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For one brief night …. Napaman became… Italoman!

If you have been reading napaman for several years, you likely have a sense of the passions, which fuel stories posted on this site.

Therefore, it is time for a quiz to see if you have been paying attention:

To which of these countries would napaman move if Napa Valley became too crowded, or turned into a paved parking lot?

a) Kazakhstan

b) Ethiopia

c) Italy

If you answered (a), then I suggest you unsubscribe from napaman.com… and subscribe, instead, to postings at www.kazakhstanguy.com.

Correct Answer:  One of the countries to which I fantasize about moving for the food, the wine and lifestyle is … TA DA!... Italy.

It is a favorite destination and in recent years, I make two pilgrimages a year, in spring and fall, to check out different regions.

Last night, however, three of Italy’s best wine-producing regions came to us, courtesy of one of my favorite wine store/restaurants in the Bay-area, PRIMA, in Walnut Creek.

 

Proprietors John Rittmaster and Peter Chastain, who is the chef, host regular grape gropes, inviting winemakers from various wine regions to come and pour; elaborate dinners are created to complement their wines.

Last night, PRIMA threw what may be the year’s best tasting wine dinner/event – and it’s only February!

To honor Italian wines, which scored “tre bicchieri,” or “three glasses,” the top rank for wines featured in the Italian wine revue, Gambero Rosso, PRIMA invited one winemaker from each of Piedmont, Tuscany, and Campania, who had scored “three glasses” with at least one of their wines.

Invited were:

Mariacristina Oddero

Mariacristina Oddero, the talented winemaker/owner of Fratelli Oddero, in La Morra, Piedmont

(As Mariacristina postponed her visit to Napa Valley and the north Bay until May (can’t wait to see you then, Mariacristina!), she sent her envoy to last night’s dinner, Enrico Nicoletta, Italian Wine Director of Wine Warehouse.)

Caterina Mazzocolin

Caterina Mazzocolin, winemaker of her family’s winery, Fattoria Felsina, in Castelnuovo, Berardenga, Tuscany

Sabino Loffredo

Sabino Loffredo, winemaker of Pietracupa, situated in Avellino, Campania

The event at PRIMA was split into halves, each equally rewarding. First there was a tasting/reception, followed by a sumptuous, four-course dinner.

Each winemaker hosted a “station” in the small wine shop, pouring his, or her, wines, conversing with guests.

The grapes are this big! Winemaker Caterina Mazzocolin from Felsina describes how big the Sanigovese grapes are, which she picks. Hmmmm, must be the Sangiovese Grosso clone….

No question about it, this was THE wine of the night. At both the reception and again, at dinner. At the winery, I scored this wine 95 points, last night, I scored a recently traveled bottle 93 points, but in the context of all the superb wines poured last night, THIS was el-numero uno. You want it? PRIMA has some to sell.

What was wine importer Enrico Nicoletta looking for in John Rittmaster’s beard? His car keys? Crumbs from lunch?

The name of the wine is not easy to read on this label, but the wine is very easy to love. Greco is the name of a grape planted in southern Italy, around a small town called Tufo, in Campania. The grapes are thought to have originated in Greek times, according to winemaker Sabino Loffredo, who crafts this delicious white wine to have wonderful length and richness. I was impressed by the sensual, honeyed taste AND the honeyed texture of the wine. Greco is $24 a bottle and PRIMA is the only place I am aware, which has it.

I summarized my visit to Mariacristina’s winery in La Morra, Piedmont, last fall is this fashion: “Cristina produces liquid poetry. Her stunning, ambrosial Barolos are filled with truffle scents and ripe red fruit.” This wasn’t the case last night, I thought, for the several Barolos poured; they were tight and appeared fatigued from travel.

And then there was dinner….

Some 28 guests, including the visiting winemakers, sat down to a four-course dinner, prepared by chef Peter Chastain.

First up… a delicious carpaccio of halibut, served with shaved fennel. The dish showed great execution and the quality of the olive oil was outstanding, I don’t often sop up olive oil on my plate, but this oil compelled me to do so – highly complex, and lovely aromatics.

Served with the 2008 Pietracupa Greco di Tufo – a perfect pairing.

Chef / partner-owner Peter Chastain checked with guests every course to see how they were enjoying themselves. “VERY MUCH” was the phrase I heard over and over, throughout the evening.

Low lighting in the restaurant prohibited getting Food & Wine quality photos, but this was a delicious primo piatto, a cannelloni stuffed with wild mushrooms and fresh ricotta, baked in a pomarola (or marinara-type) tomato sauce.

Served with two wines:

2006 Fattoria Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva Cru Rancia (my favorite wine of the night by a long margin).

2006 Fattoria Felsina Fontalloro.

For the secondo piatto , guests were served a moist, delicious, perfectly prepared mixed roast, or porchetta, combining tender white rabbit, pork and fennel, served on a bed of Dinosaur Kale.

Served with two wines:

2004 Fratelli Oddero Barolo Bussia Soprana Mondoca

1996 Fratelli Oddero Barolo Vigna Rionda

For dessert, guests were served a nut cake, studded with pine nuts, scented with rosemary, sweetened with honey. It was a sensational complement to the chosen dessert wine, the 2000 Fattoria Felsina Vin Santo. A perfect ending to a perfect dinner.

To learn more about the many dinners, events, and cooking classes sponsored by PRIMA, on the restaurant side, go to http://www.primaristorante.com.

To learn more about the selections at PRIMA, the wine shop, go to http://www.primawine.com/vini/index.php

PRIMA restaurant and wine shop are at 1522 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA, 94596.

2008 – It’s the Sandra Bullock of Napa Valley Vintages!

(This is Part 3 of a 3-part story about this weekend’s Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Auction.)

Fritz Hatton, auctioneer at Premiere Napa Valley, gets the room a-rumblin’.

Build it… and they will come.

That was the moxie shown by Napa Valley Vintners, the valley’s wine trade association, which represents nearly 400 wineries. For despite the lousy economic climate, they invited 500 important wine retailers, wholesalers and restaurant wine-buyers to attend their annual Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Auction, held today at the Culinary Institute of America’s campus, in St. Helena.

Buyers came from Japan, Canada, the UK, France, Austria, Germany, and, of course, America, to bid for one-of-a-kind-lots of premium Cabernet blends.

Napa Valley Vintners pulled off a stunning coup, auctioning 200 lots of wine, raising $1,917,800. Most of the wines offered were unique Cabernet blends from the as-yet unreleased 2008 vintage.

This is a 29 percent increase over last year’s $1,487,500 auction proceeds.

Funds raised at this winter auction are applied to marketing programs to promote and protect the Napa Valley Appellation.

You really have to admire the positive outlook of Napa Valley winemakers; the world is awash in wine, and many Napa Valley wines can be found at discounts at up to 50 percent in wine stores across the country… and yet … and yet… hope springs eternal in the vineyards and wineries, which dot this demi-paradise.

The group-think is that today’s increased auction proceeds (over last year’s) will send a the message to the wine industry that retail pricing may start to firm up. Thankfully, the 2008 vintage of Napa Valley Cabs is much smaller than normal, which means the soon-to-be-released wines will not flood the market.

Some wineries acknowledge that their 2008 harvest was down 35  to 45 percent from a ‘normal’ year. I can’t remember a time when winemakers were happy that they had less wine to sell. These are curious times, indeed!

Auction results

At today’s auction, the three highest bid lots were:

+ $37,000 for 5 cases of 2008 Shafer Sunspot Vineyard. This works out to $616 a bottle.

+ $33,000 for 5 cases of Ovid Block 1A Cabernet, which works out to $550 a bottle.

+ $30,000 for 5 cases of Lewis Cellars Premiere Blend, which works out to $500 a bottle, which in the context of the prices above, sounds like a relative bargain!

My favorite wine event of the year

Premiere, my favorite local wine event of the year, brings together colorful winemakers, juicy young wines and powerful wine merchants. The auction room, filled with fluttering paddles and bidding buyers, is like a young Napa Valley Cab itself – unrestrained, filled with promise, and heartily enjoyed.

Bidders crowd into a top-floor salon at the CIA and watch, listen, and raise their paddles as 200 wine lots are auctioned. Participating wineries donate a unique blend of wine in quarter-barrel (five-case), half-barrel (10-case), or full-barrel (20-case) lots.

The Food’s as Good as the Wine at Premiere Napa Valley

In the morning, members of the wine trade and press got to taste the 200 unique blends, which were auctioned in the afternoon.

 

The barrel room at the CIA looked, and sounded, like a beehive that had just been struck with a baseball bat; there was a frenzy of noise, of buzzing, of clinking of glassware, and of high-fives.

 

For many winemakers and wine-buyers, today was their first reunion since Premiere last year.

 

At noon, a tremendous buffet was served. The fare was  fabulous, perfectly prepared and presented. Hats off to the CIA for serving food that complemented the wines. Oh, and did I mention that there were a lot of them ?

This is a veritable group grape grope, as guests are permitted to reach for any of hundreds of different labels. Guests may return to the wine tables, or food tables, as many times as they like for refills, or for diverse taste trials. That anyone is awake for the afternoon auction is a testament to the professional tasting skills of the assembled guests.

  

I stopped counting bottles, which were opened for lunch, at 300… and some of these were $150 wines. Members of the Napa Valley Vintners group donated their wines, which serve as a transmission fluid – to make the luncheon and the afternoon run smoothly.

… and here’s looking at wines at the other end of the same table

2008 – what a glorious vintage

Premiere Napa Valley is really the first time each year that the trade gets a peak at the next-to-be-released vintage of Napa Valley Cabernet. It’s a collective chance to assess the vintage and determine how consumers will like the wines.

Last year, napaman posed a common question to winemakers, asking them to assess the quality of the vintage as though it were a movie star. The results were so telling, so colorful and so original, that napaman decided to repeat the exercise this year.

So we asked: “If your 2008 Cabernet were a movie star, who would it be – and why?”

Janet Pagano and Dana Johnson, partners/owners, Ovid Napa Valley:

“2008 was our Tom Cruise vintage. It was handsome and short!”

Doug Shafer, proprietor, Shafer Vineyards:

“Our harvest in 2008 was down 30 to 40 percent from a ‘normal’ year. I’d have to say that the only Hollywood star who mirrors the vintage – short and edgy – is Danny Devito!”

 

John Williams, proprietor, Frog’s Leap Winery:

“Our crop was down 20 to 25 percent in ’08, but the fruit was intense, polished and didn’t need a lot of direction from us – it just made wonderful wine. I’d have to say that for us, 2008 was the Morgan Freeman vintage – a polished performance, requiring little direction!”

 

Cyril Chappellet, proprietor, Chappellet Winery and Vineyard:

“The vintage and resulting wine was suave, elegant and very attractive – call it the Cary Grant of vintages!”

 

Traci Seville, Clos du Val Winery:

“2008 produced wine that is really sexy, lean, and classic – call it the Jennifer Aniston vintage.”

 

Genevieve Jannsens, wine director, Robert Mondavi Winery:

“Our 2008 wine shows complexity, superb talent, is perfectly poised and destined for greatness – the Meryl Streep of wine!”

 

Jon Priest, winemaker, Etude:

“Our 2008 Cabernet has a wonderful perfume. The wine is plush, showy, complete and oozes warmth. Without question, it is the Sophia Loren vintage!”

 

Paul Colantuoni, winemaker and Mary Rocca, owner, Rocca Family Vineyards:

“’08 is a fruit-forward, easily accessible, vintage for us. It is somewhat flamboyant, very pretty, fun-loving and very engaging – without question, it is the Sandra Bullock vintage!”

 

Daniel Bailey and Stephanie Jones Bailey, proprietors, Jones Family Winery:

“We love the classic structure of ‘08, the length and the memorable finish. You know what you’re going to get – this is the Julia Roberts vintage.”

 

Treva and Mike Harris, owners Harris Estate:

“This was our first year in which the wine was made entirely by our new winemaker Thomas Brown. As a result, the wine in 2008 is pure, lush, elegant and yet restrained – just like Grace Kelly.”

 

Tim Mondavi, proprietor, Continuum:

“We are high atop the valley and 2008 produced a strong, sophisticated crop, which makes me first think of Cate Blanchett. But the wine we’ve tailored from it is aggressive, edgy and one-of-a-kind, so I’d have to say, on reflection, that it’s really the Jack Nicholson vintage!”

 

Cathy Corison, owner, and  Joyce McCollum, assistant, Corison:

“We’ve produced a wine in 2008 that is cerebral, real, complete and expressive – everything that is Meryl Streep!”

For those who have never attended one of Napa Valley’s wine auctions, here’s what happens – bidders can raise the price on a wine lot to $37,000 in under a minute! This was the action on the lot for five cases of Shafer Cabernet. Although the hammer came down at the end of the clip at $34,000, a few bidders at the back of the room had their paddles raised and after I stopped taping, Fritz Hatton re-opened the bidding war and the price jumped from $34,000 to $37,000. Or $616 a bottle, if you care about details. For those who have never attended one of Napa Valley’s wine auctions, here’s what happens – bidders can raise the price on a wine lot to $37,000 in under a minute! This was the action on the lot for five cases of Shafer Cabernet. Although the hammer came down at the end of the clip at $34,000, a few bidders at the back of the room had their paddles raised and after I stopped taping, Fritz Hatton re-opened the bidding war and the price jumped from $34,000 to $37,000. Or $616 a bottle, if you care about details.

Unlike Olympic Athletes, Napa Valley Winemakers Don’t Wait 4 Years to Show Off Their Talents!

(This is Part 2 of a 3-part, on-going story about this weekend’s Premiere Napa Valley event. Check here Sunday for a recap of the weekend’s highlight, the Barrel Auction.)

 Oh the frenzy… of tasting 36 Cabernets and 36 Chardonnays before a late breakfast this morning…

While the world parses amateur sports achievements into four-year chunks, timed with the Olympics, Napa Valley winemakers seem to be on a roll, turning out Gold medal-worthy wines year after year.

In wine-speak, every Napa Valley vintage is an Olympian achievement!

And 500 American and international wholesalers, retailers and restaurant wine-buyers are here this weekend to prove the point. They are attending Premiere Napa Valley, an annual trade event hosted by Napa Valley Vintners.

Just this morning, for example, the Rudd Center at the Culinary Institute of America, St. Helena campus, hosted a Multi-Vintage Perspective tasting, to help these professional wine-buyers sort out the merits of three recent vintages.

 

A dozen Napa Valley Cabernets, and as many Chardonnays, were poured blind for the assembled trade guests. The Cabs were from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 vintages, while the Chardonnays were from the 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintages.

Swirl… sip… spit… 36 times for Cabernet… then repeat 36 times for Chardonnay…

In previous years, as many as three vintages of 20 different Cabernets were offered blind, but I always found this to be a bit corrosive on the palate; after 15 or 20 Cabs, it becomes progressively more difficult to identify nuances between wines, which are tasted blind and without food – not how they will be enjoyed by consumers. So I was pleased to see that Napa Valley Vintners had reduced the size of the Cabernet tasting this year – to 12 wineries, each of which offered their wines from three vintages, 2005, 2006, and 2007.

My personal favorites from the blind tasting

My two favorite Cabernets tasted blind were made by Etude and Pride Mountain.

I LOVED all three of the Etude offerings but scored the 2007 Etude highest.

This wine won’t be released until winter of 2011 – so put it on your future shopping list. It exhibits oozy fruit, surreal sweetness, a gorgeous middle palate and the finish goes on for a good 30 seconds.

If I wrote “wow” as many times on this page as I did in the column of my tasting notes for Pride Mountain’s three wines, you would think my adjectival arsenal was deficient.

I LOVED all three vintages of Pride Mountain’s wines, but scored top marks for the 2005 effort, which was silken, sensual, rich, regal, and royal. It was one of those wines which I did not want to sip and spit; I wanted to “rent” it for a while, so I returned to this wine for a final swill on my way out of the tasting.

My only issue with today’s session was the accepted practice of mixing bottles for the blind tasting. Each vintage of a particular wine was presented in a carafe; when the wine in the carafe was getting low, servers topped up each respective carafe with wine from the same vintage wine but from different bottles.

Everyone in the wine business knows that there are no great wines… there are just great bottles of wine. By mixing bottles – even of the same vintage -- in a common decanter, tasters are presented with a sort-of Lowest Common Denominator of the wine… the mélange can’t be better than the poorest bottle poured into the carafe.

Point in fact: when I went back to revisit the Pride Mountain 2005, I was obviously tasting from a different mixture of bottles; the overall pleasure was not as great as the experience I had had an hour earlier.

 Alder Yarrow, founder of vinography.com

Joining Premiere attendees at the tasting this morning were some of the wine writers who are holed up for several days at Meadowood for an annual Wine Writer’s Symposium.

One of the guest panelists who sauntered over for this morning’s tasting was Alder Yarrow, the ever-pleasant founder of vinography.com. I asked one of Alder’s peers how the writers’ session was going and he reported:

“All the senior writers keep emphasizing to the young bloggers how difficult it is to make a living writing about wine, especially in the blogosphere. I think all the young, idealistic wine bloggers leave each session more despondent than when they came in.”

Permit me to sum up: If there is one thing more difficult than making money from selling wine these days, it’s making money from writing about wine.

(Just ask napaman; this site is a not-for-profit exercise in unbridled passion; I write about things, which excite me, and that’s my entire business plan in a seven-word sentence.)

And then it was Noon…

Ma(i)sonry, called “a living gallery,” by owner Michael Polenske

Out-of-town guests and wine writers were offered a choice of more than 40 lunches, tastings, and appellation events this weekend as part of Premiere festivities.

 For lunch today, I opted to visit Ma(i)sonry, a luxury art, design and wine center in Yountville, owned by Michael Polenske. It also happens to be home to Michael’s Blackbird wines, as well as a collective for a dozen other wines, which are poured on site.

 

Located in an historic 1904 stone building, Ma(i)sonry is a highly stylized, very personal reflection of Michael Polenske’s tastes. Michael developed his tastes by hanging out with the best of the best; prior to becoming CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank & Trust Co., N.A., Michael was an investment manager for high-net-worth individuals in Silicon Valley. Call this a significant kick-start in learning what constitutes collectable art.

Michael named his Yountville venture Ma(i)sonry, chosing to design it with those pesky, pain-in-the-ass, parentheses around the letter “i.”

Michael Polenske, founder of Ma(i)sonry and (a bust of) Einstein. It’s harder to say which of these guys is smarter – Polenske’s pretty bright…  and  he, at least, had the smarts to move to Napa Valley, one-up-man-ship over Einstein, if you ask me.

“’Ma(i)sonry’ is a made-up word, “says the art center’s general manager, Michael Earls. “’Maison’ in French means ‘house,” and ‘masonry’ relates to a “stone building, both of which this place is.”

A casual, intimate luncheon for 19, served in the loft at Ma(i)sonry. Blackbird winemaker  Aaron Pott stands at center, describing the wines he has chosen to serve with the different courses.

Guests at Ma(i)sonry were treated to a three-course meal, ably prepared by chef Taylor Mason. I’m surprised they didn’t make him put an “i” inside parentheses in his family name to get the job.

Is it just me, or does Aaron Pott, Blackbird winemaker, look like Quentin Tarantino in this shot?

The wines served were all made by Blackbird winemaker Aaron Pott. I was knocked out by the clarity, focus, sensuality, silkiness and lingering flavors of each of the wines presented.

 While ALL the red wines served at lunch were serious, 92-95 scoring wines, my favorite red of the meal was Blackbird Illustration, which is 70% Merlot (Polenske’s favorite grape), 20% Cab Franc, and 5% each of Cab Sauvignon and Malbec. French winemakers in Bordeaux should be so happy to have a wine as good, made with these right-bank fruits! FYI: Aaron was winemaker for a period at the excellent house Troplong-Mondot. When this guy cuts himself, he bleeds wine…

In many respects the luncheon took me back to an era – the early 1980’s – when Napa Valley wineries regularly hosted guests with this kind of food and culture, set in exquisite surroundings.

Congratulations – and thanks -- to both Michaels (Polenske & Earls), and to Taylor and Aaron for staging such a casual, but classy, luncheon.

The luncheon’s first course, a bouquet of tiny potato gnocchi, each lighter than a butterfly, tossed with Thumbelina carrots and green cauliflower florets.

What a tremendous dish; a platform of Yukon Gold potato puree, Maitake mushrooms and veal jus, topped with a single ravioli filled with a forcemeat of short rib snippets and Swiss chard, the entire creation crowned with a medallion of pinkly roasted ribeye. Polenske should make ceramic versions of this artwork and sell them as desk paperweights – they’re as eye-appealing as they were tasty.

Guests were also served a one-of-a-kind 2008 Merlot/Cab blend, which will be poured tomorrow and offered as a 5-case lot at the Premiere Barrel Auction. It, too, was a stunning revelation of violets, blackberry, and suede-textured plum.

In addition to tasting, or being able to purchase Blackbird and Ma(i)sonry brand wines at Ma(i)sonry, visitors can taste, or purchase, wines from these other area wineries:

Brown Estate – Chiles Valley, Napa Valley

Husic Vineyards – Perched above Stags Leap, Napa Valley

Juslyn Vineyards – Spring Mountain, Napa Valley

Lail Vineyards – Napa Valley

L’Angevin Wines – Sonoma County

Pedras Wine Company – Stags Leap District, Napa Valley

Peirson Meyer- Sonoma Coast and Napa Valley

Renteria Wines – Napa Valley, Russian River, Sonoma Coast

Rivera Vineyards- Atlas Peak

Skipstone- Alexander Valley

Tamber Bey- Napa Valley

Tor Kenward Family Wines – Napa and Sonoma County

Uvaggio – California

When you visit Napa Valley and seek relief from the nearly 500 wineries which mostly only serve wine, consider a pit stop at Ma(i)sonry – where you can stroll outdoors while you sip any of 14 different brands of wine, and take in some wonderfully inventive art.

6711 Washington St., Yountville, CA, 94559. Tel: 707-944-0889. For more details, go to www.maisonry.com

Forget the Olympics – we’ve got WINE!

(This is Part 1 of a 3-part, on-going story about this weekend’s Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Auction. Check back Friday night and Sunday for additional updates.)

Invitation to the Next Generation social event

Snow lovers have amassed in Vancouver, BC, for the Olympics, but no less enthusiastically, wine buyers have congregated here this weekend to cheer for their own favorite Gold medal favorite – Napa Valley wine.

 

More than 500 wholesalers, and retail and restaurant wine-buyers, are here to attend Premiere Napa Valley, a spirited annual trade event sponsored by Napa Valley Vintners.

While the highlight of the event is Saturday’s barrel auction of one-of-a-kind wines, for several days’ prior, guests are invited to a surfeit of parties, luncheons, buffets, dinners and barbeques, sponsored by appellation groups, or high-profile wineries.

 

Napaman has been invited to numerous functions, luncheons, and winery open houses. But with only one good arm at present (post-operative, rotator cuff surgery) napaman has had to be more selective than usual. Of the many Thursday events offered, I chose to attend one -- NG: The Next Generation in Wine. This informal, commercial group is composed of second- and third-generation winemakers, who are taking the reins from their successful families, aiming to keep California’s wine glut alive for at least another 25 years.

 

No fewer than 15 NG wineries assembled at the just-opened Farmstead Restaurant, in St. Helena to pour their newest releases. Farmstead is a stunning restaurant conceived by Ted and Laddie Hall of Longmeadow Ranch Winery, which also happens to be one of the wineries in the NG group. Farmstead opened a few nights ago.

Ted Hall, owner of Long Meadow Ranch, and owner of Farmstead Restaurant, which specializes in beef raised at – who’d a thunk it? -- Long Meadow Ranch.

Garrett Ahnfeldt of G Wine Cellars, made only 572 bottles of his 2006 Mt. Veeder Cabernet, which he poured at the Next Generation tasting. The wine is filled with loads of dark, ripe black currant and hints of chocolate.

 

Judd Finkelstein, of Judd’s Hill fame, pours several of his family’s wines. Napaman particularly liked the 2006 Petite Sirah made from 100 percent Lodi fruit; very spicy, juicy and jumpy.

 

Ryan Hill, whose family owns Hill Family Estate, is joined by Nicole Johnson at the Next Generation tasting; they made 365 cases of the 2007 Hill Family Estate Syrah, which Ryan says is produced from fruit grown “just behind the Walmart in American Canyon.” That’s some claim to fame! Even so, the wine is delicious.

 

Wesley Steffens of Vineyard Seven & Eight, on Spring Mountain, pours his family’s 2007 Cabernet, grown at 2,000 feet elevation.

 

 Michael, the dad (or “Before Generation”) and James, the 29-year-old son (or “Next Generation”) Stewart, producers of Stewart Cellars. My favorite wine of the event, the 2006 Stewart Cabernet boasts fruit from three local vineyards: Stagecoach, State Lane and Crystal Springs Vineyards. The wine retails for $62 but tastes like it costs $100. This is a luscious, supple, balanced, elegant wine. I underlined “sensational” three times in my notebook. Paul Hobbs is the consulting winemaker – his efforts show.

A general observation

I thought the comments of a French-schooled winemaker, who was present at the NG event, were relevant; I commented that many of the wines I tasted were lackluster, austere, lacked fruit or elegance.

The French-trained winemaker said: “I could have predicted it. The barometer is falling and there is a storm front moving in. It’s a known thing in winemaking circles in France that wines show poorly when a storm is moving in – the barometric pressure drop has a negative effect on wine.”

Call it poppycock if you like, but Frenchmen who believe in this weather effect happen to make some of the planet’s best wines. So who are we to deny that it might be true?

A new chocolate -- hard to pronounce, easy to love!

 You can take the boy out of Madagascar but you can't take Madagascar out of the boy.

Cofounder of Madécasse, Brett Beach

At least this is true of Brett Beach, a 35-year-old chocolate aficionado, now living in Oakland, California.

Brett and his business partner, Tim McCollum, were both Peace Corps volunteers working in Madagascar 1999 to 2001. The young men fell in love with the island (off the East Coast of Africa) and stayed beyond their Peace Corps contracts to find additional work in the field of NGO development.

The lads and their chocolate were brought to my attention by a good friend and napaman.com reader, Kathy Gracey, in Jacksonville, OR, who rose to the occasion when, in a recent column about Amano Chocolate, I asked readers to share any new, or favorite, boutique, or artisan, chocolates with which I might not be familiar. Kathy not only sent me a note about Madécasse, she even sent me a bar! Thanks, Kathy.

Chocolate partners Tom McCollum and Brett Beach

But back to the lads in Madagascar. “It was hard not to fall in love with the local products,” says Brett, pointing out that among the different finished products made in Madagascar, perhaps the most delicious is chocolate. “We really loved the chocolate made on the island,” he adds.

Drying cacao in Madagascar

When their tour of duty was up, Brent and Tim returned to the US armed with bars of a Madagascan chocolate which they have now named Madécasse, which just happens to be an antiquated French word for "Madagascar." (It’s pronounced mah-DAY-cas.)

As the pair of chocolate neophytes can’t afford the costs associated with obtaining organic status for their chocolate (even though it technically is…), they simply mark their bars and literature "organic growing conditions."

"We make sure that we have created a sustainable business for our farmer/growers and for ourselves," says Brett. "We also pay 1.4 times the going price for fair trade cacao to give our farmers a better return for their harvest.”

I asked Brett about the origin of cacao on the island of Madagascar and he said that the original stock was brought from Venezuela and, to his knowledge, 70% of the cacao harvested on the island are criollo/trinitario beans.

Madécasse is available in specialty gourmet stores across the country for about $5.99 a tablet. There are four ‘bars’, on which my tasting notes follow.

63% Dark Chocolate

Has a darkish, earthy aroma, revealing very little on the palate; has a short lift, or profile, and ends rather abruptly. If anything, butter is one of the more noticeable flavors. 88 points.

 

 

67% Dark Chocolate

Now we’re starting to “tawk chocolate.” This is a much more complex chocolate revealing layers of espresso, forest ferns and a few bark-y bottom notes. At the finish, the taste reminds me of the wax, red gum/teeth candies we used to eat as kids in the 50s, but I mean this in a pleasant way. You know the ones I mean? 89 points.

 

 

70% Dark Chocolate

Slow to release, but once it does, there are hints of dried cherry and brewed, black coffee. 90 points.

 

75% Dark Chocolate

This is the “Aha!” bar of the bunch, a delicious, compelling, rich, complex tablet; the chocolate has great mouthfeel, and there are lots of chocolate and coffee flavors throughout the chew and in the lingering finish. This is the Bravo bar of the set. 91 points.

While Madécasse chocolates do not have the acidity, complexity, or finish of some of the artisanal Venezuelan, or Ecuadorian, chocolates, which we have reviewed on this site, they’re not priced like them either.

For more information, or to order online, go to http://store.madecasse.com/