Napa Wine Experience 2013

Napa Wine Experience 2013

Our Napa Wine Experience 2013 started with a trip to lower Howell Mountain east of the town of St Helena, still in the Napa Appellation, to visit John Arns at Arns Estate Vineyards. 

Dining at Cole's Chop House, Napa -

With Cole's charbroiled steaks we enjoyed Arns wines picked up at the winery earlier in the day - Arns Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 and Arns Impromp2 Cabernet Sauvignon.

From the restaurant winelist, on the (excellent) recommendation of our server, we selected 'Twelve C' Rutherford Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2010.

The aged steaks were prepared to perfection and complemented by Cole's decadent, delicious signature hashed brown potatoes. Service was impeccibal, attentive and accommodating  to the wine focused meal and our BYOB wines.




Arns Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The 15th release of this 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, 400 cases were produced - medium to full bodied, dark inky purple colored, complex concentrated black berry fruits with hints of mocha, coffee and anise with tightly wound tannins on a long finish.  

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1014195







Arns Imprompt2 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This Impromp2 is a multi-vintage blend of wine from the vintage barrel selections remaining from the various blocks from the 2005 – 2009 vintages, wines that were not blended into the Arns Estate Cabernet. Comprised of small lots from the earlier and more recent vintages set aside for this special blend it provides a melange with unique character and flavors. A pleasant drinking wine, this lacked the intensity and focus of the flagship Estate Grown Cabernet but its a unique tasting experience on offer directly from the producer.

Medium bodied with a elements of black berry, black currant and black raspberry fruits with a melange of flavors - cherries, anise, mulberry, and hints of chocolate and spice complexity with a moderate finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1103410

Twelve C Rutherford Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 

Besides visiting the vineyards and wineries and meeting winemakers first hand, a highlight of visiting Napa Valley is to discover emerging producers and new releases of yet to be discovered wines such as this one.

Named for the 12 degrees centigrade, 55 degrees fahrenheit, the natural cave cellar temperature which is the ideal temperature at which red wine should be stored for aging. 

A single-vineyard designated 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the prestigious Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford, Napa Valley. The second release of winemaker Mike Smith who learned winemaking under the direction of Thomas Brown beginning in 2001. He travel from Portland Oregon to work for free for three years to learn the craft before becoming full-time assistant to Thomas. They worked together on several labels including Schrader, Maybach and Outpost. Starting his own wine projects at the Black Sears Winery, 12C wines were crushed alongside these greats. Today 12C is now being custom crushed at Envy Estate Winery.

Paraphrasing the winemaker, this embodies 'power and structure into one seamless package, deep garnet color; scents of dark raspberries, cassis, lavender and dark chocolate, intertwined with a lush and velvety texture followed by soft and powered tannins gliding to the finish - elegant yet muscular, with both deftness and grace.'

Medium to full bodied, dark garnet colored, nicely balanced, smooth polished, complex flavors of blackberry and black cherry with a layer of mocha and tones of floral, vanilla and sweet oak with a moderate lingering tannin finish.

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1421166


http://www.12cwines.com

Check back ..  more to follow ...

Arns Napa Valley Estate Vineyards

Arns Napa Valley Estate Vineyards - Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah

For our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2013, rather than resticting ourselves to one appellation, which is our normal approach, we focused on a few select producers that we've been collecting over the years but had yet to meet. We opened the weekend with Arns Estate Vineyards and Winery, a small artisan boutique producer of handcrafted Arns Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Situated on the lower tier of Howell Mountain on the eastern slope above the town of St. Helena, their wines are Napa Valley designation since the Howell Mountain appellation demarcation point is 1200 feet elevation, determined by the level the fog rises up the hill. Never-the-less, the Howell Mountain terrior is clearly evident in Arns Cabernet.

Arns Cabernet Sauvignon is produced by  John Arns and Sandi Belcher - John managing the viticulture and Sandi tending to the winemaking. The property has been in the Arn's family since the 1950's when it was acquired by Arn's parents as an escape from the city down in Berkeley. The elder Arns planted vines in the 1960's to sell to local wineries. John and his brother, Steve took over the property and John continued developing the vineyards.

The Arns property was originally homesteaded in the late 1880’s by a German immigrant, then taken over by a stone mason whose work on homes and caves throughout the Valley and helped build the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena with stones, shown left, quarried from the property.

The previous owners of the property planted Zinfandel grapes.Today, ten acres of vineyards are sited across the 160 acre property of rocky hillsides, meadows and forests in ten different blocks consisting of seven different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux and Napa Valley. The vines vary in age from 15 to 45 years. The ten blocks planted showcase the clonal differences and with each having varied exposure, the result reveals unique characteristics that contribute to the overall blend that is Arns Cabernet Sauvignon. The result of this combination of clonal selection, low yield, and minimal irrigation is fruit that is concentrated and intensely flavorful and a blend that has complexity, breadth and depth.

Ironically, we discovered Arns Cabernet Sauvignon on our frequent trips to Washington DC and our regular stops at Andy Bassin's McArthur Wines there from which we've accumulated a collection of Arns over the years dating back to the 1996 vintage. It turns out Sandi is from Virginia and developed the resale arrangement during her trips back home.

Since our Napa trips of recent years focused on distinct appellations per trip, we missed Arns over the years during our frequent visits to Napa Valley and mountain districts including Howell Mountain. It was great to finally connect with Arns and see first hand what makes up the artistry of their work.

The wines:
 
Arns Napa Valley Melansen Vineyard Syrah 2008

John Arns manages the viticulture, overseeing tending the vines for several producers around Napa Valley. This  includes Syrah varietal vines that he planted at 1400 feet up on Pritchard Hill back in the early 1990's. The clones are from Joseph Phelps Vineyards. This provides fruit for this, the 5th vintage release of Arns Napa Valley Syrah. What a discovery and pleasant surprise! Readers of this blog know we love big full throttle Syrah/Shiraz which comprises a third of our cellar behind Bordeaux and Napa Cabernet. We didn't expect to find one at a Napa mountain fruit Cab producer. Moreover, ironically, we also spent an afternoon up on Pritchard Hill this Napa trip.

The rocky terrain of the mountain elevation with the long warm growing season results in powerful but polished, forward  flavors of black berry and hints of blue fruits, layers of anise and cassis with hints of mocha and clove, violets, leather and olive on a long lingering firm but silky tannin finish. This is more like a big Southern Aussie Shiraz. Only 65 cases of this are produced. Tasted at the winery, purchased some and shipped it home, tasted again... need to buy more!

RM 93 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1498990

Arns Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

This is the best Arns I've tasted, most likely indicative of the vintage rather than the fact I held some of them for more than ten years before tasting.

While this is Napa Valley appellation, there are traces of Howell Mountain terrior apparent. Dark inky purple color, medium to full bodied, vibrant forward black berry, black currant and Bing cherry fruits accented by a soft clove, hints of mocha, anise, tea and tobacco spice box and oak on the lingering smooth nicely integrated polished tannin finish.

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1215836

 In addition to the current 2009 vintage release, there are still a few bottle remaining from the 2007 and 2008 vintages which allowed us to obtain a mini-vertical of three vintages.

Arns Imprompt2 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This Impromp2 is a multi-vintage blend of wine from the vintage barrel selections remaining from the various blocks from the 2005 – 2009 vintages, wines that were not blended into the Arns Estate Cabernet. Comprised of small lots from the earlier and more recent vintages set aside for this special blend it provides a melange with unique character and flavors. A pleasant drinking wine, this lacked the intensity and focus of the flagship Estate Grown Cabernet but its a unique tasting experience on offer directly from the producer.

Medium bodied with a elements of black berry, black currant and black raspberry fruits with a melange of flavors - cherries, anise, mulberry, and hints of chocolate and spice complexity with a moderate finish.


RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1103410

More Arns at Napa Wine Experience 2013 on http://www.unwindWine.com and at Arns directly at 
http://www.arnswinery.com/.

More Arns pics below:

Arns' current releases on offer.

Vines set amongst the Howell Mountain forests.

Clan Connelly with John Arns

John Arns in the Chai.

Arns' Eloise Vineyard - named after John's mother,
family matriarch.

Field Stone Estate Vineyard Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Field Stone Estate Vineyard Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

This bottle came in a one of those pre-packaged Christmas gift baskets that we received from a business colleague a couple years ago. Such a bottle from a mystery no-name never heard of producer presents a bit of a quandary - re-gifting it will associate it with us with no foresight of what impressive it will leave. Drinking it requires a proper occasion akin to, but quite worthy of OTBN - Open That Bottle Night when our rather deep cellar offers so many worthy alternatives. So, when Linda asked for a late night glass of wine with fruit and cheese, what the heck - OTBN - Open That Bottle (to) Night!

I have to admit when I came up from the cellar, I actually brought up two bottles, this one, and a 'back-up' in the event this one required a 'do over'. What a pleasant surprise! This bottle vastly exceeded expectations and was perfect for the occasion.

Perhaps this was not serendipitous but rather a hidden gem - a diamond in the rough so to speak if we'd researched or knew anything about the label and its history. From the producer's website we learn, "Before our first winery production of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1977, Field Stone's vineyards had acquired an enviable reputation for the outstanding quality of their Cabernet grapes that were sold to Chateau Montelena, Grgich-Hills, Jordan, Simi, and Souverain wineries. From the beginning, André Tchelistcheff, our long-time consultant, emphasized the importance of planting a variety of Cabernet clones instead of just one ("a bouquet of mixed flowers is always more captivating than a vase of one," he said).  Like flowers, clonally distinct Cabernet fruit yields a strikingly broad range of different aromas and flavors. The result is more delightful blending possibilities on the winemaker's artistic palette and a singularly more intriguing, complex wine.  The budwood which we planted in our original vineyards during the sixties and early seventies was from three celebrated Napa vineyard sites:  the BV1 clone, the source of Tchelistcheff's famed Beaulieu "Georges de Latour Private Reserve" Cabernets; the May Vineyard clone, the source of Joe Heitz's acclaimed "Martha's Vineyard" Cabernets; and the Old Niebaum clone of the lionized early Niebaum Cabernets.  These Field Stone heritage clonal blocks make up the old and new Cabernet blocks of our Field Stone estate.  To these classic sources we added two new highly praised Bordeaux clones in our estate planting expansion of the nineties:  Clones 15 and 337.  Now in their full maturity, these vines have provided even further outstanding qualities to our Cabernet."

Quite an impressive pedigree and storied background, indeed. So it should come as no surprise that, while not a blockbuster, this was a very nice easy drinking Cabernet - absolutely perfect for the occasion!

This 2005 vintage release represents a blend of mature fruit from all five of the producer's distinctive estate Cabernet clones.  The producer writes, "In character this ’05 release is a truly complex, expressive, Alexander Valley Cabernet which opens up with seductive, spicy, varietal aromas. Its equally expressive mouth-filling flavors of Bing cherries, plums, and crushed blackberries are bountiful and ripe, with characteristics typical of Field Stone’s definitive “Alexander Valley Style”:  rich, fruit forward, with attractive notes of oak vanillin that never dominate." 

We agree, very true to its heritage, and, to its terroir, this was garnet colored, medium-full bodied, somewhat sophisticated and polished, but not overly complex,  nicely balanced flavors of black cherry, black berry and a layer of tea and moderately sweet black licorice turning to tones of subdued spicy oak on the moderate lingering finish.

This was perfect with truffle infused brie cheese on herb crackers and sliced pears

RM 88 points.


https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=411314

Searching WineSearch or other source sites tells us this is generally available for around $18 which would provide a reasonable QPR - Quality Price Ratio. Two fellow Cellar Tracker Tasting notes are very telling and sum it up well.

Ben C wrote, "Coffee and mocha on the nose with cherry fruit and a seemless palate. This is rather well done. I wish the labels weren't so tacky."

Matt S wrote, "Showing more dark fruit than the last bottle with some cassis and stone traces..... fruits with good acid, and equal oak and spice...... Only one more bottle left. Wish I had bought a case given the QPR."

Great fun in the continued quest to "enjoy, and help unwindWine for greater wine understanding and appreciation..  Stay tuned as I seem to recall there was also a bottle of Merlot in that basket!

http://www.fieldstonewinery.com/

Schild Estate Barossa Shiraz 2010

Schild Estate Barossa Shiraz 2010

Sara stopped over for Sunday brunch and we popped and poured this Aussie Shiraz to accompany Linda's Italian roast beef. Sara brought two similar wines to our recent Open That Bottle Night so we served this up as a comparison, as these wines are favorites of both ladies.

Dark black coffee color with a dark garnet hue on the rim, medium-full  bodied, this 2010 Schild is a bit too tight and a bit metallic for my preference with a slight hard edge on the front before opening to forward black berry fruit with a layer of black olive, grilled mushroom, creosote and a sweet cassis liquor tone on a focused spicy finish. Similar to its previous vintage which was more approachable lacking these tight and hard tones. This producer's Schild Reserve was much ,smoother, polished and flavorful providing much better QPR despite being 60% higher priced.

The pundits rated this higher but I give it RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1451068

http://www.schildestate.com.au/

Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Magnum Highlights Family Wine Dinner

Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Magnum Highlights Family Wine Dinner

With son Will laying over amidst trancontinental flights, he and brother Matt came home for a family dinner at Bill and Beth C's and I was included. To celebrate the gathering, Bill opened a magnum of Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow 1996. For a comparison tasting I brought a 1996 Arns Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This also provided a preview since Will will be joining us for our upcoming Napa trip where we'll be touring and tasting there.

Following starters of stewed meatballs, breaded macaroni and cheese balls and selection of fresh fruits and artisan cheeses, Beth served dinner featuring grilled steak ternderloin, steamed broccolli spears, twice baked potatoes with a fresh dinner salad. To round out the mix, Bill opened a Ruston Family Vineyards La Maestra Napa Cab 2006 and a birth-year wine Raymond Vineyards Private Reserve Napa Cab 1989. For starters, Matt brought a tasting selection - La Crema Mendocino County Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2009.

To finish, Molly had baked chocolate brownies which she served with french vanilla ice cream. To accompany the final course, Bill opened a Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Moscat d'Oro 2011 desert wine. 

Diamond Creek Napa Valley Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon 1996 

Our tour and dinner tasting at Diamond Creek Winery was one of the highlights of our Napa Valley Diamond Mountain Wine Experience 2011. We served this wine from birthyear magnums at son Ryan's and Michelle's wedding. Bill and I continue to collect this wine for special  vintages and special occasions. The magnum served tonight was such a feature. 

 Opened and decanted for about ninety minutes before serving, it was medium bodied and dark garnet colored. It showed surprisingly vibrant and bright forward black cherry and black currant fruit flavors early.  As these settled over the ensuing two hours, it became more complex and Bordeaux-like with the fruit accented by bright floral tones reminiscent of a Margaux, accented by cassis, hints of dark chocolate, roasted coffee bean and earth tones with a smooth moderate tannin finish. 

RM 91 points.  

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=35593

http://www.diamondcreekvineyards.com/ 
 

Arns Napa Valley Cabernet Sauivignon 1996 

We have several vintages of this wine in the cellar but our tasting experience is minimal so we were eager to open this and compare against a classic benchmark wine like the Diamond Creek; also since we're scheduled to visit the winery in a few weeks and we want to develop a vocabulary and more knowledge and experience with this wine.  

The Arns was medium to full bodied with dark garnet color. After opening, it still remained a bit closed and tight with subdued black berry and black raspberry fruits offset by a layer of cassis, tea, and baking spice, with subtle tones of spicy oak, with subtle tannins on a moderate short finish, perhaps indicative of its age. 

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=65444 

http://arnswinery.com/  

Ruston Family Vineyards La Maestra Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Bill's tasting notes from Cellartracker - "Medium garnet color. Pepper and spice on the palate with a hint of dark cherry. Medium finish and light tannins. The merlot came through more than the Cabernet. Drank with strawberries and artisan cheeses prior to a gala dinner with the children at home." WCC 86 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=511496  

http://www.rustonwines.com  

 

 

 

Raymond Vineyards Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1989

Commemorating Matt's birthyear, Bill opened this to celebrate Matt and Molly being with us for the evening, and to see if there is still life left in this aged vintage library bottle. 

Medium bodied, dark purple color, this wine still has life and is acceptable but its certainly passed its prime and is not going to improve any further. The black berry and cherry fruits are a bit muted having given way a bit to a slight funkiness of earthy leather, tea and tobacco, turning to tight lingering tannins on the short moderate finish.

RM 86

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=258295 

http://www.raymondvineyards.com/ 

 

La Crema Mendocino County Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2009

A limited-production Pinot Noir sourced from two small vineyards up in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley, adjacent to the last stand of redwoods  before you reach the Pacific. Maggy Hawk Vineyard is subjected to constant cooling from its proximity to the ocean. A small percentage comes from Palmer Vineyard fruit for additional clonal complexity. 

A merchant had a stock of this and asked Matt to weigh in so he picked this up and brought for us to assess. Medium bodied, somewhat opaque ruby colored, the fruit was somewhat subdued cherry and plum fruits giving way to tea, a woody cedar, dust and hints of slightly earthy cinnamon spice on a somewhat subdued tannin finish.

RM 86 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1126927

http://www.lacrema.com/ 

 

David Arthur, Paratus Napa Mountain Cabs - Sea Smoke Chardonnay

Napa Valley Cabs Prequel to Upcoming Napa Trip

For a elegant beef tenderloin dinner, and as a prequel to our upcoming Napa trip, we served two dueling mountain fruit Cabernet Sauvignons. Bill served Paratus 2007 and I brought a David Arthur 2003. Looking ahead to our upcoming Napa trip and tour we're scheduled for a tasting at David Arthur and will be reaching back to Paratus again.

For the starter course, Beth served crab stuffed mushrooms and Bill opened at Sea Smoke Chardonnay. What an interesting combination/pairing. As expected, the David Arthur was a perfect complement to the grilled beef tenderloin, and the Paratus went very nicely with the wild rice and grilled asparagus.

We finished with Linda's homemade chocolate mousse and homemade crafted pirouettes (shown below).

Sea Smoke California Grand Cru Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay 2010

Grapes for this Sea Smoke Chardonnay are sourced from their estate vineyard. It was aged in 55% new French oak for 16 months.  This wine was complemented perfectly by the crab stuffed mushrooms which totally neutralized a tanginess to the wine rendering it smoother and more approachable. 

 This was a very interesting contrast in style to the Sea Smoke Gratis Chardonnay we tasted at our Open That Bottle Night - OTBN 2013 night a couple weeks ago. While that was more Burgundian in style, this was very bold, forward, full bodied, dry, crisp, buttery and oaky on the front.Wine Enthusiast calls it a "exotic, candied style ...almost in a class by itself," and refers to "flavors including pineapple, brown sugar, lemon drop, ginger and vanilla cookie, honey, green apple butter and baked pear."

The producers says this is "an elegant Chardonnay with aromas of dusty peach, star fruit, rock dust and honeysuckle--complemented by a focused mid-palate and the refreshing cool climate acidity of our estate vineyard."

RM 91 points.

https://www.seasmoke.com/

David Arthur Napa Vally Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

We've been collecting and enjoying David Arthur wines since the late nineties but have been pacing our consumption as we watch this wine age and achieve its true potential. This property owned and operated by Donald and son David Long. sits up on Pritchard Hill near Chappellet. We visited Pritchard Hill during our Pritchard Hill, Napa Valley Experience - Autumn '09 but couldn't schedule them at that time. We're headed back and will be touring and tasting David Arthur next month so we selected this wine to start to build our vocabulary and understanding of their wines.

Pritchard Hill vineyards overlooking
Napa Valley

David Arthur wines represent the unique terroir of the mountain with its rough rocky terrain. They have 21 acres on their Pritchard Hill estate planted in the Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot, as well as Sangiovese and Nebbiolo which go into their unique Meritaggio. We first discovered this wine when we purchased a case back of the 1997 vintage release and still hold about half of those bottles, but we quickly turned and became fans of their Cabernet Sauvignon and their flagship wine Elevation 1147, creatively names for the vineyard site situated 1200 feet above the valley floor. All are crafted 100% from estate grown grapes.

According to their website, David Arthur  is a family affair consisting of three generations of the Long family, brothers David and Bob along with Joye Long are co-owners, with David acting as General Manager and his daughter Laura runs the office and daily operations.


Being married to the daughter of Indiana farmer Ned Long, and the fact that we'll be joined on this Napa trip by sister/sister-in-law Pat (Long), it's only fitting we saved our David Arthur visit and this Long reunion for this coming trip. I am looking forward to our return visit to Pritchard Hill and meeting the Long family and learning more about and exploring further David Arthur wines.

This 2003 David Arthur Cabernet Sauvignon presented itself true to its Bordeaux composition exhibiting full bodied complex character, nicely balanced but somewhat subdued dark black berry, currant and cherry fruits, a layer cassis with hints of dark chocolate, earthy tobacco and tea with tones of spicy oak on a silky smooth lingering tannin finish.  As noted above, this was a perfect wine to complement the grilled beef tenderloin.  

 The left bank Bordeaux blend is reported to change slightly with each vintage but is roughly 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 7% Petite Verdot, and 3% Merlot.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=85664

http://www.davidarthur.com/

Paratus Mt Veeder Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Paratus is another Napa Valley producer of mountain grown fruit cabernet. We discovered Paratus and acquired their Mt Veeder wines during our Napa Valley Mt Veeder Appellation Experience. Our penchant for mountain fruit wines is apparent in our cellar holdings from all the Napa mountain appellations and districts so it was fun to compare wines from the opposing peaks of Pritchard Hill on the eastern slope versus Mt Veeder from the opposing western slope, both at the south ends of the ranges near the bottom of Napa Valley.

While we acquired four vintages from 2004-2007 of Paratus Mt Veeder Cabernets, this was our first venture in tasting their wines from our collection as Bill served up this 2007. His tasting review is below:

"Deep purple color, huge fruit forward profile on the palate. Nicely balanced with ample tannin and notes of chocolate and graphite. A really pleasant surprise. Bought this during our 2009 Napa Wine Experience trip to Mt. Veeder. This is more robust than many other Veeders I have tasted which tend to be a bit more delicate and fruity. This is drinking well now but certainly has the structure and backbone to go another 10 years."

Bill's rating - 90 points. I give it a 91.

http://www.paratuswine.com/

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1002911

Grilled tenderloin, asparagus, wild rice.

Crab stuff mushrooms.

Napa Cab Colors

Chocolate mousse - homemade pirouette.

Ladera Two Mountains Napa Valley Premiere Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

Ladera Two Mountains Napa Valley Premiere Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

From a barrel sourced from fruits from Howell Mountain and Mt Veeder that went into a special bottling donated to the Napa Valley Premiere charitable auction by Ladera Vineyards and Winery. The fruit was from the 2000 vintage and was bottled and auctioned in the 2002 auction, Lot 64. We served this at home at a gala family dinner celebrating Alec visiting home from the Jersey shore, still recovering from the ravages of last fall's hurricane. This wine was a great accompaniment to char-broiled beef tenderloin dinner.

Ladera Winery was one of the highlights of our Napa Valley Howell Mountain Appellation Wine Experience 2008.We then hosted them here during their Chicago visit the next summer.

This wine was dark, medium full bodied, expressive and aromatic with full  forward flavors of black cherry, black berry, spice, hint of currant, earth and tea with a subtle tone of eucalyptus on the finely integrated smooth tannin finish. This was more vibrant and expressive and had more fruit than previous tasting fours ago and added the layer of spice and mint tone from earlier tasting.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=651998

http://www.laderavineyards.com/

Club Lucky Bucktown Chicago celebration dinner features special BYOB Flight

Club Lucky Bucktown Chicago celebration dinner features special BYOB Flight

To celebrate Michelle's Ides of March thirtieth birthday, and their expecting daughter, Ryan booked a gala dinner at neighboring Club Lucky in Bucktown, Chicago. They did a great job accommodating our group of 16 and handling our BYOB special selections commemorating Michelle's birthyear, the year they met, and their anniversary year. Service was superb especially considering our large group and our special handling of our wines.

The food was equally spectacular, even including the anti-pasta salad and grilled calamari starters. The chef's selection Tortellini with asparagus and chicken was good but outclassed by the regular feature Tortellinis filled with chicken and herbs with english peas and pinenuts in vodka cream sauce. The Salmon Oregatano was also very good, served Mediterranean style with white wine, oregano, Italian parsley, fresh lemon and potato wedges. I opted for the Rigatoni with veal meatballs baked with escarole, fresh mozzarella cheese, and marinara which went superbly with the Viader Red wine blend.

To celebrate the gathering Ryan brought a 2001 Chateau Gruaud Larose St Julien Bordeaux and a La Dame Montrose St Estephe Bordeuax 2008. I added a 2001 Viader Napa Valley Proprietary Red Blend. Later, back at the house with birthday desserts featuring artisan cupcakes and Linda's chocolate mousse, we opened a 1983 Hardy's McLaren Vale South Australian vintage port.

While we've been fans of the Cordier conglomerate's Chateau Gruaud Larose from the St Julien appellation since the early 80's and hold a deep vertical selection of this wine in our cellar dating back to 1978, its been especially rewarding and great fun to be a part of son Ryan's discovering this wine. The highlight and one of the events contributing to this was tasting the 2010 vintage while meeting David Launey the winemaker taste the new release with him at the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux Chicago 2010 release tour together. Ryan and I are now on a discovery tour of our own discovering/revisiting this wine together. Regrettably I didn't have any 1983's left to bring tonight although we still have magnums or double magnums of 1981, 1982, 1985, 1989 and 1990 releases. The 2001 didn't disappoint, in fact was a surprise in its accessibility, suppleness and forward fruits. 

Chateau Gruaud Larose St Julien Bordeaux 2001

Ironically, like the 2010, this was surprisingly expressive and vibrant for a Gruaud Larose, medium full bodied, deep purple color with full forward black and red berry fruits and classic left bank Bordeaux nuances of floral, subtle earth, leather and smoke leading to a layer of cassis, oak and exotic spices, ending in silky smooth polished tannins on a firm lingering finish. 

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4765


La Dame de Montrose St Estephe 2008

Lacking the pedigree of the almost super second Gruaud Larose, this second wine of St Estephe producer Chateau Montrose, while not as complex, concentrated or polished, presented itself respectably well. The 2008 second label La Dame de Montrose was 28% of the estate’s production. The blend is surprisingly 56% Merlot and 44% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Deep ruby purple colored, medium to full bodied, the focused but somewhat subdued dark berry and currant fruit gives way to a layer of mineral and smooth soft tannins on the finish.  

RM 88 points.  

Viader Napa Valley Proprietary Red Blend 2001 

We also enjoyed this wine with the producer at An evening with Delia Viader back in late 2005 in Chicago. We then visited the property up on Howell Mountain during our Napa Howell Moutain Wine Experience - Viader back in 2008. This was my run away favorite of the evening although this might come across a bit sweet for some, it reflects a style that is most suited to my preference - bold, forward, expressive fruits with sweet nuances of oak, mocha and spice - very true to the Howell Mountain terrior. Interestingly, Viader, sitting at an elevation of 1200 on lower Howell Mountain, is designated Napa Valley appellation. The Howell Mountain appellation starts at that level which is the highest elevation point that the overnight and morning fog reaches. 

Dark ruby colored, full bodied, vibrant full forward blackberry fruits are accented by sweet chocolate mocha with tones of cedar and tobacco giving way to sweet spicy oak with lingering smooth silky tannins on the finish.

The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Cabernet Franc.

 RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=10043

 

Thomas Hardy's Reynella McLaren Vale South Australian Vintage Port 1983

After dinner we retreated to Ryan and Michelle's where we had artisan cheeses and desserts with fresh fruit - Bellavitano with French Bread, artisan cupcakes, and Linda's rich chocolate mousse with fresh berries. To accompany these we opened a Hardy's McLaren Vale South Australian vintage port blended from old vines shiraz.  

Although the cork was very soft and spongy and the fill level was nearing the bottom of the tall neck, the color was ruby colored although it was slightly murky, yet it tasted fine - super ripe red and black berry flavors, hints of dark mocha, almost raisiny fig flavors, blackberry liquor tones, anise, a layer of soft sweet essence of brandy and a sweet aftertaste on the lingering finish.

RM 88 points.

19% alcohol. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=389343