napaman.com: Oh Dear, 2004 Is Yet Another "Vintage of the Decade" for Rutherford Cabs -- the 3rd in a Row!

Recent Wine Pleasures

1998 Domaine de Pegau
Good friends Barry and Lea Stern, brought this perfect, perfectly aged, 11-year-old Chateauneuf du Pape to our home to complement a roast chicken dinner. I know that it is early in the year -- only March -- and crazy to say, but this is likely the Wine of the Year. Already. I can't think of a wine that has brought so much pleasure to the dining table in half-a-dozen years. A complete, compelling beverage, filled with fruit, earth, complexity and elegance. A truly remarkable wine. At its peak. Not one day too young, not one day too old, on either side of Perfection. 100 points.
2001 Vieux Donjon, Chateauneuf du Pape
The only wine in my life of which I have drunk an entire case and rated every single bottle of the case a near-perfect wine was the 1990 Vieux Donjon. I LOVED THAT CASE. I was apparently justified in my thinking about the 1990 Vieux Donjon; in a recent issue of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, he quoted sommelier Doug Mohr of Vidalia restaurant, in Washington D.C., who marveled that “the greatest wine he had ever tasted was the 1990 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape.” Gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case. For dinner this week, to complement Carol’s perfectly prepared pappardelle with veal ragout (a variation of a Mario Batali recipe, only she did it better!), I opened the 2001 Vieux Donjon, which offered a near-duplicate experience of the 1990 vintage. Here was a wine of exceptional length, extraordinary quality. This is a perfect wine, a brilliant wine, elegant, rich, balanced. A 100-pointer. There was nothing missing, no flaws, only gemstone brilliance, bright mature fruit, terroir, minerality, and a finish that Burgundian producers would kill to have. The 2001 Vieux Donjon is long gone from retailer shelves, but look for the 2005 and 2006 vintages, which are helluva good. This is a wine that will improve with age; I like to drink my CDPs (Chateauneufs-du-Pape) with not less than seven or eight years on them.
1997 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
I have long respected Ed Sbragia’s work as wine director at Beringer and thought that his best-ever achievement (of many brilliant achievements) was his 2001 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet. But the 1997 vintage, which we opened this week for out-of-town visitors from Canada and England, was, to my mind, perhaps the single most compelling wine of Ed’s that I have ever tasted; it is rich, rich, rich (did I forget to say rich?) in complexity, flavor, and texture. To be blunt: it is a textbook-perfect wine at this age and stage of evolution. You may have read reports in Wine Spectator that the 1997 Napa Valley Cabs are beyond their prime, dried up, finished, kaput. Forget that nonsense. I have opened more than a dozen different 1997 Napa Valley Cabs this year from many different producers and they have been spectacular. In essence, don’t believe what you read, unless, of course, you read it here. But not a one of the dozen or so 1997 Napa Valley Cabs, which we opened this year, stroked my palate the way Ed’s 1997 Beringer Private Reserve Cab did. A 100-pointer any way you look at it.
2006 Aterberry Maresh Pinot Noir, White Rose Vineyard
I could write a sonnet, a book, an encyclopedia about my love for this extravagant, balanced, elegant, mature, brilliant Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I learned about this wine at The Tasting Room, in Carleton, OR, during a May visit. I have opened many bottles in my home and every one gets a forehead-slapping, “I can’t believe how good this wine is” remark from Napa Valley winemakers, visitors, friends, and knowledgeable sommeliers for whom I pour it. 96-98 points. Available at The Tasting Room, Carleton, OR, at 503-852-6733. Or from the winery. Speak with talented winemaker Jim Arterberry Maresh at 503-434-7689.
1990 Ridge Montebello Mataro
Brought to dinner at one of my favorite Napa Valley restaurants, Bistro Don Giovanni, by one of my favorite wine-sharing friends, was this stunning, ethereal, syrupy rich wine, made almost exclusively from the Mataro (Mourvedre) grape. Call it the existential libation: "How do they get an 18-year-old wine to taste like a 3-year-old wine?" The wines from Paul Draper at Ridge continue to confound; even at 15... 20... 25 years... they are young, young, even younger. Is there a Ridge genie who goes around topping up older bottles with youthful juice while we sleep? How the hell does Draper do it?? A fabulous wine, screeching of fresh, youthful cherries, ambitious young fruit -- and yet the wine in the bottle is 18 years old! Easily a 97-point wine. Thanks for bringing it to dinner, Homer!
1959 Jaboulet Cote Rotie, Les Jumelles
Took this rare, 48-year-old wine to Redd restaurant, in Yountville, and experienced no disappointments as you might anticipate them from a wine of this age -- still sealed with the original cork. The wine, purchased from Garagiste, in Seattle, a year ago, was bright garnet in color with virtually no fading and no paleness at the rim. On the nose, the wine showed signs of well ridden saddle leather. We chose not to decant and after about a half-hour, the wine went into a phase of aromas which included a typical Syrah-ness. On the palate, the wine exhibited Burgundy characteristics, reminding me very much of a 64 Vosne Romanee. Toward the end of the meal (awesome braised lamb snippets with housemade pappardelle), the Syrah showed elements of black cherry and licorice that were not earlier noted. An inspiring wine, making those at the table think back to where each of us was in 1959 when the fruit for this bottle was harvested. 93 points. And worth every Garagiste penny.
1997 Robert Mondavi Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
Deep, dark and delicious, exhibiting rich, ripe black fruit flavors. 10-years-old and at its prime. Surprisingly syrupy, with a velvet mouthfeel. A 97-point wine any way you look at it.
2004 Olabisi, Suisun Valley Syrah
A powerful wine from Ted Osborne, 100 percent Syrah. Rich aromas of earth and dark ripe fruit lift from the glass. There is deep extraction, lots of spice and dark cherry in the middle palate, and great depth of flavor on the finish. A serious Syrah, but it doesn’t cost like one - $30 retail. They ran through a case quickly at Gary Danko in SF. 91 points.
2003 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon
Served at dinner at a friend's home with a series of other Cabs, this was the wine that stood out for the evening. Gorgeous mouthfeel, almost silken; lush fruit, supple texture and a pleasing finish. 92 pts.

Books that I have enjoyed

Steve Toltz: A Fraction of the Whole
A wonderful, fun contemporary romp through the eyes of a wholly (nothing fractionated here!) dysfunctional Australian family. Steve Toltz, for whom this is a debut novel, had me laughing out loud to myself many times (the first sign of a GREAT read, or the early warning sign of serious mental instability to follow, take your pick). Imagine: you pour into a blender the novels of Kurt Vonnegut (Cat’s Cradle, et al), Tom Robbins (Even Cowgirls… Frog Pajamas, etc.) Evelyn Waugh (Black Mischief), John Irving (take your pick…) , Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated) , Voltaire (Candide) and pulse on High for 1 minute; remove cover, season with a bit of Malraux (Man’s Fate) and perhaps some H.L. Mencken (any of his backhanded witticisms) and voila! – you have Steve Toltz and A Fraction of the Whole! Ingest slowly to make the flavors last. I haven’t had as much fun reading a book since the early days of Vonnegut. Even though the book is 530 pages, I never raced through sections and, instead, found myself savoring every word. I didn’t want this book to end from Page 1. The plot twists and turns unexpectedly and the reader will never guess what’s coming up because Toltz has an inventive spirit, creating characters when he needs them to move the story along. (*****)
Chandler Burr: The Perfect Scent
Only the New York Times could dream up – or justify – having a writer who specializes in perfume – a scent columnist! I love Chandler Burr’s writing, especially his evocative, florid, colorful, imagery-rich descriptions of commercial perfumes. They should let this guy loose on restaurants – he’d make a killer reviewer. I read Burr’s previous book, The Emperor of Scent, and was dazzled by that story, a review of contemporary attempts to explain how we smell things, the last of our senses to be scientifically explored. We know how we see, we know how we hear, but, in truth, we haven’t got a fucking clue how we smell things! Now comes Burr’s best work, a stunning overview of the commercial perfume industry – The Perfect Scent (Henry Holt & Co.). This is the story of how Coty launched Sarah Jessica Parker’s perfume, Lovely, and how, at the same time, Hermes launched Un Jardin Sur le Nil – both told from Burr’s insider vantage. Both large commercial houses let Burr sit in on ALL aspects of the development of these perfumes. There are tons of wonderful, gossipy elements, scientific explanations of how they make perfume, gorgeous descriptive paragraphs in which Burr disses many popular perfumes. An example? “Yves Saint Laurent poured a river of money into launching M7, created by the star perfumers Alberto Morrilas and Jacques Cavallier of Firmenich. M7 smells like a Fiat engine engulfed in flame on a shoulder of the A6, an alarming chemical storm of burned rubber, charred metal, torched leather and toxic melting polycarbon. This is not necessarily a criticism; it was a well constructed, thoughtfully built scorched car in flames. But people stayed away by the million, and the scent was a disaster.” If you love good writing, have an interest in food or the industry that propels it to your table, this book is a good corollary backgrounder. For many of the firms, which I have hired to flavor the 8,000 food products that I have brought to market, are the same ones (IFF, Givaudan, etc.) that scent the perfumes that whisper behind your ear. And much of the way they invent new perfumes is how we invent new food products – often with more concern for the packaging than for the product, which goes into it. The Perfect Scent is a wonderful, entertaining, richly written book. I can’t recommend it enough. (*****)
Richard Preston: The Wild Trees
Half of all the living species in nature are unknown -- and even more bizarre, they live in forest canopies hundreds of feet above the earth in the planet's tallest trees, according to non-fiction writer Richard Preston. I have read everything Preston, who is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, has written, including The Hot Zone (about the Ebola virus scare...), for which he is probably best known. But in reality, his best works may be his two earliest; I LOVED his account of the Hale Observatory in First Light, and his take on Nuco Steel, in the book American Steel, was a classic. Preston's new book, The Wild Trees, is a perhaps too-detailed, but very compelling look, at the ecosystems abundant in the verdant, earth-filled canopies that are 200+ feet off the ground in the majestic redwoods of northern California. This is NOT one of those anti-logging treatises but, instead, is a positive spin on how fragile, how vital and how important is the biodiversity of the towering redwoods. Preston micro-paints his lead protagonists in such fine detail that we learn extremely intimate details of their lives and you find yourself asking, "How the hell did he get THAT piece of information out of the subject?" If you're into botany, biology, or Richard Preston as a writer, this book is a must-read. If you're interested in well-crafted sentences, colorful writing, or have a basic interest in tree hugging, this book could be for you, too!
Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love
Everyone around me was reading this book - my good friend Richard, my wife, our friend Wendy - so I picked up a copy. And couldn't put it down. This is a must-read diary of a woman who left her husband, her lover and her life in New York and hit the road for a year, one third of it spent in each of Italy, India and Indonesia. It has food, philosophy, laughs, and a textural richness not often found in non-fiction. Each one of us, hooked on this book, read the last third more slowyly than the first; we didn't want this search-for-self saga to end. (*****)
Bill Buford: Heat
A compelling, and fabulously written, book about Mario Batali. The writing is as colorful as the chef. (*****)

July 11, 2007

Oh Dear, 2004 Is Yet Another "Vintage of the Decade" for Rutherford Cabs -- the 3rd in a Row!

Okay, pardon the hyperbole, but that's how a majority of 2004 Rutherford Cabernets, poured for the press this morning at Rubicon Estate (formerly Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery), in Rutherford, will likely be labeled by wine lovers.

Hot on the heels of stunningly good 2002 and 2003 Cabernet-based wines from Rutherford comes yet another vintage of truly iconic wines, some which will take your breath away as you gasp for adjectives to describe them in all their glory.

Rubicon Estate, where the tasting was held

"Rutherford is the historic center of Cabernet in America," we were reminded by Andy Beckstoffer, one of the appellation's best-known growers and president of the Rutherford Dust Society, a self-promoting organization.

Andy Beckstoffer, President, Rutherford Dust Society

Rutherford, which lies at the epicenter of Napa Valley, has a reputation that far exceeds its geographic footprint. While only six square miles in size, and planted with barely 3,300 acres of vines, Rutherford is home to some of the nation's top wineries whose labels grab international headlines. Yet Rutherford produces less than one-quarter-of-one-percent (.25 percent!) of all the wine produced in America. Forget microclimate; they should call Rutherford a femtoclimate (a femtometer is one quadrillionth of a meter, way smaller than the period at the end of this sentence).

Rutherford has been a recognized AVA (American Viticultural Area) since 1993, one of 14 sub-appellations within Napa Valley. Cabernet is King here, as today's tasting proved yet again.

"There are 30 wineries and 75 growers in Rutherford," says Paul Wagner, executive director of the Rutherford Dust Society. "We have a sense of community and there is something common to the wines grown and produced here."

That "something" has been called 'Rutherford Dust.'

Andre Tchelistcheff, the first winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyards, and a legend of Napa Valley winemaking in his own right, started all the talk about 'Rutherford Dust' decades ago. Andre said that if you were going to grow great grapes that reflected the terroir, or soil, then you needed to plant them in Rutherford Dust (as opposed to other sites within Napa Valley).

Now, as a side note, I have been reviewing wine for 30 years and in a blind tasting of wines from many different Napa Valley AVAs, I cannot readily pick out Rutherford wines from, let's say, those of neighboring Oakville. Which is not to say that these differences don't exist. Let's just say that the story about the way that Rutherford Dust supposedly affects wines is apocryphal. And a damn good marketing story to amplify what is an already given -- great Cabernets with abundant ripe fruit.

Richard Betts, Master Sommelier at The Little Nell, Aspen, CO,
and Larry Stone, General Manager of Rubicon Estate and also a Master Sommelier

"What makes Rutherford Cabs so special?" asked Richard Betts, Master Sommelier at the award-winning dining room of The Little Nell, in Aspen, CO. I don't think it's a particular flavor profile instead, I think it's balance. It's like, 'I don't care what you wear - it's how you wear it!' It's all about 'balance.'"

616 glasses, 572 filled with Cabernet, 44 filled with water

At the center of the fermenting room at Rubicon Estate this morning was a magnificently l-o-n-g table, set with 616 Riedel glasses. Thirteen glasses for each taster plus a Riedel water glass per person.

Cab is King at this tasting

Many of my colleagues and two sommeliers present chose to record their tasting notes on a printed sheet of the wines being poured. I chose, instead, to taste through 25 wines blind; I did not want to be influenced by friends' wines. I live in Rutherford, I have many winemaker friends and it would be unwieldy, if not journalistically improper, to rate these wines knowing what I was tasting.

In year's past, I have discovered inexpensive $40 wines in this fashion that tasted like $100 wines. This year, my top-scoring wines are a bit more dear, in the $85-$125 range. Though I was giddily impressed by the $56, 2004 Tres Sabores Rutherford Perspective Cabernet Sauvignon from Julie Johnson, which I rated 93 points, a femto-point behind my top-rated wines of the day, yet half their price!

My top-scoring wines

2004 Quintessa. How does the Huneeus family do it year after year, make wines of such elegance, such velveteen texture? This stuff goes down like velour. The wine exhibits dark, ripe red and black fruits on the nose, suggesting perfect equilibrium on the palate, and the wine delivers on the palate, in spades.
This is a classic Rutherford Cab, gorgeous fruit; a stunning attack, a beautifully long bridge in the middle palate and a lustrous finish of notable length. I rated this wine 94 points but might have said 95 in hindsight. $125.

2004 Frank Family Vineyards Rutherford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich, ripe, red fruit on the nose with a whiff of fresh Virginia tobacco; on the palate, the first thing that strikes you is the elegance, the balance, the finesse, the harmony of fruit, alcohol and tannins. A "wow!" wine that right from the get-go, I wanted to swallow and not spit. I rated this a tie with the Quintessa, at 94 points. $85.

2004 Rubicon Estate Cabernet. This was a surprise for me in the tasting, very likely the single best young Rubicon that I've ever tasted. The 2002 Rubicon was stunning, but for the most part, I have always felt that this was an underperforming brand. But Scott McLeod, winemaker, and his talented assistant, Tondi Bolkan, have started to seriously turn up the heat and they are now producing exceptional wines. The 2004 Rubicon Estate Cab has a just-brewed coffee aroma on the nose, but it also has richness, a luxuriousness, even an elegance that you can smell. And then it delivers all this again on the taste and eventual swallow (also not a candidate for spitting). I rated this wine 94 points, tied with the others above. $125.

2004 Tres Sabores Rutherford Perspective Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine jumps out of the glass, tweaking your nose with ripe fruit and elegant, dark cherries; the flavors suggested appear in the swallow and the wine exhibits magnificent balance. My hand-scribbled tasting note concludes: "Shows impeccable growing and winemaking skills. A stunning effort!" I rated this wine 93 points as it just falls out of the range of luster of the three wines above.
But when I found out that Tres Sabores is half the price of Quintessa, I have to speak of this wine on the same page, because PRICE DOES MATTER.
Sadly, you're going to have to race to get this wine, because Julie Johnson only made 200 cases. Hurry, hurry. $56.

More wines...

The other really good wines from the 2004 vintage

In the next tier of wines tasted, I would include the following:

2004 Raymond Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich, elegant, with a very tight core, lots of tannins suggesting a very long life ahead. Very well made. Great effort. 92 points. $55.

2004 Galleron Family Vineyards, Generation Series, Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich, ripe, elegant aromas waft from the glass. A classic Cab nose. Lots of ripe red fruits on the palate and the degree of ripeness of the fruit could be used as a textbook example of what to do/what to look for. Layers of integrated richness of wood and fruit and the alcohol is nicely balanced. 92 points -- and catch the price, only $40!!

2004 Pine Ridge Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. I loved the 2003 vintage of this wine, with its forward fruit, cheery cherry notes, rich finish. Tasted blind today, the 2004 is a different animal; lots of coffee and toffee on the nose, almost candy-like. I swear I smelled a melted Krackle bar. A very strange, but still alluring wine; tastes like a Starbucks entry in the tasting, filled as it is with so many coffee notes. Ends with a lush espresso roast finish. Reminds me of the coffee notes sometimes found in Plumpjack wines in the late 1990s. If you're in a Starbucks, or Peet's, mood, you'll love this wine. 91 points, $48.

2004 Elyse Tietjen Cabernet Sauvignon. In days gone by, I often ran past the Tietjen plot as I jogged through the vineyards of Rutherford. I often mused to myself that, one day, I would have to sit down and taste/rate this wine. And now I have. The 2004 effort has a royal Rutherford nose, rich with red fruits and dark cherry nuances. On the palate, my notes recorded: "A classic Rutherford Cab. There is nothing to not like about this wine. It shows ripe, black fruits, dark cherries, there is a judicious infusion of oak but not over the top. Bravo." 91 points, $80.

But what's the 2004 vintage most like?

So that napaman.com readers - and wine buyers - might get a sense of how this vintage stacks up against previous vintages, I asked a number of winemakers for comparative vintages. (My thinking goes like this: if you can relate to a vintage that you have previously tasted and liked, then you will understand how, or whether, the 2004 Rutherford reds may appeal to you.)

"2004 was a warm year," says Charles Thomas, winemaker at Quintessa. "The heat spiked early, reminding me of 1978."

"I think the 2004 Rutherford Cabs are most like the wines we made in the mid-to-late 90s," says Julie Johnson, winemaker and owner of Tres Sabores. "If I had to be more specific, I'd probably say the 2004 is most like 1996, or maybe 1997."

"2004 is a lot like 1994 or maybe even 1990," says John Williams, owner of Frog's Leap Winery. "There is an evenness of harvested fruit, there is a common intensity in the wines. But if you asked me how the 2004 stacks up in terms of ageing potential, I'd say it's more like the 1991 and 1996 efforts from Rutherford growers - superb ageing potential!"

"2004 is most like 1997 in my mind," says Chris Cooney, associate winemaker at Provenance Vineyards.

Napaman.com readers interested in learning more about Rutherford wines, or who wish to get on the appellation's mailing list should contact infor@rutherforddust.org.

This map is available for purchase through the Rutherford Dust Society; contact info@rutherforddust.org

Posted at 07:16 PM in Napa Valley General, Wine | Permalink

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July 11, 2007

Oh Dear, 2004 Is Yet Another "Vintage of the Decade" for Rutherford Cabs -- the 3rd in a Row!

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