the occasion - Elderton Command. Linda prepared grilled steak and loaded baked potatoes for pre-game dinner. As is typical, we consumed about a third of the bottle for dinner and retained the rest for the following night. Coming across as bolder and more forward, we enjoyed it the second night to celebrate the Cub's win in game two. About a 1/4 remains to taste tonight, or perhaps I'll wait till tomorrow to toast game 3, the first World Series game at Wrigley Field in my lifetime.

This is a single vineyard designated bottling from one of the top Shiraz producers in Australia which was first released in 1984. Twice in recent years, Elderton wines have been named in Top 100 Wines in the World by Wine Spectator. Sourced from vines planted in the early 1900’s, Elderton Command Shiraz has a reputation as one of Australia’s best and most sought after shiraz. Previous vintages have won awards from around the world including the World’s Best Shiraz Trophy, International Wine & Spirits Competition in 2000. The wine consistently gets high ratings from wine critics Robert Parker & Wine Spectator. Like many storied labels, this one needs time to reveal its true character and full potential.

I remember tasting this wine back on release at a restaurant and it was closed and tight with the bold concentrated fruits bottled up. (I was surprised to find this premium shiraz on the winelist at Biaggi's restaurant in Champaign, Ill. I couldn't resist at $80 which while expensive, is a wine list bargain at slightly more than retail price.) I recall tasting it again when it was about five years old and it was big and powerful, but still a bit closed and tight, almost obtuse.

Like my last previous tasting back in 2006 when I wrote "this wine was more approachable than the first time we tried it - but it still needs some time to meld and reveal its complex fruit". Well nine years later, it is smoother and more polished and is certainly approachable with its delicious melange of black and blue fruits. Reiterating my initial tasting note when I wrote this was "huge, powerful, dense, richly complex, dark", tonight it was big, dense, rich and complex, but now is a bit smoother and approachable with full forward fruits of ripe plum, blueberry, candied cherry, and black raspberry fruits with tones of camphor, black pepper, hints of anise and dark chocolate punched by firm intense tannins on a long finish.

This was perfect with the grilled steak and potato, and cheese and chocolates after dinner.

RM 93 points. This label got 95 points from James Halliday and Robert Parker and  93 points from Wine Spectator.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=46692 

https://eldertonwines.com.au/