Friday, December 24, 2021

Hill Family Estate Origin Napa Valley Red 2018

Hill Family Estate Origin Napa Valley Red 2018

Label image from 2016
Alec and Vivianna joined us for a quiet Christmas eve dinner. As newlyweds they visited Hill Family Estate during their forest fire shortened honeymoon in Napa in September year before last. They visited the new estate winery, located just minutes south of Yountville just off the highway. They tasted this label there and continue to acquire it as part of their wine club allocation.

 
Hill Family Estate produced their first wines in 2001, a Merlot and this red blend called Origin.
 
Today, the Hill Family owns 120 acres of vineyards with a properties on Atlas Peak, in Carneros, Oak Knoll and American Canyon. They are 100% family-farmed, family-owned and family-operated. Production ranges between 9,000 to 12,000 cases annually sourced from 12 different estate vineyards allowing them to select the highest quality fruit for their wines. 
 
The Hill family began to select and plant their own vineyards in the 1980’s, using their intimate knowledge of the diversity of Napa Valley terroir - the range of microclimates, soil variations and the many subtle growing factors which influence the characteristics of the grape and the resulting quality of wine. They planted Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Albariño, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc in the Carneros appellation. They planted Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Oak Knoll district, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah at 1,500 feet elevation near Atlas Peak; both areas with a perfect environment to develop the rich berry flavor and intense fruit color that make these red wines some of the best in the world.
 
Origin is their Bordeaux blend crafted from the vineyards that Doug Hill farms in the cooler areas of southern Napa.comprising Bordeaux varietals with some Syrah, sourced from Hill Family estate vineyards - Merlot at Beau Terroir in Carneros, and Beau Terre in Oak Knoll for structure and plushy fruit, Malbec from the Baker Vineyard has become a big part of the palate structure for Origin with its big color and lower tannins while the Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon adds dignity and structure while Petit Verdot adds texture to balance the Malbec. The Syrah adds depth and color and bold fruit that complements the Merlot. 

Ironically, Alec brought and we had this same label from the 2016 vintage last year at Christmas dinner. Tonight, this was rounder, fuller and brighter with its addition of Syrah, and anchor of predominant Merlot vs. the Cabernet.
 
Winemaker notes: The 2018 Origin has lovely aromas of ripe plum, black cherry and vanilla. The broad entry has a big mouthful of berry jam, and the palate is full bodied and smooth, expressing the plums and cherry while adding a hint of mocha on the very drinkable finish.

According to the Red Club Winter Allocation Release Mailer accompanying the shipment, this is a blend of 37% Merlot, 29% Malbec, 16% Syrah, 13% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, all from Napa Valley Appellation. 

Dark inky blackish purple colored, full bodied, bold full round complex concentrated structured but nicely integrated and balanced to be approachable, black berry, cherry and plum fruits with spicy cigar box, and hints of dark bitter mocha chocolate on a bright tangy big lingering finish.

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3814124

https://www.hillfamilyestate.com/

@HFEWine

 

Venge Brown Ranch Chardonnay

Venge Brown Ranch Chardonnay - Christmas Eve Dinner Perfect Wine Food Pairing with Lobster Medallions bisque

For Christmas eve dinner, Linda prepared a delicious lobster bisque soup with medallions of lobster. I pulled from the cellar this Venge Napa Carneros Chardonnay for an accompaniment. We were joined by Alec and Vivianna for an intimate dinner.

The name Venge has been synonymous with Napa Valley wines for as long as I have been of drinking age since the '70's, but the Venge family wine affiliation actually goes back much earlier, to when Knud Venge emigrated from Denmark to the United States in the early 1900’s. Knud's son, Per Venge, entered in the wine and spirits business and started Vencom Imports, focusing on importing Western European wines and spirits. Per's son, Nils Venge, started in, then left the family business in the 1960's to study viticulture at UC Davis and set the family name in the California winegrowing community.

The Venge family planted viticultural roots in 1976 with the purchase of a 17-acre estate in the Oakville District that was planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, establishing them among the winemaking pioneers of Napa Valley.

Buddy, AJ with Nils and Kirk Venge
We met Nils and Dianna Venge on numerous occasions at Napa events and visiting the Venge Vineyards in Oakville during the nineties. We first met their son, Kirk Venge, who engaged in winemaking from an early age while they were developing the Rossini Ranch Vineyards, Winery and caves up in Calistoga. We visited Nils at the Penny Lane Family Reserve Vineyard in Oakville, then drove up to meet Kirk at the Rossini Ranch site in the eastern foothills of Palisade Mountain near Calistoga back in 2002. 

Kirk took over Venge Vineyards in 2008 and has established himself as a talented winemaker making wines in his own style. Kirk has continued the Napa Valley heritage crafting wines from select vineyard sites across Napa and Sonoma Counties worthy of bearing the Venge family name.

We've been collecting Venge wines since their earliest days. We now have fun collecting them with their notable "V" branding to enjoy with our daughter-in-law, Vivianna, as her 'signature' wines. 

Venge Vineyards Brown Ranch Vineyard Los Carneros Napa Valley Chardonnay 2018 

This is a single vineyard designated label sourced from the 30 acre Brown Ranch Vineyard in Carneros, named for the previous cattle rancher owner Nadine Brown. The vineyard is bordered by HdV’s Hyde Vineyard and Beaulieu’s Vineyard No.9 on Old Sonoma Road in the Carneros district, straddling the rolling hills in the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the nearby San Pablo Bay, combined with the abundant midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing elegant wines that combine power and finesse, with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.

The property, formerly associated with Saintsbury Winery, was purchased in 2012 by the Renterias.

The property was planted with twenty nine acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but most of
the vines were afflicted with Eutypa, a fungi disease also known as the Dead-arm Dieback, which causes trunks or arms of the vines to essentially rot and die. Like the famous Dead-Arm Shiraz label from McLaren Vale, Australia, rather than pulling the vines out, the vineyard managers kept the rootstock, cut off the trunk just above the soil and nurtured a bud to grow into a new trunk. Like the Dead-Arm label, focusing all the mature rootstock energy into one vine branch resulted in rich, full, concentrated fruits. 

The Brown Ranch’s hillside alluvial soils, with Dijon Clone 76 set into the pre-existing rootstock, produces this rich full round Chardonnay, worthy of the iconic Venge name.

Winemaker's notes: The Dijon Clones are modern strains of Chardonnay carefully isolated from grapevine nursery blocks in France. These strains are selected for their incredible ability to produce the best of what the varietal has to offer and therefore have become quite popular with cool climate growers today. The cool and often foggy climate of the Brown Ranch Vineyard, located in central Carneros, Napa, allows for a slow growing season and optimal ripening. This climate aids in the balancing of acidity and lifting tropical aromas in the fruit and thus, in the finished wine. The vines were carefully hand harvested and delivered cool to the winery.
 
Winemaker's Notes: "This wine is stylish and freshly balanced, featuring a light, pale straw presence in the glass with a bouquet of fresh orange citrus, toasted pine nuts, mild allspice, rocky flints, and toasted oak. Crisp, savory pineapple, sweet delicious apple, savory stone fruit, and ripe pear lead into mouthwatering deliciousness.

The grapes are blended into used French Oak barrels according to a Burgundian style of winemaking, light handed on the usage of new French Oak keeping it to an average of 45%.

495 Cases were Produced

This release was rated 93 points by Wine Enthusiast and Jeb Dunnuck and 92 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.

Golden lemon colored, medium to full-bodied, full, round, concentrated, complex opulent fruits with a layer almost bordering on butterscotch, accented by notes of baking spice, hints of lemon, grapefruit, ginger and a touch of peach and almond nut cream, with bright acidity, depth and balance on a full long finish. 

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3517412

https://www.vengevineyards.com/

@VengeVineyards 



Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Merry Christmas - Frozen and gala family wine dinner

Merry Christmas - Frozen and gala family wine dinner Italian Village Chicago

For our Christmas present to the kids and grandkids we got them tickets to the Broadway theatrical presentation of Frozen at the Cadillac Palace theatre in Chicago, followed by a gala family dinner at a classic historical Chicago landmark restaurant, Italian Village, Chicago. We love the city and endeavor to take advantage of all the culture, arts, history and culinary scene often. My office is in the city and I admit I get a rush feeding off the energy of the city from the moment I step off the train.

I worked a partial day in the office, attended a Board meeting and then went downstairs in the belly of my office building to meet the kids and grandkids arriving by train from the western suburbs. We went up the escalator and elevator to my office where they had lunch in the board room overlooking the cityscape. 

The grandkids had fun looking across at the heights of the Willis Tower, watching the raising of the new Salesforce tower, and looking down on the arriving Metra trains, the "L" trains traversing the river, and the people on the upper decks of the architectural boat tours passing our building on the river below. 

From there the kids and grandkids went to the theatre presentation of Frozen, the Tony®-nominated Best Musical, on the Chicago stop of their North American tour. 


Readers of this column have seen numerous blogposts  of  my leadership team business dinners at historic Italian Village Restaurant. Tonight, we took over the wine room in the Italian Village Cantina for a festive private holiday dinner.

Sons Ryan and Alec, daughter Erin and Vivianna joined me in selecting some special wines from the extensive, extraordinary wine cellar list and then we enjoyed touring the spectacular wine cellar to fetch our selections. 


 Our wine flight consisted of my favorite Italian Super Tuscan from a dozen or so dinners and visits over the last couple months. Ryan selected from the winelist a legendary Californian, and Alec found a vintage of one of our Vintner's Series collectables from Columbia Valley. We finished the entree course with America's best Sangiovese, and I finished off the evening with a vintage premium Italian dessert wine. 

Erin & Johnny Fort & Jared Gelband

Our good friend, Italian Village Wine Director Jared Gelband had already staged for us two Italian wines to start off our dinner appetizer course.

Ezio Poggio Caespes Timorasso Colli Tortonesi Terre di Libarna 2018

Interesting pleasant white wine from the Colli Tortonesi DOC Appellation in Piedmont region in the northwestern most corner of Italy. It is comprised of 100% Timorasso, a modern varietal grape indigenous to the region.

Straw colored, fully round medium bodied with vibrant green apple and pear fruits with notes of melon and stone with soft minerality, moderate acid and medium dryness. Very nice accompaniment to the salad course and shrimp and calimari starters. 

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3485962

 

Dell'Ornellaia Le Serre Nuove 2017

We discovered and enjoyed this Ornellaia Le Serre Nuove Bolgheri 2017 in a recent visit to Italian Village, I wrote about it in this blogpost of that tasting.

We then selected from the winelist several wines to accompany our dinner entrees, and dessert.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3377327

https://www.ornellaia.com/en

https://twitter.com/Ornellaia

 

Ridge Monte Bello California Proprietary Red 2002

Ryan selected from the winelist this iconic flagship label of this prolific producer. They are known for their wide portfolio of single vineyard designated labels from Napa, Sonoma and their estate site situated high at the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains that separate Silicon Valley from Santa Cruz and the coast. 

This site is special to us as it sits above our home village of Saratoga down in the southwestern corner of Silicon Valley, where we lived out there back in the early eighties.

The Ridge estate and Monte Bello vineyard is officially in Cupertino, albeit high above the valley up at the summit.

This release was awarded 98 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 97 points by Vinous, 96 points by Wine Spectator, 94 points by Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, and 18/20 from Jancis Robinson.   

The 2002 Monte Bello Proprietary Red is a blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 8% Petit Verdot.

Going into its twentieth year, this is very likely at the apex of its tasting window, its hard to believe that it will improve much more with further aging. Robert Parker wrote in 2012 when it was ten years,  "It tastes as if it hasn’t changed since I first sampled it in late 2003 and then again in bottle two years later. ... Extremely young and full-bodied, with some wood char still present, it is unevolved and tastes like it could be a barrel sample, except that it has been in bottle for nearly ten years! This is a blockbuster Ridge Monte Bello that still needs a minimum of another 10 years of bottle-age and should keep for 50+ years."

Vinous wrote in 2016, "The 2002 Monte Bello is just starting to enter the early plateau of its maturity."

Wine Spectator wrote in 2019: "Fully in its secondary phase now..."

Such highly acclaimed and rated wines are almost harder to describe because they are conspicuous in their lack of obvious or obtuse high notes, seemingly subdued, but not so, rather, they harmoniously polished and balanced, a symphony of complex flavors, and notably without flaws. Like a well orchestrated symphony the sum of the parts is greater than their individual totality, but no instrument or note stands out from the rest. Garnet colored, medium-full-bodied, expansive, deep and penetrating yet elegant, polished and superbly balanced and harmonious, Vinous wrote, 'it is all about understatement', layered, perfume, expressive flavors of raspberry, blackcurrants, notes of crème de cassis, bitter dark chocolate, spices and tobacco, framed by ripe, plush tannins, concluding with a lingering finish.

RM 95 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=9782

https://www.ridgewine.com/wines/2002-monte-bello/

Sequel Columbia Valley Shiraz 2004 

Alec caught this in the Italian Village wine book list. We couldn't believe they have this aged vintage release of this label. This special collection feature was crafted by notable winemaker John Duvall who was winemaker for fifteen years for Penfold's Grange, one of Australia's most iconic celebrated wines.

Duvall is a participating winemaker in the Longshadows Vintners Collection of world famous winemakers, each recruited to produce their specialty varietal based labels. We visited and wrote about the Long Shadows tasting room in Woodinville during our Seattle Culinary and Washington Wine Tour back in 2017.

This was the second vintage release of this label.

We collect this label as part of our club allocation but this vintage release predates the current Long Shadows branding and packaging, sporting a painted bottle rather than a customary paper label. As we collect this label, had to try this vintage release from the earliest days of this offering. 

Winemaker's Tasting Notes: Darkly-hued with cherry and cassis aromas to match, this is a focused Syrah loaded with black fruit, spice and a hint of vanilla across a supple frame. Give it time in the glass to fully reveal the wine’s layers of fruit and concentration.

This was rated 93 points by Wine Advocate and Stephen Tanzer, and 92 points by Wine Spectator. 

This was sourced from numerous Columbia Valley Vineyards. Working with a broad varied selection of top Syrah vineyards gives Sequel complexity and layers: Yakima Valley’s Boushey Vineyard (35%) gives the wine its elegance and balance; Alder Ridge (24%) and Wallula Vineyard (7%) in the Horse Heaven Hills combines with Red Mountain vineyards (32%) to add black fruit and richness. A small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon from Sagemoor’s Dionysus Vineyard on a southwest facing slope in Pasco adds complexity and more layers.

This was dark deep purple colored, full bodied with complex plum and blackberry fruits with notes of game, dark chocolate, spices and herbs, pepper and hints of cedar with a moderate tannin and acidic lingering finish. 

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=264802

https://longshadows.com/

Leonetti Walla Walla Valley Sangiovese 2003 

Gary Figgins' Leonetti Cellar winery sits just on the outskirts of the town of Walla Walla, the wine producing center of south eastern Washington. We visited the area with our Walla Walla AVA Wine Experience in 2018.

Leonetti Cellar was founded by Gary's parents, Gary and Nancy Figgins, in 1977 as Walla Walla’s first commercial winery. The history of Leonetti dates back a century to Francesco and Rosa Leonetti, who immigrated from Italy in 1901 and 1902 and settled in the area and established the Leonetti farm in 1906. Virginia Leonetti married Berle Figgins (Gary’s father) in 1943 and Gary Figgins was born five years later. Gary toured the California wine country while serving in the Army and begins winemaking.
Gary along with his two uncles, George and Bill Leonetti planted the first commercial vineyard in the area in 1974. 
 
Gary and wife Nancy established the current winery property and winery in 1975, bonded at Leonetti Cellar winery, Walla Walla’s first winery in 1977. Leonetti Cellar’s first commercial vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon & Riesling produced from estate grapes the next year. The first Leonetti Sangiovese was produced in 1995. Chris Figgins, Gary and Nancy’s son, graduated from Washington State University with a degree in horticulture and joined the family business in 1996. He took over the reins as head winemaker in 2001. 

Robert Parker and other critics have said Leonetti produce the finest Sangiovese outside of Tuscany. Leonetti say that while it is most challenging grape to farm, it ais also their favorite.

This 2003 Leonetti Sangiovese is produced from fruit sourced from the Figgins’s Mill Creek Upland Vineyard as well as the Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge Vineyards. It is 78% Sangiovese blended with 22% Syrah. 

This release was awarded 92 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar.

Winemaker's Tasting Notes: This is our darkest Sangiovese to date – gorgeous, saturated magenta to the rim. The razor-precise fruit nose is loaded with bright, dense red fruits and high-tone floral notes. The wine is refreshing on the pallet with bright acidity, while providing rich crème cassis and other red fruit flavors and excellent length.

Bright garnet colored, medium full bodied, vibrant intense concentrated but nicely balanced spicy blackberry, black cherry and plum fruits are accented by anise, tar notes of cedar with bright tangy acidity on a tongue puckering long polished tannin finish. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=87895 

https://leonetticellar.com/index.html

Livio Felluga Picolit Rosazzo del Friuli Riserva 2001

With the Italian Village chocoloate mousse and biscotti I selected from the winelist this premium Italian dessert wine.  

Livio Felluga's family have been producing wine for six generations. He moved to Friuli in the late 1930s and made his home on the foothills of Rosazzo in the region of Fruili. Friuli Venezia Giulia is Italy's north-easternmost region. It borders Austria to the north and Slovenia to the east. To the south it faces the Adriatic Sea and to the west the Veneto region.

The artistic wine labels feature a signature historic Geographical Map of Friuli’s hillsides, a symbol of the connection between the land and its history, which has appeared on the wine labels since 1956. 

Livio Felluga is now operated by the next generation children. The family estate spans over 550 acres of which 159 planted to vineyards in a complex ecosystem with the Alps in the background and a view that reaches to the sea. 

Livio Felluga is one of the largest wine estates in the Friuli hills. The vineyards are interspersed with woodlands, grassy hillsides, olive groves, paths, streams and groves of mulberry and fruit trees. The vineyards are planted with 14 grape varieties in 320 individual plots that extend across over 550 kilometres of rows of vines. 

The portfolio of Livio Felluga wines now spans eighteen different labels of red, white and rose wines, and this dessert wine.

Livio Felluga Picolit is Friuli’s noblest wine, a unique distinctive dessert wine of historic noble Friuli Venezia Giulia fruit with origins that date back to 1750.

This was awarded 94 points by Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar.

At twenty years, this has darkened from the color of straw to butter to weak tea to honey color. Medium full bodied, concentrated rich complex sweet unctuous fruit flavors of peach and dried apricot are accented by notes of raisiny fig, nutmeg, honey and smokey roasted nuts with a long tongue coating finish. 

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=202083

https://www.liviofelluga.com/


http://www.italianvillage-chicago.com/

https://italianvillage-chicago.com/wine-cellar/  

https://twitter.com/italianvlg

 


Sunday, December 19, 2021

Christmas features birthyear and celebration wines

Christmas Family gathering features special family birthyear and celebration wines 

The entire family gathered for a festive Christmas celebration with gifts, food, holiday treats and of course, some special celebratory wines. As we've written in these pages, over the years, we've collected a horizontal selection of birthyear wines for each of our children. We served those special vintages in large format bottles at their weddings and other gala celebrations

We still hold several bottles of those wines that are getting on in years approaching or surpassing their drinking ageworthiness and drinking windows. 

Our oldest offspring, daughter Erin is in her fortieth year and her birthyear vintage, 1981 was a modest, challenging vintage for aging potential. 
 
Indeed, we served her birthyear vintage wines from large format bottles at her wedding, fifteen years ago. At that time, we wondered how well those twenty-five year old labels would show. We served premium and super premium labels that had long lives, even in the less stellar 1981 vintage. Couple that with the fact that we served large format bottles, which extend the ageworthiness of wine, and we had a great tasting experience. See Wine Bottle Sizes...Bigger is Better - Right Bottle Sizes...Bigger (or Smaller) is Better.

Tonight, at forty years, we decided its time to open these remaining vintage wines and pulled from the cellar some of the most ageworthy labels that remain. The premier bottle we opened was Château Lafite Rothschild 1981. We also opened a Château LaGrange St Julien from the same vintage. 

Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 1981

We visited the Château Lafite Rothschild estate during our trip to the Bordeaux region in 2018. While we focused on touring St Julien producers, we also stopped by some of the notable estates in nearby appellation of Pauillac that we own and collect. It was a delight and reverent experience to walk the grounds and adjacent vineyards of the legendary historic estates of the Pichons, Lynch Bages and Lafite Rothschild. 

Château Lafite Rothschild is one of the five First Growth Bordeaux, and one of the most famous and collected wines in the world. 

We opted to open this label from our cellar collection as well as a lesser fifth growth that will most likely be closer to the end of, or further past the end of its drinking window. To our dismay and delight, both bottles were still presentable and holding their own, albeit clearly being in their final stages of their drinkability.

Sadly, of all the estates we visited, only one, Lafite Rothschild had security personnel come out and confront us and order us off the property.  While we deeply respect their property rights and sovereignty, it made an impression of in-hospitality and un-welcomeness, such that we will avoid the label from our collecting,  buying and tasting in the future. While Lafite is legendary, there are many alternative labels available to support. 

The Lafite Rothschild estate sits outside the town of Pauillac on the border of the appellations of Pauillac and St Estephe, on the main D2 route heading north as you exit the appellation and enter the adjoining St. Estephe. 

The Chateau is surrounded by nearly 280 acres of vineyards that are well-drained and well-exposed, with soil made up of fine deep gravel, mixed with aeolian sand on a subsoil of tertiary limestone. The vineyards are divided into three sites: the hillsides around the Château, the adjacent Carruades plateau to the west, and ten+ acres to the along the highway to the north in neighbouring Saint Estèphe.

The vineyards are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon (70%), Merlot (25%), Cabernet Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (2%). The average age of the grapevines is 39 years old but fruit from vines younger than 10 years old are not used in the Grand Vin. This means that the average age of the vines used in the Grand Vin (Château Lafite Rothschild) is closer to 45 years. The oldest plot, called “La Gravière , was planted in 1886.

We have been collecting and tasting this legendary label for significant vintages since the 1970's, our anniversary and birthyear vintages dating back to our 1974 anniversary, and this remains one of the oldest and last remaining bottles in our collection of 'collectables'. I still remember opening the 1974 vintage back upon release and then for our a couple of milestone anniversaries at 25 years and others.

At forty years, the foil, label, fill level and importantly, the cork, were all in pristine condition.  

This was awarded 91 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.

Back as early as 1997, Robert Parker wrote that "This wine is close to full maturity, but it is capable of holding for another two decades."

Parker wrote: "It reveals the classic Lafite bouquet of red and black fruits, cedar, fruitcake, and tobacco-like aromas. In the mouth, this medium ruby/garnet-colored wine displays a delicacy of fruit and sweet attack, but subtle, well-defined flavors ranging from tobacco, cigar box, cedar, and fruitcake. This is a savory, soft Lafite-Rothschild that is pleasing to both the intellect and the palate. (RP)  (12/1997)"

Son Ryan took great care to extract the cork completely intact using an 'ahso' two pronged cork puller. He double decanted it with a strainer to separate the black sediment. 

The color was dark garnet color with just a slight amount of bricking on the edges. The slight funky nose burned off after a short period to reveal bright cherry aromatics. Medium bodied, smooth, polished, delicate black berry and black cherry fruits with accents of cigar box, cedar, hints of leather and graphite with a tangy acidic lingering finish. 

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=12987

www.lafite.com/en/

Château LaGrange St Julien 1981

We also pulled from the cellar another 1981 vintage Bordeaux to consume before it is too late in its drinking window.

We also visited the LaGrange estate, outside the village of St-Julien-Beychevelle during our visit to Bordeaux in 2019. It sits further 'inland' from the Gironde River estuary, not far from the adjacent estates of Château Gruaud-Larose and  Château Branaire-Ducru that we toured during our visit. 

The iconic Château that is recognized from decades of labels is more picturesque than expected or imaginable as it looks out on a small lake/pond as one approaches the estate.

The estate has turned over and undergone substantial improvements over the years and the quality of product is vastly improved today. 

Château Lagrange was founded and can be found mentioned as early as the 13th century.

The reputation of the cru was established in the 18th century by the families of Brane and Arbouet, succeeded by Jean Valère Cabarrus, who built the Tuscan Tower estate in 1820. 

In the 18th century it found favour with the American ambassador Thomas Jefferson, who placed it 3rd in his rank of personal favourites. In 1842, Château Lagrange was bought and redeveloped the property modernizing the facilities and extending the vineyard and classified third cru within the Grand Cru Saint-Julien in 1855.

After a series of crises between the 19th and 20th centuries (phylloxera, world wars), the property has risen from the ashes, notably thanks to the Suntory family who bought it in 1983 and undertook a large-scale renovation.

The property was taken over by the Japanese spirits producer Suntory in the mid 1980's. They made substantial improvements to the property and facilities through 2008 and modernized the entire winemaking facilities and cellars in 2013 which should no doubt result in increasing improvements and quality of the wines. Suntory also took over and made substantial investment in additions and improvements to nearby Château Beychevelle which we also toured while in the area.

However, the easiest way to think of Chateau Lagrange is by knowing all their vines are dispersed over 2, gently sloping, gravel hillsides, well placed in the west of the Saint Julien appellation, close to Chateau Gruaud Larose and Chateau Branaire Ducru. At the peak of their vineyards, the hillsides reach up to 24 meters, which puts their vines at the highest elevation in the Saint Julien appellation.
Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/bordeaux-wine-producer-profiles/bordeaux/st-julien/lagrange/
However, the easiest way to think of Chateau Lagrange is by knowing all their vines are dispersed over 2, gently sloping, gravel hillsides, well placed in the west of the Saint Julien appellation, close to Chateau Gruaud Larose and Chateau Branaire Ducru. At the peak of their vineyards, the hillsides reach up to 24 meters, which puts their vines at the highest elevation in the Saint Julien appellation.
Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/bordeaux-wine-producer-profiles/bordeaux/st-julien/lagrange/

Château LaGrange St Julien Bordeaux 1981

This is the oldest of several vintages of this wine dating back to this birth year vintage from Erin's vintage release in the early eighties.

Château LaGrange vineyards span nearly 300 acres and rise to an elevation of 24 meters, the highest altitude in the St Julien appellation. The vineyards are planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot for the reds, and 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Sauvignon Gris and 10% Sémillon for the whites. The vineyards have that classic St Julien pebble soil. 

This release is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot. 

Earlier in its life this release was rated 92 points John Gilman, James Suckling, Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, and 90 points by Wine & Spirits and Robert Parker. 

Like the Lafite above, we also obtained this upon release and have kept it in our cellar since. As such the bottle and label were in pristine condition - the bottle fill level being top of neck, the label and foil being in best expected condition for their age. Unlike the Lafite however, the cork of the LaGrange was partially saturated and crumbled upon extraction. Even with the 'ahso' two pronged cork puller, it came apart and required a combination ahso and corkscrew to remove completely. 

At forty years of age, this was amazingly holding on to its color and what remained of its structure and fruits albeit diminished to being minimal, it was still presentable and while modest, was pleasant drinking, especially considering its age. 

Like the Lafite above, Ryan double decanted this. It showed dark garnet colored, medium body with black berry and black cherry fruits turning to leather, tobacco and notes of black tea and tangy acidity on hte modest finish. 

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=363605

https://chateau-lagrange.com/en/

https://www.ugcb.net/en/chateau-lagrange

Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 1985

In the spirit of opening the Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux, above, we also pulled from the cellar another classic first growth Bordeaux, this Château Mouton Rothschild 1985. 

This is tribute to son Sean's birthyear, and the recent birth of his and Michelle's daughter Lavender. The classic Mouton Rothschild artist label of the 1985 vintage features an surrealist impressionist painting of demure young maidens gazing on bunches of grapes, painted by Belgium born Flemmish Expressionist Paul Delvaux. 

We only hold this vintage of this legendary first growth label in a small format half bottle so we held off opening it today, but presented it to the new parents to hold and open together on a suitable occasion of their choosing. 

I write often in these pages about bottle sizes, large and small, here is an example of a small format bottle, suitable for an intimate tasting for two! 

Like the other bottles we acquired this upon release and have been holding in our cellar ever since. The image shown is taken from a large format double magnum of this release, to better show the artist painting as rendered on the label. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1582

https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/label-art/discover-the-artwork/paul-delvaux#

We also opened this hearty full throttled Aussie Shiraz Cabernet Blend for enjoyment by the group. 

Mollydooker Enchanted Path Cabernet Shiraz 2007

I write about the Mollydooker branding and history in more detail in this blogpost.  

Their portfolio of cartoonish labels are a family favorite and we open their premium labels, Enchanted Path and Carnival of Love on many family special occasions. 

Mollydooker is the handiwork of the (former) husband-and-wife winemaking team of Sarah and Sparky Marquis. Prior to starting their own label the pair produced under the Marquis Philips brand in partnership with their distributor Dan Philips. Previously, they produced award-winning wines for Australian producers including Fox Creek, Henry’s Drive, Shirvington, and others. The term Mollydooker is Australian slang for a left-handed person as both Sarah and Sparky Marquis are left-handed.

Since 2005, they focused exclusively on making their own exuberant wines which include a range of Shiraz labels and a variety of Shiraz/Cab/Merlot blends, as well as some adventuresome white wines such as The Violinist, a Verdelho varietal.

They source their fruit from 116 acres of vineyards at their winery in McLaren Vale where about 50 percent are planted in Shiraz, with the rest made up of Cabernet, Merlot, Semillon and Chardonnay. Most of their wines bear distinctive whimsical and humorous names and labels with cartoon characters. Never-the-less, many of their wines, while modestly-priced, Mollydookers are often highly rated. Their premium label, 'Velvet Glove' Shiraz retails for $175, however.  

As I wrote a while back when I blogged about this label, "This unique blend really works with the Cabernet adding breadth and depth to the big black inky purple colored full bodied Shiraz. The result is a powerful full bodied complex wine with concentrated forward chewy tongue coating black berry and black cherry fruits accented by ripe plum and spice, a layer of leather and hints of anise with fine silky tannins on the long finish".

RM 92 points.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate gave this wine a whopping 95 points and wrote in their review: " The 2007 Enchanted Path, a blend of 67% Shiraz and 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, is aged in mostly American oak, 70% new. Purple/black colored, it has a brooding bouquet of spice box, toasty oak, mineral, espresso, black currant, and blueberry. Structured and powerful on the palate, this dense, rich effort requires 5 to 7 years of additional cellaring and will offer prime drinking from 2014 to 2028. 95+ Points (JSM) (2/2009)."

Wine Spectator gave it 91 points  and wrote: "Big, ripe and focused, offering a blast of cherry and plum, with a welcome floral note that lasts through the long, vivid finish. Has a touch of spice as the finish lingers against fine tannins. (HS) (10/2008)".

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=554810

www.mollydookerwines.com 


 

 

Friday, December 17, 2021

Eight Years in the Dessert 2019

Eight Years in the Dessert 2019 - Big Bold Red Wine Flight for festive holiday party

Alec and Vivianna hosted a holiday party and we dropped in late following the wrap-up of our own holiday dinner gathering. All our kid's and their kids were gathered with several of their friends and families.

Alec assembled a wine flight of bold expressive reds - all in magnums for holiday festive cheers. I've written often in these pages about the fun of serving wine in large format bottles, and the benefit of collecting them for long term aging and cellaring. See Wine Bottle Sizes...Bigger is Better - Right Bottle Sizes...Bigger (or Smaller) is Better.

He also served a selection of craft beers and some special whiskys.

I've written often in these pages about our fun with the Venge labels and their predominant "V", which we serve in tribute to daughter-in-law Vivianna. The Scout's Honor red blend is a crowd pleaser, one of the labels we served for our festive Thanksgiving dinner

I opted to taste the Orin Swift "8 Years in the Desert" label. 

The history of Orin Swift Cellars dates back to 1995 when on a lark, David Swift Phinney took a friend up on an offer and went to Florence, Italy to spend a semester “studying”. During that time, he was introduced to wine, how it was made, and got hooked. A few more years of university led to graduation and eventually a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. 

Deciding that if he was going to work this hard, it would eventually have to be for himself, he founded Orin Swift Cellars in 1998; Orin is his father’s middle name and Swift is his mother’s maiden name. With two tons of zinfandel and not much else, he spent the next decade making wine for others as well as himself and grew the brand to what it is today.

Orin Swift has a broad portfolio of bold expressive wines - all with unique, distinctive, and in some cases weird or even creepy names or labels.  You be the judge ...

Some of his labels take the artistic label to almost an extreme such as Orin Swift Machete, which features twelve different labels with photos of a Black woman sporting a machete in repose on an old Cadillac in very positions. 

Taking the labels and branding to an even further extreme, his new label, a premium blend of California Cabernet, Syrah and Merlot, Face Value, which I have yet to see or taste boasts "96 different labels, all of which depict a person with true value".

Orin Swift 8 Years in the Desert 2019

This is a Zinfandel Blend with some Syrah and Petit Syrah - three bold expressive varietals all together. What's not to like? Unless you defer to 'wimpy' wines. Lisa Perrotti-Brown of The Wine Advocate gave this 93 pts.

Garnet purple colored, medium full-bodied, not graceful or well behaved, full round concentrated, the ripe spicy brambly black and red fruits are overtaken by pepper and creosote with notes of cinnamon, clove, white pepper and graphite with earthy tree bark turning to chewy bold tannins on a long finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3792540

https://www.orinswift.com/index.cfm

 

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Ornellaia Le Serre Nuove Bolgheri 2017

Ornellaia "Le Serre Nuove" Bolgheri 2017

As has become our custom, gathered in the city for final stages of our planning meetings, we dined at Italian Village for dinner. Seeking basic American cuisine I ordered a filet of beef and baked potato. For a wine accompaniment I chose from the vast Italian Village, Chicago, extraordinary wine cellar list, this 2017 Bolgheri Rosso Le Serre Nuove dell' Ornellaia. It turned out to be a perfect selection, amplifying the enjoyment of both the beefsteak dinner and the wine. 
 
First released in 1997, this is the twentieth anniversary release of this label. It is the 'Second' wine of Ornellaia, produced to broaden the selection of wines crafted during the assembly of the base wines of Ornellaia. It is produced mainly from younger vines, but crafted to match the profile of freshness, accessibility and flexibility with structure, balance and intensity typical of the great terroirs of the company properties.

Ornellaia is somewhat of a legend, one of the first “super-Tuscans”, the result of Marchese Lodovico Antinori’s ambition to produce a great Bordeaux-style wine in Tuscany. The first vineyards were planted in 1981 and today have expanded to almost 250 acres. 

Today, the winery is owned by the Frescobaldi family, one of seven estates they own and manage across the Northern Italian Tuscany Bolgheri region, some of which have been in the family dating back to the 1300's.

This label was awarded 93 points by James Suckling, Wine Spectator and Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, and 92 points by Vinous. 

This is a Bordeaux Blend of 54% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. It was aged for 15 months s in oak. The significant production was 250,000 bottles released in September 2019.

The year 2107 vintage was hot and dry which contributed to the richness and concentration of the fruit.

Winemaker's Notes: “Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia 2017 expresses itself with outstanding elegance, combining great ageing potential with immediate enjoyability. A deep ruby red colour with purple highlights, a beautifully complex nose characterised by scents of small red berries and balsamic notes reminiscent of Mediterranean scrub vegetation. The quality of the tannins on the palate is particularly striking, smooth and silky. The mouthfeel ends with a lingering finish and unexpected freshness.”, Olga Fusari – Winemaker – May 2019.

Bright ruby colored, medium full bodied, seductive floral aromas sprouted from the glass, vibrant, expressive round balanced and nicely integrated full black berry and ripe plum fruits are accented by  leather, spice and pipe tobacco, notes of cedar and hints of  licorice and mint with silky full fine-grained tannins on the long full finish. 

RM 93 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3377327

https://www.ornellaia.com/en

http://www.italianvillage-chicago.com/

https://italianvillage-chicago.com/wine-cellar/  

https://twitter.com/italianvlg

https://twitter.com/Ornellaia

 

 

 

Friday, December 10, 2021

Intimate dinner Suzette’s Creperie French Bistro Wheaton

Intimate dinner at Suzette’s Creperie French Wine Bar, Bistro, Wheaton

We took dear friend Marlene out for her birthday celebration dinner to Suzette’s Creperie French Wine Bar and Bistro in adjacent Wheaton (Illinois).

We dined al fresco on their quaint patio last summer for a authentic french bistro dinner with a special BYO bottle and a special selection from their winelist. 

Suzette's Creperie, inspired by the Paris street vendors selling crepes, opened in 2000 in historic downtown Wheaton. Originally only seven tables and a counter, they quickly outgrew the space and expanded into the adjacent storefront to 17 tables, counter, bar and outdoor patio in the summer.

The adjacent Suzette's Boulangerie & Patisserie offers authentic french inspired artisanal croissants and breads and sweets with coffee, espresso, latte and café au lait. 

The restaurant features a Wine Spectator Magazine Award of Excellence unique and carefully selected wine list of close to a hundred French wines from an inventory of nearly 600 bottles, as well as champagnes, sherries, French beer, French Ciders, Cognacs, Armagnacs and spirits, They offer wines in all price ranges from modest house W-B-T-G (wines by the glass) or bottles from basic to to super premium vintage first growths. 

Some of their interesting and premium winelist selections include:

  • 2000 Vosne-Romanée, Michel Gros, Clos des Réas, 1er Cru, Monopole
  • 2001 Echézeaux, Devillard, Domaine des Predix, Grand Cru
  • 2003 Châteauneuf du Pape, Vieux Télégraphe
  • 1999 Pauillac, Mouton Rothschild, 1er Cru
  • 2003 Pauillac, Ponet Canet
  • 2001 St. Julien, de Pichon Longueville
  • 2000 St. Emilion, Château La Gaffelière
  • vertical selection of a half dozen vintages of St. Emilion, Château St. George dating back to 1990.
When we dined there last summer, we took one special bottle BYOB and then ordered from the winelist a special select Chateau La Nerthe Clos de Beauvenir Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2009, which was one of the highlights of our visit to Chateauneuf-du-Pape was a tour and tasting at Chateau La Nerthe where we tasted this special limited release bottle Chateau La Nerthe Clos de Beauvenir.

Suzette's atmosphere is cozy and intimate with leisurely paced European Style service by an attentive staff for a relaxing enjoyable dining experience. 

The delightful atmosphere was amplified by holiday decorations of a Christmas tree, holiday bows and a table set with quaint table decorations included lighted snowglobes. This was especially appreciated for our festive holiday and celebration dinner as Linda had taken a friend to Naperville's Egg Harbor cafe earlier in the day for a similar outing and came away deeply disappointed by the complete lack of holiday recognition and a unsympathetic uncaring response by staff responding to her comments.

The menu features small plates of Escargot Suzette’s Style, Three Cheese Soufflé, Fondue for Two, cheese plate and my choice, Pâté, all great accompaniments to a wine course. 

There is a soup and salad selection and the main course features their specialty selection of Crêpes, chicken, ham and cheese, vegetable, salmon, spinach and my choice, Beef Bourguignon.

They also typically offer a couple special entree selections from which we typically order. 

Tonight, Linda ordered the 'Special' crabcakes, while I passed on the Lamb Special for the traditional Crêpe Beef Bourguignon. Last summer, we feasted on their delectable Special Sole Meuniere.

Marlène & Nicolas Chevalier Les Voleyses Crozes Hermitage 2018

Never mind we were dining and celebrating birthday of friend Marlene, I chose this wine for the appellation, varietal and style to accompany my beef bourguignon, not for the producer's name, although its irony is part of the fun and enjoyment of/with wine!

Once part of the cave co-operative at Tain-Hermitage, since 2008 the family vineyards of Domaine Chevalier are gradually being reclaimed by the brother and sister team of Nicolas and Marlène Chevalier. Nicolas tends the vineyards and crafts each cuvee, while Marlène handles all of the sales and marketing for Domaine Chevalier.

Following his formal agricultural studies in France, Nicolas spent four years honing his winemaking skills on estates in Australia, California and South Africa. After completing studies in agronomy and enology in France, he headed to South Australia’s Clare Valley where he mastered various techniques for fermenting Shiraz (Syrah). He then worked with Kendall Jackson in California crafting white winemaking skills. To further his post-graduate wine studies, he spent 2002 in South Africa working at legendary three-hundred-year-old Boschendal estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa, a winery renowned for its superb Syrah-based wines.

Marlène and Nicolas Chevalier farm three small vineyards at their meticulously tended family property comprising 3 1/2 acres in Crozes-Hermitage from which they produce on average 500 cases of red and white Rhône wines in tiny lots which are highly allocated. Their wines are found only in a couple of importer direct wine clubs and renowned restaurants in North American.

Nicolas works with several distinct parcels for their wines: La Motte, Marius, Petite Pend, Les Pends and namesake source for this label, Les Voleyses. These vineyards have clay and limestone soils with excellent exposure, known to produce ripe, high quality grapes with great aromatic character and freshness. The Domaine Chevalier site has been producing grapes for notable wines gaining high praise and critical acclaim for more than three centuries.

The 2018 vintage was top rated in the Northern Rhône.
 
Importer notes: The 2018 Domaine Chevalier Les Voleyses Crozes-Hermitage sports a brilliant purple robe and a captivating aroma redolent with the scents of blackberry, plum, violets, and exotic spices. Sensuous and seductive in the mouth, the 2018 Les Voleyses graces the palate with a silky texture and pure floral, fruit, and forest floor flavors that have aptly been described as hedonism in a glass. Moreover, the 2018 Domaine Chevalier Les Voleyses is juicy and harmonious to the finish, as it makes an exit with joyful panache.
 
The Voleyses Cuvée is 100% Syrah made from younger vine fruit and aged in stainless steel.

Deep inky purple colored medium-full bodied, full round layers of blackberry and plum fruits, notes of black tea, spice and leather overtake the fruits, turning to soft chewy textured tannins on a medium finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3495672

http://suzettescreperie.com/index.html

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Haut-Bages-Averous Pauillac 1989

Haut-Bages-Averous Pauillac 1989

With quiet dinner of left over beef stroganoff from last night, I pulled from the cellar this aged vintage Bordeaux, the second label of Chateau Lynch-Bages. We planned a tour of the Lynch Bages estate in Pauillac in Bordeaux during our trip to the region in 2019. Lynch Bages were kind enough to respond promptly and regretably informed us that the estate was under construction, but kindly offered a tour of their second tier Les-Ormes-de-Pez estate in St. Estephe. Not knowing the area and the distances and logistics, we ended up not scheduling the tour and visit and focused solely on the St Julien appellation

Never-the-less, we did end up driving up to and around Pauillac and stopped at the Lynch Bages estate, which was indeed, under substantial construction.

We also drove north to St Estephe and stopped at the Les-Ormes-de-Pez estate in St. Estephe, immediately across the road from the magnificent, historic Cos d'Estournel. 

We also drove around the Lynch Bages vineyards, source of the premier grand vin as well as this secondary label. 

Lynch Bages has a long history in Bordeaux, named for the geographic area where the chateau is located in Bages on the outskirts of the village of Pauillac. 

The vineyards of what was to become Lynch Bages were established by the Dejean family dating back to 1728.

In 1877, Jean-Charles Cazes, was born to Lou Janou Cazes and his wife Angelique in the town of Pauillac. The Cazes family had a long history in Bordeaux dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century. In the 1930’s, Jean-Charles Cazes, was in charge of Les-Ormes-de-Pez in St. Estephe and agreed to lease the vines of Lynch Bages. Jean-Charles Cazes eventually purchased both properties on the eve of the Second World War. Lynch Bages and Les-Ormes-de-Pez have been run by the Cazes family ever since. 

In the early 1970's, they increased their vineyards with the purchase of land from Haut-Bages Averous. By the late 1990’s their holdings had expanded to almost 240 acres. 

In 1987, Jean-Michel Cazes sold the properties to and joined the large French insurance company AXA, who built an extensive investment portfolio of quality vineyards in the Medoc of Bordeaux, Pomerol, Sauternes, Portugal and Hungary. Cazes was named director of the wine division of the extensive portfolio of wine estates including Lynch Bages of which he he took on managing director in 2006.

Chateau Lynch Bages began a massive renovation and modernization in 2017, focused on the winemaking, and technical facilities. This construction was underway when we visited in 2018. The major project, was headed by noted architects Chien Chung Pei and Li Chung Pei, the sons of the famous architect who designed the glass pyramid for the Louvre in Paris as well as several other important buildings.

The project included grape, reception center, gravity-flow wine cellar and vat rooms housing 80 stainless steel vinification vats. The extensive project was completed in 2021. The new cellars feature a glass roof, terraces with 360-degree views, and completely modernized reception areas and offices. 

The vineyards of Lynch Bages spanning 240 acres, are planted to 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The vineyard has a terroir of gravel, chalk, and sand soils. The vineyards lie around the outskirts of the village of Pauillac, sitting on the Gironde River.

The average age of the vines is about 30 years old but they have old vines, some of which are close to 90 years old.

We hold a dozen vintages of the grand vin Lynch Bages, and a half dozen vintages of this second label dating back to the mid-eighties, including this aged vintage 1989 release. 

This is the second label of the legendary Lynch Bages. It was renamed Echo de Lynch-Bages in 2008. As the second wine, it is subjected to the same exceptional winemaking as its 'big brother,' is sourced from the same vineyards with the same terroir, albeit from the younger vines. 

The second wine is known to be approachable when young, but is capable of gaining layers of nuance and complexity as it ages. It is capable to age for decades or more as this bottle attests. 

This bottle has been held in our cellar since release and showed perfect storage with the fill level, label, capsule and cork all in remarkably perfect condition given its age of 32 years. It showed remarkable color, body, fruit and balance with very little diminution from aging.

Dark blackish garnet colored, medium to full-bodied, black berry fruits accented by smoke, damp earth, leather, floral violets, cassis, spice, oak and graphite on a lingering tangy acidic tannic laden finish. 

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=137370