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Napaman’s Best Wines of the Year

Wine critic and flamboyant wine-marketer James Suckling boasts that he and his tiny team taste 25,000 wines a year.

That’s 68 bottles a day, day after day, even on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

That’s also asinine.

In his wine-tasting hey-day, Robert Parker annually came to Napa Valley to assess a new vintage; he’d taste through 450 palate-bruising, purple-teeth-staining, Napa Valley Cabernets in three days. That’s 150 bottles a day!

No one, not even Bob Parker, can taste that many corrosive wines in a day and really assess their beauty, finesse and perfections.

The only wines that stand out when you taste this many at once are the over-alcoholic, over-extracted, over-oaked, aberrant wines. And when these hyper-exaggerated wines stand out from a pack tasted all together, these are the wines given a score of 100, simply because they poke their head out of a field of more nuanced wines. It’s the oddball wines that get the high scores and resultant press.

In my world, my end-of-year wine notes are assembled over 365 days, one wine at a time. With dinner.

In this manner, my few favorites this year were discovered one by one, WITH FOOD, which is what wine is all about and what it is intended to complement. All those wines tasted by critics Parker, Galloni and Suckling are rated with hundreds of other wines at the same time without food.

I kind of like the way I do things, and how I rate my wines.

“Okay the suspense is killing me, what are your favorite wines this year, Napaman?”

As has become my tradition, toward the end of the year, I roll the calendar backwards, reviewing the best wines that I have had the past year. So let’s get to it.

There were not many positive things you can say about COVID-19, but the resulting quarantine sent many of us deep into our cellars to discover long-lost wines hiding in corners.

In June, we had a most rare experience on our then 117^th day of quarantine – three perfect, 100-point wines. How rare is that?!

The occasion was a visit from San Francisco of very close friends with whom we maintained proper social distance.

On the occasion of their visit, I called G&G (Goose & Gander), in St. Helena, home of the BEST BURGER IN NAPA VALLEY and asked chef Nic to supply me with two dozen of his insanely delicious burgers, frozen.

I figured that the Best Burger in Napa Valley required the Best Cabernets in Napa Valley, so I pulled out three different labels from three different vintages, hoping they’d be showstoppers.

Each turned out to be, respectively, a perfect, textbook, 100-point, wine.

2001 Rudd Cabernet, Oakville

The Rudd Oakville Cab, despite being 19-years-old, was still extremely youthful, filled with vigor and bright fruit. I raised a glass and toasted to the memory of Lesley Rudd, a friend who died a few years ago. He was the brains and brawn behind this wine. You can’t make a more perfect, more balanced, more nuanced, more satisfying wine. Loads of dark, ripe fruit, and a velour-like texture.

100 points.

2011 Kathryn Hall, Cabernet, red label

A comment about the 2011 Napa Valley vintage; James Laube of the Wine Spectator, and other wine writers, killed this vintage at the start, claiming that 2011 was a wet, less-than-stellar vintage, in essence, a major disappointment.

I begged to differ then – and still do -- and wrote numerous contrarian pieces at the time, forecasting that 2011 was going to be a supremely gratifying vintage. I predicted that the better wines would have balance, be less alcoholic, show finesse and elegance after six to nine years.

Let me count… 2020 minus 2011…. equals 9 years. Just as I predicted!

This is why the 2011 Kathryn Hall is showing so well right now – what a gorgeous wine! Filled with balance, elegance, and all those other “ance” words – like nuance, vibrance, endurance.

I have had numerous bottles of this red label Kathryn Hall wine from 2011 and each has flirted with 99-100 points. This bottle was particularly good, the wine so pleasing, so complementary to our barbecued G&G burgers that the union seemed to have the blessing of a higher order.

100 points.

2002 Harris Estate Vineyards, Treva’s Vineyard

The 2002 Harris Cabernet was a real treat, my sole remaining bottle and one I had completely forgotten I had in the cellar.

Mike and Treva Harris were close friends while they lived in Napa Valley; from their vineyard in Calistoga, they produced some exceptionally brilliant wines (several years ago, they sold their vineyards and gorgeous home and moved to Park City, Utah).

I wrote many times about their sensational wines, which were made by a succession of different winemakers, but the fruit was so good from their vineyards that even a neophyte winemaker couldn’t screw things up.

These were fantastic, magical, Cabernets. I had forgotten how good the Treva’s Vineyard offering was – this 2002 was filled with super-ripe dark fruit, exhibits a finish of ripe boysenberries. How delicious and what a complement to the G&G burgers!

100 points.

Oh, and let’s not forget those burgers – easily 100 points themselves!

Andy Florsheim, proprietor of G&G, has just temporarily closed the restaurant in St. Helena but says that he will reopen for outdoor dining at the very least in the spring, likely around late March.

Andy, don’t forget to let me know when you re-open… I will be down a few quarts of G&G burgers and several gallons of your sensational Manhattans by then!

Bravo to Hall Winery for Keeping up our Spirits!

If you are a resident of Napa Valley… or an occasional visitor here… chances are that you have driven by Bunny Foo Foo, the 35-foot tall, stainless-steel sculpture that highlights the roadside vineyard of Hall Winery, in St. Helena.

For the record: I LOVE this whimsical sculpture, created by English sculptor Lawrence Argent; it puts the fun into wine-making and wine-tasting, which can get a bit too serious. C’mon people – wine is a lifestyle beverage, not bleach to drink to avoid getting Covid-19!

At various times of the year, Bunny Foo Foo, named after a children’s poem about a pestering rabbit, dons calendar-relevant garb – a conical witch’s hat around Halloween, or a basketful of colorful eggs at Easter.

But thanks to Kathryn and Craig Hall, for elevating our spirits during the coronavirus pandemic… Bunny Foo Foo now sports the mandatory-in-public face mask!

Thanks for the chuckle, Kathryn and Craig.

And by the way, I continue to enjoy cases of your 2012 WALT Pinot Noirs and 2015 Hall Winery Cabernets, which I overbought years ago. They’re still rockin’ delicious! Longevity, as well as balance and flavor, are Hallmarks of Hall wines!

Napaman’s Best Wines of the Year

The single best wine I tasted this year was bright, balanced, and filled with personality.

And, did I mention, it was 221-years-old?

I’m referring to a 1795 Barbeito (producer) Tarrantez (the grape) Madeira.

The fruit for this wine was picked when George Washington was our president.

In hindsight, 2016 was a stellar year for tasting the fortified wine from Madeira, an island afloat in the middle of the north Atlantic Ocean.

I tasted exceptional Madeiras on two occasions this year. You can recap the original stories here:

From a tasting on Valentine’s Day, in San Francisco

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2016/02/i-spent-valentines-day-with-an-old-heart-throb-a-216-year-old-wine-that-is-still-youthful.html

From a 2-day tasting in Seattle with America’s Madeira guru, Roy Hersh

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2016/04/george-washington-was-president-when-this-wine-was-made-and-its-still-young-brilliant-and-lively.html - http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2016/04/george-washington-was-president-when-this-wine-was-made-and-

In summary, here is a chronological ramble of my Best Wines of 2016.

February

We weren’t very far into the year when I attended a rare Madeira tasting in San Francisco; Mannie Berk, of the Rare Wine Co., poured 16 Madeiras, the oldest was 216-years-old, from 1800.

The tasting produced three perfect (100 point) wines.

In addition to the unique taste of Madeira, when you drink any wine of 200 year’s age, there is this immutable and impressive fact:

There is NO ONE ON THE PLANET alive today who was alive when this wine was made.

EVERY SINGLE HUMAN ON OUR PLANET AT THE TIME THIS WINE WAS PRODUCED IS DEAD.

So, yes, with an old Madeira, you truly are drinking a snapshot of history.

1834 Barbeito Malvasia

A truly sensational wine, balanced, elegant, exhibiting notes of raisin and brown sugar with a bright undertow of acidity and then, on the finish, sublime salinity. A perfect 100-point wine.

1863 Barbeito MMV Malvasia

MMVF are the initials of Ricardo Freitas’ (he owns Barbeito today) mother, who, during her lifetime, guarded the evolution of this wine, which, only recently was moved from storage to bottle.

This wine has many of the characteristics of the 1834 Madeira above, though it is 29 years younger. (Such a youth!)

Coffee, treacle and burnt orange peel notes arouse your senses; there is richness and warmth in the mouth; this is a generous wine wanting to please. Until I tasted the other two wines, highlighted here, I had already thought of naming this 1863 Malvasia as my Wine of the Year -- and yet we were only into February!

I have reconsidered, and think that all THREE of these Madeiras merit a position on napaman’s compendium of Best Wines of the Year. 100 points.

1885 Barbeito Verdelho

Verdelho is a grape that mostly produces a drier-style Madeira. Even so, this wine offers delicious brown sugar top notes on the middle palate, sports great acidity and has a long, focused finish.

If this Madeira were an Olympic marathoner, it would be one of those Kenyans gracefully racing to the finish line, arriving well ahead of the pack, without ever skipping a heartbeat, or an ounce of breath. 100 points

2005 Masseto

A bit later in the month, I had the privilege of tasting my first-ever Masseto, often called “the Chateau Petrus of Italy.”

It also costs like Petrus; the bottle friends brought to our home for dinner has a price tag up to $1200 in the secondary market.

The wine was paired with perfectly roasted, moist and juicy, farmhouse chicken. The Masseto blew the hinges off the dinner door, surpassing ten other wines, which I served to our eight assembled dinner guests.

The Masseto was sublime; it exhibited such finesse, balance and warmth that it sucked me in, made me think I was drinking an elixir worthy of royalty.

The rich, ripe fruit, integrated tannins, and exceptional finish made me rethink and revere Merlot all over again. From the house of Ornellaia. 98 points.

April

And then, in April, I attended a two-day Madeira event in Seattle, WA, organized by Port and Madeira expert Roy Hersh, which produced three additional Best Wines of the Year.

(Yes, I am running this photo again -- a) because I Can! and b) because anytime you experience a wine of this profound age and vibrancy, you can talk about it, and show pictures of it, as much and as often as you like!)

1795 Barbeito Terrantez

Terrantez is one of the original grapes used to make Madeira. This bottle presented a wine of profound depth and harmony. On the nose there were bright, warm scents of chocolate, amber-grade maple syrup, marzipan, and the salted caramels made by San Francisco chocolatier Michael Recchiuti.

The color was one of dark mahogany, the color of a sideboard in an old southern colonial home.

I was knocked out by the peppery attack and long lasting peppery finish. Even at 221 years of age, this wine was lively, spirited, delivering flavors of warm bread, yeast, treacle, and molasses.

This wine is a complete symphony of flavors and scents; there are fruited notes, including strawberry; the finish goes on for a minute or more. There are hints of rum-raisin, hot-cross buns, wine-gum candies and cola.

In short, this wine is a religious experience; it may be what Heaven tastes like.

Thank you Eric Ifune, from Las Vegas, for bringing this wine to the Seattle tasting, and thank you again, Roy Hersh, for organizing this transformative (at least for me) Madeira tasting. The wine: 100 points. The weekend Madeira tasting experience: 100 points.

1886 Barbeito Malvasia

I brought this Madeira to the Seattle tasting; it turned out to be a favorite of many guests at the event, and I thought it rocked, too.

Initial tastes: honey, yeast, malted barley, molasses, tobacco bordering on cigar wrapper, marzipan, and even a hint of shiny floor wax.

The wine exhibits great acidity; this is a vibrant wine – you’d NEVER guess that it’s 120-years-old. Very complex. Gorgeous. 98 points.

1895 D’Oliveiras Malvasia

On the nose, hints of orange peel, honey cake, spearmint, and tobacco. On the palate, there are elements of orange peel and fruit cake, all of it fused with a core of bright acidity. Extremely complex and compelling. 96 points.

Then, three days after this extraordinary Madeira event, the bottom fell out of my life; my BFFF – Best Four-Footed Friend ever – died.

Linus, was an amazing, life-of-the-party, Goldendoodle with palpable personality, who got too old too fast. He died a few weeks shy of his 13^th birthday.

To honor his memory, the day after he died, Mrs. Napaman said she wanted to cook a dinner to celebrate Linus’ life – so she made homemade chicken soup from scratch, which was Linus’ favorite meal. For 13 years, Mrs. Napaman made Linus his own chicken soup from scratch once, or twice, a week to spark up his kibble.

To commemorate Linus’ life, I chose a wine from his birth year to complement the rich, nourishing chicken soup, filled with moist chunks of chicken – the 2003 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon.

Due to the occasion, and because the wine was just so damned near perfect in every way – color, aroma, texture and swallow – I scored the wine 98 points, and the soup 100 points.

Linus would have been pleased. As my BFFF, he scored 100 points every day of his life, of which there were 4,710. And, if I were given the chance, I would trade a case of Madeira to be able to spend one more day with him. 

And then, to lighten my mood and distract me, before the month was out, the Robert Mondavi Winery held a massive, three-day event to celebrate the upcoming 50^th anniversary of the eponymous winery, which Bob Mondavi started in 1966.

Napaman was one of very few guests invited to the pre-event and I am eternally grateful to the organizers for including me.

The highlights of the three-day tasting were recorded here:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2016/04/napa-valleys-most-memorable-wine-event-of-the-year-robert-mondavi-winery-turns-50.html

It is critical that I add all 50 vintages of Mondavi wine to this year-end summary, because, taken as a whole, they constitute a lifetime’s oeuvre.

I was particularly bowled over by the first vintage produced here, the still bright, 1966 Cabernet, and I loved the 1969, which was still at an apogee of complexity, length and vigor.

Warren Winiarski

For me, the single most memorable moment of the year in wine-speak, occurred at the Mondavi 50^th Anniversary gala dinner.

At the Monday night dinner for 75 former winemakers, vineyard managers and close friends of the winery, the hosts poured, among many wines and many vintages, the 1966 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon, leaving only three bottles of this compelling wine in the cellar at Mondavi.

1966 was the first vintage of Mondavi Cabernet ever made.

After the wine was poured, Warren Winiarski, who was seated next to Margrit Biever Mondavi, stood up and said loudly and proudly,

“Hello, my name is Warren Winiarski AND I MADE THIS WINE (50 years earlier)!

Everyone in the room got goose bumps. The dining room erupted in thunderous applause, and many gave Warren a standing ovation.

In a lifetime of writing about wine and profiling famous, and not so famous, winemakers, this was simply an astounding, once-in-a-lifetime experience. How many winemakers are still around 50 years after their first wine? And when such an event occurs, how many of those first wines do you suspect would still be supple, confident, and delicious 50 years later – as was the 1966 Mondavi Cabernet the night we tasted it?

Bravo to Robert Mondavi, who had the vision to pick Warren as his first winemaker! Bravo to Warren for making such a profound statement. Bravo to Bob, who was a dear friend, for sharing his vision of what Napa Valley could produce.

June

You don’t see a lot of French Burgundy (Pinot Noir grape) on Napaman’s annual Best of the Year wine list. It’s not called the Heartbreak Grape for nothing.

How many bottles of Burgundy do you have to open to get a bottle that you can rave about?

Answer: Too many.

Many years, though, a Willamette Valley Pinot, from Oregon, appears on my list because these Pinots deliver in spades – unctuous texture, sublime ripe fruit, ethereal balance and rich complexity. Oh wait, I’ve just described the 2006 Patricia Green Cellars Croft Vineyard Pinot Noir I drank while the Warriors lost Game 6 of the NBA finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This was a profound wine and at ten years of age, seamless, gorgeous, a near-perfect drinking experience. 98 points.

In June, napaman was invited to a wine seminar in Coombsville, one of 16 designated sub-appellations in Napa Valley.

For decades, grape producers in Coombsville have been supplying exceptional fruit to the big boys in Oakville and Rutherford where the resultant wines are sold in fashionable, extra-heavy bottles for a fortune.

During my wine reconnaissance, I discovered one of my Napa Valley wine-finds of the year – Scalon Cellars.

I loved the 2013 Scalon Cellars Cabernet, scoring it 96 points the day I tasted it in June... and then scored it the same again in August, when I met with winery partners Jesus Espinoza and Cruz Calderon at their vineyard property.

This is a voluptuous, heady, complex, cocoa-tinged, flesh bomb of underpriced Cabernet; I urge readers to connect with business associate Tim Goodwin to acquire one of the very few cases, which remain. His cell is: (925) 658-2151. Good luck!

Having had so many spectacular high-scoring wines, and having been invited to the two Madeira tastings and Mondavi event in the first half of the year, I failed to find any wines, or events, in the second half of the year worthy of being added to this rich list.

But the truth is, I am still running high on the vapors of the two Madeira tastings and the historical Mondavi Cabernet tasting.

Best wishes to readers for a healthy, happy and wine-filled 2017.

My Favorite Summer Cocktail!

My hat is off to Coqueta, my favorite Spanish restaurant in the Bay area, and, for that matter, probably anywhere in the country.

They do so many things right at Coqueta, but the bar item that caught my fancy, and which spawned numerous home trials to reproduce it, is Coqueta’s Gin Tonic – which is how the Spanish refer to the refreshing, breezy, delicious drink we know as GinandTonic.

For the longest time, Coqueta only had one outpost – in San Francisco, on the Embarcadero. So napaman felt compelled to learn how to make this cocktail, because how often was I going to be in San Francisco, I asked myself?

Little did I know that plans were underfoot to open Coqueta Napa Valley, just behind Michael Chiarello’s destination restaurant, Bottega, in Yountville (Michael is the brains behind Bottega and Coqueta). So when it opened, I no longer really had the pressure to finesse the cocktail at home, but I pressed on anyway.

I think, humbly, that I have improved on the original, Coqueta-inspired Spanish Gin Tonic and want to share it with readers. The summer is hot, this drink is refreshing – what more needs to be said?

The secret ingredients

Secrets of the Coqueta SGT include:

Not all gins are created equal. I’ve made multiple versions of this cocktail using different gins and each one adds, or subtracts, an essential element of the finished cocktail. Bloom gin, imported from England, is Coqueta’s choice and a smart one, indeed!

As Bloom is looking for a new national distributor just now, I was only able to snag five bottles of this gin from a Florida retailer. I am guarding my stash until more becomes available in the marketplace.

You can make this drink with Plymouth, Martin Miller, Bombay Sapphire, or 209 gin and each version will be different. One of my runner-up favorites uses a very inexpensive, commonplace gin -- Gordon’s.

If you don’t know Fever-Tree Tonic, you are about to have an Aha! Moment. Forget ALL those other household, commonplace tonics and ginger ales. Fever-Tree, made in England, is THE only tonic, club soda, or ginger ale, to have in your home.

It comes in two sizes and is available in fine grocery stores (I buy mine at Whole Foods) and also can be found at Cost Plus/World Market.

Your Spanish GT will NOT be as good as mine if you use any other brand of tonic. Trust me on this.

Also, while Coqueta uses the full-sugared version of Fever-Tree Tonic, I prefer their “Naturally Light,” which has reduced sugar and suffers nothing at all from the reduction of sugar and calories.

The restaurant adds a small slice of grapefruit; I find that stripping a wide peel off the rind of a grapefruit adds some essential oils to the final cocktail which helps lengthen the flavor profile of the drink.

Coqueta adds edible flowers and thyme to its SGT. We’ve started to grow our own edible flowers for our nightly, 5 pm cocktail hour. Violets and borage are two of the more colorful, edible flowers to be included.

Also add a sprig, or two, of thyme, which adds herbal zip to the beverage.

As juniper berries are an essential part of the flavoring of gin itself, I found it natural to add a few more to the cocktail. I add four berries to every glass of SGT, which I prepare.

The restaurant takes the use of juniper berries a step further and toasts them before adding them to the cocktail; I don’t think my version suffers for NOT toasting – so don’t feel compelled to toast your juniper berries.

The basic napaman recipe for Spanish Gin Tonic goes like this:

For each glass:

Fill a large wine glass (stemless, or with stem), whisky glass, or attractive water glass with clear ice.

Pour 2 ounces of Bloom gin, or gin of your choice, over the ice.

Cut a wide swath off rind off a grapefruit and slip the piece between the side of the glass and the ice cubes.

Add 4 juniper berries.

Add colorful edible flowers and thyme spring to taste.

Add 2 to 3 ounces of Fever-Tree Naturally Light Tonic and stir.

Taste and if you feel your drink needs more tonic… add more, but it is always more agreeable to add tonic than it is to realize you’ve added too much tonic at the start.

If you want to try the cocktail at Coqueta, go ahead – they are made identically at both locations. THEY ARE ALMOST AS GOOD AS MINE! (LOL)

Coqueta,Pier 5 The Embarcadero, San Francisco. 415-704-8866

Coqueta Napa Valley, 6525 Washington St, Yountville. 707-244-4350

The revolution at Pahlmeyer has begun!

 

Vive la révolution!

Under the direction of new winery President, Cleo Pahlmeyer, daughter of founder Jayson Pahlmeyer, there is a slow, subtle tweak coming to one of Napa Valley’s premiere cult wines, Pahlmeyer.

Successfully tweaking the personality and profile of any successful brand, especially one which has won accolades for 30 years, is no small challenge.

Cleo’s task is a bit like that of the captain of a huge super-tanker, who decides half-way across the Pacific that the onboard compass needs to be reset for a different destination – so the captain aims to steer the ship to head for a different point on the horizon.

You ever try to turn a super-tanker around?

Excuse Napaman for mixing metaphors, but to my mind, this is a bit what Cleo’s self-imposed undertaking resembles.

She’s going to press success and make things - like the taste profile and actual bottle design of Pahlmeyer – better. In my mind, that’s like changing the direction of a super-tanker.

Cleo Pahlmeyer, President of the winery.

Cleo has taken the reins of Pahlmeyer from her dad, Jayson, who founded the winery, producing his first glorious vintage in 1986.

Jayson is in good spirits and fine health, but thought that it was time to turn over operational responsibilities to his family’s next-gen, next-gender. Hence, Cleo’s move from the dugout to the batter’s box.

I asked Cleo what she would like to achieve, now that she is running the show.

“We really want to create the gold standard of Napa Valley wine,” Cleo told me.

“We want to make a classic Napa Valley red wine showing richness, power, and volume, whose hallmarks are alluring aromatics and freshness. We think we can make even better wine than we do now by farming our vineyards with more precision. At harvest, we want to up our game and handle the fruit less. We want to be able to taste the vineyard site in our finished wine.”

Based on whom Cleo’s hired to execute her vision, I think she is likely to succeed.

You see, Cleo has just hired Jennifer Williams as Pahlmeyer’s new winemaker.

Remember, you read this here first.

Jennifer Williams, Pahlmeyer’s new winemaker.

Napaman is the only media outlet to get wind of this sea-change at Pahlmeyer.

As well, Napaman was also the ONLY journalist invited to an all-day retrospective tasting of all 30 vintages of Pahlmeyer.

(For clarity, perspective, and full disclosure, I am a long-time friend of Cleo and her husband, Jamie Watson, which is why I was asked to join the otherwise private, staff-only tasting.)

If the name Jennifer Williams rings a bell, it may be because you have enjoyed her delicious, beautifully crafted wines, which she has made at other Napa Valley wineries.

Jennifer William 

Perhaps you have been lucky enough to drink Spottswoode Cabernets from vintages 2006 through 2011 -- ALL the handiwork of Jennifer, now 42. 

Jennifer had the good fortune to be mentored by some of the top wine people in the industry, including the Stephen Curry of vineyard managers, David Abreu, and winemaker Francoise Peschon at Araujo Estate.

(Today, Jennifer and her husband, Mark Porembski, work together to produce their own wine, Zeitgeist Cellars, for which they craft small batches of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.)

Todd Kohn 

Helping Jennifer is Todd Kohn, associate winemaker at Pahlmeyer. As well, Todd is full-on winemaker at Pahlmeyer’s Sonoma Coast winery, Wayfarer, where he makes delicious, Burgundy-style, Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.

To determine a new direction for Pahlmeyer wines, Cleo said that she had to first understand the evolution of the wine to date, so she arranged a tasting of all 30 vintages – everything ever produced – and assembled a small panel to taste the wines in Yountville last week. Napaman attended the tasting.

This is what a table looks like when you assemble your team… and 30 vintages of Pahlmeyer.

The wines were arranged in five flights, grouped by whomever was the winemaker at the time. 

Over 30 years, Pahlmeyer has had a succession of winemakers, each lasting five, or six, years, including, in historical chronology, Randy Dunn, Helen Turley, Erin Green, Kale Anderson and Bibiana Gonzalez Rabe. 

The Pahlmeyer team tasted 30 vintages of the winery’s proprietary red, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec.

Among my favorite wines of the 30 vintages were those made in the ‘80s by Randy Dunn and the ones in the 90s, made by Helen Turley.

The 1990 Pahlmeyer, even though 28 years old, tasted like a current-release wine, filled with contemporary freshness, bright acidity, good balance and ample vigor. Quite a delight. 94 points.

My favorite from the Turley era was her 1994 Pahlmeyer, which exhibited sweet, mature fruit, smart acidity, and tremendous balance. I noted that this wine tasted extremely refreshing, which is not a word I often use to describe 24-year-old Napa Valley Cabs. Great job! 96 points.

Jamie Watson, full-time lawyer in private practice and part-time consigliere to his wife, Cleo Pahlmeyer, and her family.

“In addition to improving our wine and strengthening our brand, our next strategic move will be to build our own winery and have our own hospitality center,” Jamie told me at the tasting.

Dave Wilson, Pahlmeyer director of vineyard operations

Like Jennifer Williams, Dave Wilson will bear a lot of the responsibility going forward to produce a “Gold Standard” proprietary red wine. Dave oversees 12 separate vineyards for the company, five of which are groomed specifically for Pahlmeyer’s proprietary red.

One of the essential properties supplying Cabernet for Pahlmeyer is Dave’s own family’s vineyard, Rancho Chimiles, east of Atlas Peak, on a swale about 600 feet in elevation.

Rancho Chimiles has been Pahlmeyer’s backbone source of Cabernet for 25 consecutive vintages. If I told you the coordinates of the vineyard, or shared a photo, the Pahlmeyer crew would kill me, so don’t ask. I need to be home for supper tonight.

If you are interested in getting on the mailing list, or joining any of several wine club programs, go to pahlmeyer.com.

My favorite Napa Valley Cabernet – and you’ve never heard of it!

Fasten your seat belt; I am going to tell you about one of the best Cabernets in Napa Valley and the only way to get it is to join the winery’s mailing list. It’s not available in any retail store.

The view when you taste ADV wines at the home of the producers

Forget those $350 bottles of Cabernet with enough gold filigree on the label to make the winery owner another gold pinky ring.

Forget the over-extracted, over-alcoholized, over-oaked, fruit bombs, which have come to define “Napa Valley Cabernet.”

Forget over-priced wines, of which there are many in this valley.

This is a story about a wine with finesse and elegance; about a wine, which actually complements food; about a wine which is ethereally balanced. And which doesn’t cost a fortune relative to what’s in the marketplace.

Here’s the skinny:

This is the story about a three-lettered label, ADV, which is an acronym for the owners, Robert Adler (the A) and his wife, Alexis Deutsch (the D), while the V stands for Vineyard.

I have been acquiring Adler Deutsch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon since the first vintage, in 2008, and it just keeps getting better both stylistically, and as the vines mature.

It also has grown in stature because of the production team, which Rob and Alexis have nurtured.

Winemaker Aaron Pott

Aaron Pott, the extremely skilled Mt. Veeder winemaker, is ADV’s wine guru. At age 26, Aaron solidified his reputation when he was hand-picked to make the wines for one of Bordeaux’ top houses, Chateau Troplong-Mondot, a Premier Grand Cru Classe wine in St.-Emilion.

Aaron then went on to become wine director/winemaker at another legendary property, Chateau La Tour Figeac. Let me tell you, this guy dreams in phenolic colors.

And as smart as Aaron is, and as skilled as Aaron is, that’s how nice he is.

Desmond Echavarrie

Helping Rob and Alexis put ADV into a select few of the nation’s top restaurants required Desmond Echavarrie’s skill, palate and contact list. Des, as he is known to friends, surrounds himself exclusively with premium, small-production wines.

As a certified Master Sommelier, Des is building a small business to place Napa Valley’s top wines (personally selected by him) in strategically important venues across the country. ADV is one of only 20 wines, which Des has committed to place.

I took an instant liking to Des and was bowled over by his phenomenally accurate, and sensitive, sense of smell and taste.

Rob and Alexis, pictured above, are committed to grow the best grapes their soil will produce.

Rob, a former doctor in LA, and Alexis, a creative fiction writer and talented artist, donate 100 percent of ALL profits of their wine activity to charities, which support families needing food and safe shelter. As well, they fund inner-city arts programs. They keep nothing for themselves.

Much as they are not in this for profit, so too are they not in it for ego-driven needs; if anything, Rob and Alexis are self-contained, soft-spoken, and lead very private lives.

But wait, there’s more....

The reason you haven’t heard about ADV wines until now is because only 225 cases are produced annually and they are quickly purchased by a small band of sophisticated, dedicated, wine consumers.

I put ADV wine in the same class as Spottswoode, whose wine I also buy annually in a six-pack format. If you asked me which Napa Valley wines I would take to a desert island, they would be, plain and simple, ADV and Spottswoode. Napa Valley Cabs don’t get any more supple, rich, elegant, or delicious.

Sure, I have favorite vintages of many wines; I love the 2007 Lokoya Howell Mountain Cabernet, I love the 1991 Philip Togni Cabernet, I love early vintages of Ridge Montebello Cabernet, and yes, I have enough of these to sink a desert island.

But for sheer brilliance in winemaking, the ten-year run of vintages, which ADV has produced, is exhilarating – because the wine is so sexy, so soft, so approachable, so delicious! And that is not a word you often see used to describe Napa Valley Cabernet.

In 2006, Rob and Alexis bought a worn down farmhouse on a 3.2-acre parcel on the southern edge of the St. Helena Appellation, thinking they would try to make the kind of wine they themselves like to drink, something which complements food, not which bonks it on the head with overbearing fruit, alcohol, or oak.

They tore down the farmhouse and built a gorgeous home, which has been featured in Veranda magazine.

You can read the article about their home here:

http://www.adlerdeutsch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/hallberg-photossmallpdf.com_.pdf

They planted, then partially re-cloned, 2.2 acres with three varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon; as well, they planted Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot.

Aaron Pott, who makes his own fabulous wines and who consults to nine other wineries in the valley, says that ADV has a particularly rich vineyard site.

“I am credited for making good wine at ADV, but the real credit needs to go to the soil here. It is some of the very best gravel in all of Napa Valley,” says Aaron.

“ADV vines sit on the St. Helena bench, which has a perfect gravel/clay balance which produces intensely flavored wines with profound depth. This is, in winemaking terms, ‘a Perfect Site.’”

The first-ever retrospective of ADV wines! Des, Aaron, Alexis and Rob taste through 10 years of vintages

It was napaman who suggested to Rob that he conduct a 10-year retrospective of his wines so that his team – and napaman, who begged to be present! -- might learn how the wine was maturing, influenced by vineyard changes, which Aaron has introduced over successive years.

The group assembled last week and, for the first time ever, the team -- and napaman -- tasted all 10 vintages of ADV, from 2008 through to barrel samples of the 2016 and 2017 vintages.

Let me be clear about one thing:

Over a decade, napaman has become a personal friend of Rob and Alexis and for the longest time, I have avoided writing about them, or their wine, because of a potentially imputed conflict of interest – writing about, and promoting, my friends’ wines in this column.

But it strikes me as inane to avoid writing about one of my favorite wines in the valley and penalizing the winemakers because they are friends.

Hell, I have written about so many hundreds of Napa Valley wines over the last 20 years, many made by narcissistic, ego-driven, people. I figure it’s time to write about a wine I really like, which is made by people I really like. So there you have my admission of self-interest in this wine profile.

We tasted 10 vintages of ADV wines

I will not provide individual tasting notes on the 10 vintages of ADV Cabernet we tasted, as readers will not have a chance to find, cellar, or try the older, library wines. I will, however, offer a few tasting note highlights:

While there were NO duds, NO imperfections, and NO blemishes, my favorite vintages of the lineup were 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Aaron and Des agreed.

2011 was a cooler, wetter, vintage, one which most critics rated incorrectly. They largely said that the weather had conspired to produce a lousy vintage, which immediately killed sales of every winemaker’s 2011 Cabernets across Napa Valley.

Napaman was a contrarian and said so in print. I claimed early on that this was an impressive, balanced vintage, which was going to produce gorgeous wines. And to put my money where my mouth would follow, I bought many cases of many Napa Valley 2011 Cabernets. They are still gorgeous and in many cases, silken and alluring.

ADV’s 2011 Cabernet is ethereal. There are amaro-like bitters and hints of espresso on the nose, as well as pretty aromas of fresh fruit. This wine has elegance and finesse and would make many Bordeaux producers envious for its purity, complexity and smart grooming. 95 points.

ADV’s 2012 Cabernet has more of the same compelling espresso nose, oodles of ripe red fruit and a whiff of freshly cut flowers (iris and violets particularly evident).

On the palate, the coffee notes rise to the top, followed by fresh red fruits and purple tones, likely nuanced from the Cabernet Franc. I love the texture of this wine as much as the flavor. Sexy stuff. 95 points.

ADV’s 2014 Cabernet was Aaron’s first farm-to-table vintage for ADV and his efforts produced a wine of extreme depth, rich flavor, silken texture and outright sex appeal. There’s lots of stuffing in the wine, though it remains a complex, pretty, alluring beverage. 98 points.

ADV’s 2015 Cabernet is as close to perfection as you can get without going into triple digit ecstasy. I hesitate to score this wine 100 points only because readers will think it hyperbole, so I will resist such temptation and score this wine 99 points. But trust me, there is virtually nothing missing here. This wine has not yet been released.

On a typical visit to ADV, guests assemble on Rob and Alexis’ back patio, which overlooks their vineyard. In the distance, one is impressed by the view of Mount St. Helena.

Ella, the winery mascot, makes sure patio tastings are complemented with enough crackers and sufficient crumbly fare to ensure that crumbs fall to the patio...

The 2.2-acre ADV vineyard

The only way to obtain bottles of the 2015 ADV Cabernet (released next spring) is to join the winery mailing list.

To do that, go to adlerdeutsch.com and add your contact information.

The 2015 ADV Cabernet will be $135 upon release – a bargain compared to many over-priced Napa Valley Cabernets in the $250-$800 range, which aren’t, quite frankly, anywhere near as pleasing as ADV.

For the record: ADV wines are only sold in multiples of three bottles. You must order 3, 6, 9, or 12 bottles.

Once you are a mailing list buyer, you may request to visit Rob and Alexis as they do not have a public tasting room. To request a visit, email [email protected], or call 707-880-7227.

Telling Rob or Alexis that napaman sent you won’t enable you to jump the queue, or enable you to buy more than your allocation, but at least you’ll have something else to talk about other than the perfect wine, which Rob is going to pour for you.

Margrit Biever Mondavi Dies at Age 91

The headlines and obituaries will note that Margrit Mondavi, a pioneer of modern-day California wine, and wife of Robert Mondavi, died today.

But Margrit was much more than that to me. She was a friend and, as Robert’s wife, the leading influencer of a movement to bring together art, music, and food with wine.

Margrit had Class, with a capital C, she had humor, and she set a high bar for entertaining and cooking.

She convinced Bob to start the Great Chefs of France Cooking School back in the mid-70s to prove to rubes in America that Bob’s red wines could stand up to Michelin, three-star food. And she was right.

Margrit and Bob introduced me to Napa Valley in May 1980, forever changing my own life’s direction and focus. They are why I live here today.

On my first visit to Napa Valley, to attend a 3-day cooking school with Jean Troisgros, one of the great French chefs (from his family’s restaurant, Freres Troisgrois, in Roanne), Margrit invited me to her home on a knoll in Yountville to proudly show off her Swiss-made, just-installed, wood-fired, oven with which she was looking forward to bake bread.

The last time I saw Margrit, was at the 50^th anniversary dinner of the winery, which she hosted on Monday, April 25^th.

During her lifetime, she and Robert built a wine empire which went public, and which the family eventually was forced to sell in a takeover bid.

Theirs was a colorful, but tempestuous life saga.

At the winery’s 50^th anniversary dinner in April, Margrit sat beside another wine pioneer and legend, Warren Winarski, who made the 1966, very first Cabernet produced at Robert Mondavi Winery.

Warren then went on to his own fame as proprietor and winemaker at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

When the 1966 Cabernet wine was poured for assembled guests, Warren stood up said, “I am Warren Winiarski... and I made this wine.” There was an audible gasp in the room.

What are the chances that anyone ever gets to taste a 50-year-old wine WITH THE PERSON WHO MADE THE WINE 50 YEARS EARLIER?

On top of which, let’s not forget – this wine was sublime!

Between Margrit and Warren in this photo is Mark de Vere, head wine educator at the winery.

 

These last few years, Margrit had been Vice President of Cultural Affairs at Robert Mondavi Winery, now owned by Constellation Brands. 

Margrit joined the winery in 1967. Under her direction, Robert Mondavi Winery developed the cultural and culinary arts programs, which are now benchmarks for the entire wine world. 

Margrit created a showplace for painters, sculptors, photographers, jazz and classical musicians, great chefs and winemakers of the world.

Forty-Seven years ago, Margrit founded the winery’s extremely popular Summer Music Festival to benefit the Napa Valley Symphony. This concert series has hosted some of the world’s best jazz, R&B and pop artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte and Tony Bennett.  I know about this because many Saturday afternoons at 5 pm, we would sit on the lawn of the winery to be transfixed by the presence of some of the world’s great musical artists.

Typical menu designed and illustrated by Margrit.

Margrit was an artist in her own right, often designing and illustrating the menus which were presented to guests who dined in the winery’s very special Vintage Room.

I have written elsewhere that some of the very best meals I have ever eaten in Napa Valley were prepared at the winery and served in the Vintage Room. All under the tutelage of Margrit.

Margrit leaves behind three children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. And a slew of fans and friends in Napa Valley. We will miss your cheery smile, Margrit. May you rest in peace while the rest of us grieve our loss.

The family has asked me to include this detail:

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to The Oxbow School, 530 Third Street, Napa, California 94558 or to the American Cancer Society, 860 Napa Valley Corporate Way, Suite E, Napa, California 94558.  

Napa Valley’s Most Memorable Wine Event of the Year – Robert Mondavi Winery turns 50!

The highlight of just one tasting panel featured wines dating back to 1968, including the very last bottle of 1969 Cabernet Reserve at the winery.

Some 150 special guests assembled for an extravagant celebration over the last three days to mark the 50^th anniversary of Robert Mondavi Winery.

Napaman was one of them.

I was thrilled to be included as I have been a long-time friend of the winery, and of the man who kick-started the modern Napa Valley wine industry, Robert Mondavi.

Or “Bob,” as he was known by his friends. Napaman was one of them, too.

In fact, the very reason I live in Napa Valley is due to Bob.

The iconic Robert Mondavi Winery

In May, 1980, as food editor of the third largest newspaper in North America, the Toronto Star, I was asked by Bob to come to Napa Valley to cover an event at his winery – the Great Chefs of France Cooking School.

He was hosting Jean Troisgros, chef-owner of what was then, and still is now, a landmark, three-star, Michelin restaurant, which many food authorities then, and now, consider to be the best restaurant in the world.

Bust of Bob outside the winery, bearing Bob’s vision: “It’s only the beginning,” in his handwriting.

Bob had a notion that his Cabernet Sauvignon was as good as anything coming out of Bordeaux and to prove it, he brought a succession of three-star, French chefs to his winery to cook for paying guests. He wanted to pair his wines with their three-star food to prove that his wines were a) complementary, and b) every bit as good as Bordeaux wines.

And they were.

My friend, Robert Mondavi

Bob was a showman, a marketing genius, a humble guy, a visionary. What the winery has been celebrating these last three days – the 50^th anniversary of the winery – is really a celebration of Bob, because he and the winery are synonymous and inseparable. (Bob died in May, 2008 at the age of 94.)

As a side note: My 1980 introduction to Napa Valley by Bob was so profound, that I decided the very weekend I met him that I would, one day, move to Napa Valley; it took 17 years to save up the funds and get our kids through college, but I never lost site of my dream to move to Napa Valley, to write about, and make, wine. Thank you for the introduction, Bob.

Margrit and Bob Mondavi, photographed by napaman at a winery luncheon we enjoyed together in April, 2005.

RMW, as the winery is known, is important to all of us in the wine industry and the wine-drinking world.

Founded in 1966 by Bob, when he was 53, the winery was acquired by Constellation Brands in 2004. Today, it is the jewel in a crown of many wineries and brands owned by Constellation.

Today, RMW has 1,300 planted acres and its wines are sold in 90 countries. Them’s a lot of countries.

Perhaps the most important single vineyard in America is the famed To Kalon vineyard, 450 acres of which are owned and farmed by Mondavi.

Bob knew the importance of vineyard site; in fact, he chose to build his winery in the To Kalon Vineyard, an historic property regarded as one of Napa Valley’s best.

The vineyard had been planted with different grape varieties and named in the late 1880s by a vineyard visionary named Hamilton Walker Crabb. “To Kalon,” if you’ve forgotten your Greek, means “the beautiful,” which this vineyard certainly is. And the wines, which it produces, certainly are.

Over the last three days, to celebrate 50 years of RMW winemaking, the by- invitation-only guests tasted half of the 50 vintages of Mondavi Cabernet Reserve, including the very first vintage, from 1966; we dined in the Vineyard Room, which I have earlier in my critiquing career called “the best private dining room in Napa Valley,” and traipsed through the To Kalon vineyard, oogling at 71-year-old Sauvignon Blanc vines, while drinking chilled examples of what these vines produced from the 2004 and 2013 vintages.

Maybe the best way to recount the three-day wine orgy is in an orderly fashion:

Day One

Jason Wise, producer/director of Somm: In the Bottle, speaks to guests before the screening.

On Sunday evening, a small cadre of 50 guests assembled for special wines and a screening of Somm: In The Bottle. Filmmaker, director, producer, and all-around nice guy, Jason Wise, was present to answer questions about his film.

Not only is this a wonderful film – I encourage you to see it in a neighborhood theater or rent it – but as a thoughtful courtesy, the Mondavi hosts served guests legendary wines in the darkened Vineyard Room, many of them mentioned in the film.

I thought the three WOW-ser wines were the 1997 Penfolds Grange, the 1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild and the 1995 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve . You see the wines with which Mondavi wines can hob-nob? They have the required sophistication, elegance, balance and charm to do so... exactly what Bob was preaching 50 years ago.

Day Two

Mark de Vere MW and head wine educator at Mondavi, leads guests on a tour of the property, starting with a pit-stop in the barrel fermenting room, outfitted with 5,000-gallon French oak barrels in which the top Mondavi Cabernets are produced.

From the barrel fermenting cellar, we descended to the barrel aging room where guests tasted through 16 vintages of Mondavi Cabernet Reserve.

We tasted 16 vintages of Mondavi Cabernet Reserve going back to 1968.

Highlights of the tasting for me were the 1968, 1971, 1991 and 1994 Cabernets. I even loved the often-maligned, Napa Valley vintage 1998. I thought the Mondavi effort was gracile, balanced, delicate, and focused. Hardly an ugly sibling, as the press would have had us think about a wine from this wet vintage.

Tough vintages, when the weather sucks, are the test of a great winemaker’s skills; they nailed it in spades in 1998 at Mondavi.

There was a tremendous consistency in flavor profile across all of these wines; tasting hallmarks included tea, soy, black olives, and wild Provencal herbs, often called “garrigue” in French.

The emotional highlight of the tasting was that the winery opened for us its very last bottle of 1969 Mondavi Cabernet Reserve (called “unfined” on the label). THAT is a true demonstration of Hospitality with a capital H.

Say buh-bye to the ’69 at the winery... our group polished off the last bottle.

Thank you, Mondavi Team!

All 16 wines in the morning panel were aromatically similar, fresh on the palate; one of my tasting comrades noted that the wines were very much like older Italian Barbarescos, in that they were filled with dark cherry, and black olive flavors and coffee end-notes, all shaped by a spine of youthful, refreshing acidity.

Mark de Vere, who led the morning retrospective, described Bob’s style of wine making:

“Bob always said that a properly made Cabernet should have the power of Pavarotti singing an aria... and the softness of a baby’s bottom.”

Most of the wines we tasted throughout the three-day Mondavithon met this criterion.

Megan Schofield, left, winemaker of Mondavi’s Burgundy varietals, Mark de Vere, MW, center, wine educator, and Joe Harden, right, winemaker of Mondavi Bordeaux varietals, led the morning tasting of 16 Mondavi Reserve Cabernets, dating back to 1968.

The aftermath of the morning tasting.

A delicious lunch was served in my favorite dining salon, the Vineyard Room.

Afternoon Day Two

Following lunch, the educator team at Mondavi led guests to the revered To Kalon block to examine, first hand, 71-year-old Sauvignon Blanc vines and treasured Cabernet vines.

Sauvignon Blanc, used to make what Bob Mondavi called “Fume Blanc,” in the famous I Block of To Kalon vineyard. These vines were planted in 1945.

Evening Day Two

The gala dinner, commemorating 50 years of winemaking achievements, was a chance to invite illustrious alumni back to the place where their careers had blossomed.

Monumental winemakers like Warren Winiarski, and Zelma Long, and a dozen vineyard managers/growers were present, too; the dinner, cooked by executive chef Jeff Mosher, was a canvas for exceptional wine pairings.

The most important wine of the evening – in fact of the three-day event -- was served right off the bat; it was the first wine ever produced at Mondavi, the 1966 unfined Cabernet Sauvignon, 90% estate Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% estate Cabernet Franc.

The dinner menu, painted by Margrit Mondavi.

How special, how good, was this very first-ever, 50-year-old Mondavi Cabernet? PLENTY SPECIAL if you rate a wine on importance, merit and, oh yeah, taste.

Warren Winiarski

The line of the night was delivered by Warren Winiarski, who stood up when the 1966 Mondavi Cabernet Reserve (in those days labeled “unfined”) was served and said:

“Good evening. I’m Warren Winiarski ... AND I MADE THIS WINE!”

The room erupted in spontaneous joy, applauding his craftsmanship, for, indeed, Warren had made this wine 50 years ago and it is still delicious, lively, balanced!

After leaving Mondavi in 1968 as winemaker, Warren went on to found his own winery, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, winning all sorts of recognition and accolades.

The 1966 unfined Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon exhibited notes of tea, ripe berries, soy, and ended with prune and cold coffee notes.

Mark de Vere, who acted as host of the dinner, shared that, after tonight’s tasting, there are only three bottles of this first vintage 1966 Cabernet left at the winery.

Uniformity of profile, consistency of taste and a “Mondavi-style” were evident in all 30 wines we tasted on Day Two.

Winemaking director Genevieve Janssens and all her predecessors, many who were present at the Gala Dinner, must recognize their achievement and be proud of their collective accomplishment.

Margrit, the Grande Dame of Mondavi, on the left, Mark de Vere, in the center, and Warren Winiarski, on the left, at the Gala dinner.

Phil Freese

Former VP of winegrowing at Mondavi, Phil Freese, was invited to the Gala dinner with other field and cellar alumni. I loved what he had to say about Bob Mondavi’s work ethic:

“Bob was a man without a rear-view mirror. Even after the worst catastrophe in the cellar, or a failed vineyard experiment, he just kept crashing forward -- it was the only direction he knew!”

Bob was a relentless idea machine, a never-give-up-experimenting kind of a guy. He pushed his vineyard managers to plant different rootstocks, he got them to change row orientation, to change plant spacing; I remember when Tim Mondavi and his dad pushed the limits to see if overplanting vines could positively stress vines to compete for nutrients – so they planted 4,000 vines per acre (usually under 2,000 vines per are).

Bob also contracted with NASA to conduct satellite reconnaissance of his vines to determine which ones were healthy using infrared spectroscopy; in the process, they created a whole new field of agriculture now called Precision Farming, or Site Specific Crop Management (SSCM).

Day Three

Joe Harden, winemaker of Bordeaux varietal,s and Megan Schofield, winemaker of Burgundy varietals, led a morning panel of 15 contemporary wines from vintages 2009 through 2013.

The day started off with an appreciation of recent vintage wines. We tasted through Reserve Chardonnays, Fume Blancs, Reserve Pinot Noirs and gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignons.

My take away was that I’ve mistakenly lumped Mondavi Chardonnay in with all those goofy Napa Valley Chardonnays that have so much oak they taste like they’ve passed through the kidneys of a beaver.

I’d forgotten how delicate, ethereal, refreshing, and Burgundian-like, the Mondavi Reserve Chardonnays are, or can be.

I fell head over heels in love with the 2012 Mondavi Chardonnay Reserve and as soon as this is story is posted, I intend to buy a case, as proof of my pleasure. I scored this wine 96 points, and loved the candied lemon top notes and creamy middle palate. Great length. Great wine. Nice work, Megan Schofield!

If you’ve been staying away from Napa Valley Chardonnay because of Chardonnay palate fatigue and a dislike of over-oaked, over-alcoholized wine, it may be time to review Mondavi’s offering; I was gob-smacked by the beauty, fruit, balance and charm of these Chardonnays.

A small, but significant, group of wine writers attended the three-day Mondavi celebration.

Director of Winemaking at Mondavi, Genevieve Janssens.

Long before Genevieve Janssens, Mondavi’s director of winemaking, said this to the assembled group, I was thinking it to myself:

There is a Holy Grail of Winemaking at Mondavi, which spans decades; it is a desire to produce consistent, refreshing, food-friendly wines, which are pleasing to the palate.

Wines here are never made to attain foolishly high, alcohol levels, or over-the-top levels of extraction in order to grab the attention – and earn high scores -- from fatigued wine writers with numbed palates.

I noted a stylistic consistency through ALL 50 YEARS of wines made at Mondavi. These harmonious wines are ready to drink upon release and continue to be drinkable for long windows of 10-, 20-, and as we’ve tasted, even 50-years.

My favorite Cabernet of the morning panel was the 2012 Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, which i scored 98 points. I thought this was a sensational wine, worthy of owning, worthy of cellaring. Nice work, Joe Harden!

After the morning tasting, guests were served a sensational, casual wine-country lunch on the terrace of the Vineyard Room.

For the occasion, Margrit Mondavi had created the menu artwork, as she had done for all dining menus presented to guests for all our meals. Nice work, Margrit!

As a final gesture, Genevieve debuted a new wine, which the winery will launch to celebrate Bob Mondavi’s life and the winery’s 50-year run; named after Bob’s passion for music, the wine is a symphony of reds from two significant parcels – To Kalon and Wappo Hill. Guests were served the first-ever vintage, the 2013 Robert Mondavi Maestro. Talk about delicious! Nice work, Genevieve!

Before guests departed for their respective homes across the country, I felt a need to put the three-day session into context for assembled guests.

I noted that only twice before in my life have I attended an event of such august, significance – the 100^th anniversary of BV, which I attended with Bob Mondavi himself, and the 20^th anniversary of Opus One, again in the presence of Bob Mondavi.

This three-day, 50-vintage span of Mondavi wines, many of them tasted in the presence of the former winemakers and vineyard managers who brought these wines into existence, made this once-in-a-lifetime, industry experience even more exotic.

The event itself, like the wines tasted, will never happen again. This was a three-day taste of history, and a detailed study of how one person’s passion to do the Right Thing can change the world. Nice work, Bob – you really started something special.

Tra Vigne is Closing its Doors December 20!

 

What a black Christmas it’s going to be for staff and patrons of what is one of Napa Valley’s iconic restaurants, Tra Vigne, in St. Helena.

In what is a personally sad story to have to report, Tra Vigne will serve its last meal December 20.

It’s not that the restaurant has gone broke, or couldn’t meet rent payments; the demise of Tra Vigne has to do with the personal and private ambitions of others, of a lease running out, of others' commercial interests which were greater than keeping the lights on, and the mozzarella melting, at Tra Vigne.

Tra Vigne goes out on a high note as one of the great restaurants in our community and it will be greatly missed. By locals, by me, and certainly by the Wine Spectator, which held its Napa Valley Wine Auction Magnum Party every year at Tra Vigne since it started hosting the annual party decades ago.

For decades, Tra Vigne has been making locals and visitors happy, happy, happy. The restaurant has had several great chefs over this period, including Michael Chiarello, who opened the space, and for the past many years, Nash Cognetti, who has become a personal friend.

 

Executive Chef, Nash Cognetti

Tra Vigne has been my home away from home for all the years I have lived here, and I have personally dined, over the years, more than 450 times at Tra Vigne.

Tra Vigne was like Cheers, a neighborhood spot where you could meet regulars, share your personal stories with the staff, both behind, and in front of, the bar.

Losing Tra Vigne is what it must feel like to see your marriage dissolve. You can’t believe this is happening, that this scenario is unfolding as it wasn’t meant to be.

ooh-la-la, the bistecca alla fiorentina

Executive chef Nash Cognetti has brought stability and harmony to the menu at Tra Vigne. We will miss him and his glorious one-kilogram bistecca alla fiorentina, and his Wednesday cioppino night, as much as we would miss SNL if it were ever to go off the air. When something becomes bigger than life, when it’s gone, it leaves a void that just can’t be filled.

You know how you felt when Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, or The Wire came to an end? You’d spent years with this alternate “family,” and once the series was over, you felt robbed of a friendship, adrift without family. That’s how it feels to know that after December 20^th, there aint gonna be no more mozzarella made a la minute by Chef Cognetti in our life.

Nash brought some fabulous food into our collective lives, which nourished our collective spirit; Eileen Regan, behind the bar, and her sidekick Luke Christian, made some of the best cocktails in Napa Valley.

The staff – I’d name them individually here but fear I might leave someone out, so I will just say ALL the staff – and Jennifer the GM, and assistant GM Paul Smith, and the hostesses, and the busboys, and kitchen brigade – we will miss you ALL. You made our lives richer, more textured and more cultured. Thank you.

Tra Vigne will have a new life, but not one that many, or any, of us will see, or taste, Nash is opening a permanent pop-up catering space of sorts in Cindy’s old space on Main St.,, in St. Helena, once the home of Pinot Blanc, then the place with several incarnations under Cindy Pawlcyn’s tasty tutelage.

Now Nash and some of his brigade will open a space that exclusively caters to large groups and weddings. It will not be a casual restaurant in to which folks off the street night drift for a draft. Or for a glass of wine, or for dinner. So, essentially, Tra Vigne is off limits to the community. You’d have to be lucky enough to be invited to a wedding to taste Nash’s sensational fare again.

So if you are within the sight of this screed, and you are hosting a wedding at Nash’s new location on Main St. next year – PLEASE INVITE NAPAMAN TO YOUR FUNCTION because I can’t think of a world without Nash’s bistecca, or mozzarella.

Tra Vigne, we hardly knew ya.

RIP.

And thank you for the tasty memories.

Visiting Napa Valley? Plan your winery visits with this 3-D Map!

A year ago, I discovered a sensational 3-D map of the Napa Valley depicting its 16 sub-appellations.

Produced by the Napa Valley Vintners, the map is an ideal tool to help visitors orient themselves to our demi-paradise; the map depicts landmass, mountain elevations and valley swales on a miniature, plasticized, 10- x 12-inch sheet.

I show the map to first-time visitors to Napa Valley to give them an idea of where I’m sending them when I suggest they go up Pritchard Hill to visit Chappellet, or  Continuum, or when I send them up Spring Mountain to visit Philip Togni, or Pride.

To optimize your time here, you need to visit wineries which are located in the same sub-appellation so that you don’t waste time driving helter-skelter all over the valley, back-tracking your route.

I suggest that travelers concentrate visits to wineries within the same sub-appellation to reduce travel time. It makes sense, for example, to combine visits to three or four wineries in Stag’s Leap District, or in St. Helena, or in Rutherford; this 3-D map helps give you an idea of which sub-appellations are close to one another to further help you draft a strategy to visit wineries.

The NVV, which represents 500 wineries in Napa Valley, started producing this 3-dimensional map about six years ago.

“As Napa Valley has such a varied topography, we created the map to help residents and visitors see -- and feel -- the diversity of our wine region,” explains Patsy McGaughy, communications director of the association.

Because it is expensive to produce the 3-D map, even NVV members must purchase it. Many wineries keep the map handy in their tasting room to give guests an idea of where they are, or where they’re headed.

The cost of the map is $25 – a  good gift for someone you know who may be planning to visit Napa Valley – to help them plot out their visits to different sub-appellations while they’re here.

“The map has become popular in Asia,” adds Patsy. “We’ve been asked to produce maps in Japanese and Mandarin to help Asian friends in the wine business get a better sense of what the Napa Valley is all about.”

If you’re interested in purchasing the 3-D map, you can acquire one online. Napaman doesn’t sell them and doesn’t make any income if you opt to buy one. Go to:

http://www.napavintners.com/trade/store.asp 

Click to purchase the “Napa Valley Raised Relief Topo Map” which is NVV jargon for their 3-D map.

Waiter! There’s a Hare in my Glass!

Well, there could be if you visit Hall Winery, in St. Helena, and stand in the vineyard, admiring a 3.5-ton, stainless steel sculpture called “Bunny Foo Foo.”

The sculpture is only part of what’s new at Hall, which dazzles guests with its modern, new Visitors’ Center, staffed by extremely friendly wine folk.

“Bunny Foo Foo,” designed and crafted by British artist Lawrence Argent, was commissioned and named by winery owner Kathryn Hall who used to read a poem of the same name to her children, David and Jennifer, at bedtime.

(Bunny Foo Foo was a rabbit who hopped through the forest, scooping up field mice, bopping them on the head.)

Today, the 35-foot-tall, shiny, Swiss-cheese-aerated, Bunny Foo Foo is an object of beauty - as is the visitor center and the wines showcased inside it.

The new Hall Visitor Center.

I can’t recall having been so impressed by a winery upgrade in Napa Valley in years. The Halls have knocked this one out of the park and I will insist that friends who visit over the next year add Hall winery, in St. Helena, to their MUST-DO list.

(There’s also a Hall winery in Rutherford, but today, we’re strictly speaking about the St. Helena venue.)

After tasting a dozen wines, I couldn’t agree more. Crazy good...

There are as many wines to taste here as there are art installations on the property – I stopped counting at 30 of each.

The wines are glorious expressions of balance and rectitude (now THAT’s a word I haven’t seen ascribed to wine recently!). There’s a purity of production here and it shows in the glass.

I visited Hall twice this month to research this story. I scored all the Cabernets and Pinot Noirs I tasted in the mid 90s and I was gob-smacked by the 2011 red label “Kathryn Hall”  Cabernet, which I scored 96 points.

On my second visit, I joined a group of Canadian businessmen for a two-hour, property tour-and-tasting led by Hall wine educator Paul Dugoni. 

I liked Paul’s casual manner, and the Hall story he shared. He knowledgably answered every question posed by the group.

Paul Dugoni leads a tour through the winemaking process, encouraging guests to taste wine while learning about the winery’s colorful history.

Paul related that the Halls acquire grapes from 70 different vineyard sites to make their various branded Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

Paul led the group out into the vineyards to let members pluck ripe Cabernet Sauvignon from the vines to learn about grape ripeness.

But first, a word about the art...

The art at Hall is Craig Hall’s doing. He believes, like Margrit Mondavi does down the road at Robert Mondavi Winery, that art nourishes the human spirit and can make a profound difference in one’s life.

Throughout his business career, Craig has placed some of his favorite personal art on display for public enjoyment.

Art installations placed around the grounds bring as much joie to your eyes as Hall wines do to your palate.

I’d walk a mile for a camel... especially one standing outside a winery as welcoming as Hall.

Not only does a giant, stainless-steel rabbit jump out of the vineyards, but a life-sized, fiberglass, aluminum, stainless-steel camel stands guard at the door of the visitor’s center.

Albino Camel Contemplating Needle is a 2013 work by Californian artist John Baldessari.

The 83-year-old artist has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions and in more than 1,000 group exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. Which means his work is well respected, highly collected and we’re lucky to have such a piece in dreamy old St. Helena.

The work is called Red Rooms, completed in 2013 by American artist Peter Wegner. It is a masterful accretion of nearly 500,000 die-cut index cards mounted with their cut end exposed to the viewer.

Asked about the installation, the artist said, “The edge of a piece of paper doesn’t amount to much. You might miss it if you weren’t looking for it.”

And yet, when you put enough of these potentially overlooked index cards together, they can make a statement. Even a colorful one.

This is not a painting. It’s not a classic “art installation.” It has the mass of sculpture but is not one. It is also not architecture. Whatever it is, or isn’t, I sure do like it.

There is a sensual element to Jaume Plensa’s marble-and-lead head, called Sanaa, that I find compelling, mysterious, even alluring. I could stare at it for hours and not be bored.

The Barcelona-born sculptor’s works are known to evoke emotion while stimulating thought. Sanaa sure does both, though I do not understand the name choice.

Is the name a paean to the award-winning Tokyo architectural firm Sejima, Nishizawa and Associates, colloquially known at “Sanna,” or is it a reference to the capital of Yemen, Sana’a?

The wine here is an art form too...

The wines are Kathryn Hall’s doing. She developed a passion for wine growing up in her family’s vineyards in Mendocino County.

The couple’s desire to create one (actually two!) of the top wineries in Napa Valley were put on hold in the late 1990s, when Kathryn was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Austria (1997 through 2001).

With the couple’s return to Napa Valley in 2002, the Halls embarked on a path to create some of the most compelling properties, wines, and vineyard sites in Napa Valley. Olympic judges might score it this way: 

Winery Intention 10

Execution of Idea 10

Overall Form 10.

In my mind, the Halls have earned a Gold Medal in Winery Construction.

The visitors’ tasting bar.

The tasting room, designed by local architect Jarrod Denton, of Signum Architecture, is an original, one-of-a-kind visual statement. The private salons for tasting are linear and gorgeous. Art highlights many corners of the winery.

The wines.

My favorite Cabernets in my two tastings here were from the 2011 vintage, to which many wine writers have given the cold shoulder; their story is that 2011 was a wet, cold, crappy vintage and they’ve suggested that wine drinkers hold off for the more robust, exotic, fruit-bomb vintages of 2012 and 2013 (as yet unreleased valley-wide).

To this, napaman says NONSENSE!

I am one of the lone voices in the wilderness: I am advising readers to load up on 2011 Napa Valley Cabernets. For the most part, these are wines of extreme beauty and lower alcohol. This makes them food-friendly, (or Foo-Friendly, if you like serving them with rabbit).

The three 2011 Hall Cabernets below are elegant, balanced, filled with ample fruit, and gorgeous poise; you can drink them early, or set them away in a corner of your cellar for seven to 10 years and you will love them all along the journey.

2011 Hall “Kathryn Hall” red label

How do I love thee? Craig watch out! I love thee in innumerable ways; on the lips... on the swallow ... on the finish – long, focused and with a gorgeous finish. No one would ever guess in a blind tasting that this is one of those “2011 wet-vintage Cabernets.”

I scored this wine 96 points, one of my top-scoring 2011 Napa Valley Cabs so far this year. $135.

2011 Hall “T Bar, T Ranch” from Alexander Valley

Similar in style to the red label K. Hall above. No one tasting this blind would ever guess that it is a 2011 Cab because there are no pallid flavors, or missing top notes, which many wine writers erroneously attributed to this vintage. A stellar wine. Easily 93 points. $60.

2011 Hall “Ellie’s” cuvee

A blend of 91 percent Cab, 6 percent Cab Franc, and 3 percent Merlot.

Gorgeous plum top notes and a hint of tobacco on the finish. A generous expression of fruit, a superb example of impeccable winemaking.

94 points. 

Want to visit? Make an online reservation. Go to hallwines.com. Located at 401 St. Helena Highway South, at the southern end of St. Helena.

2011 Mt. Veeder Wines Have Elegance, Balance & Poise – All The Things Napaman Lacks!

 

 

Like Labor Day and the start of the football season, Mt. Veeder’s annual Appellation Tasting occurs each September.

This year’s tasting, which featured 24 wineries, was held this afternoon at The Hess Collection (winery), on the outskirts of Napa town.

The appellation tasting is held under a green canopy, which runs the perimeter of The Hess Collection courtyard.

Most participating wineries poured 2011 wines, a  vintage to which the wine press has given a resounding Thumb’s Down.

What is wrong with all these gonzo wine writers? They taste way too many wines at the same time to ever be able to note subtle nuances among them. They also think power, high alcohol and excessive oak are positive hallmarks of a properly made wine. When I think of these elements, I think of disjointed, out-of-balance wines.

Make no mistake. 2011 wasn’t a Blow The Doors Off Their Hinges vintage.

It sure as hell wasn’t a Vintage of The Century, either.

The season was wet, cold, and wetter still, producing mold, small fruit, small clusters in small quantities.

But talented winemakers rallied. They produced wines of grace, charm, lower alcohol (yay for that!), elegance, and poise.

And, oh, yes, by the way, for a change, many of the wines were Food Friendly. Remember that concept? You actually make a wine that complements food, it doesn’t fight food with exaggerated extraction and high levels of oak and alcohol.

The back of a T-shirt worn by one of the guests at the tasting. I thought the slogan could easily have been about the vintages in Napa Valley, from 2004 to 2014... because really, they’ve all been helluva special. But no.... it was a tenth anniversary T-shirt for....

The wines I tasted this afternoon were, for the most part, delicious. Softer than normal, feminine, graceful, and pretty – that was a word that reappeared many times in my notes.

Steve Lagier and Carole Meredith, owners of, you guessed it – Lagier Meredith.

One of my favorite wineries on Mt. Veeder is Lagier Meredith, a winemaking venture of two of the industry’s leaders:

Carole Meredith, is the former UC Davis grape detective who led the world’s DNA gumshoe-ing to track down and identify the parent grapes of Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon to name a few; her husband, Steve Lagier, is a former Robert Mondavi winemaker who has a total of 35 harvests behind him. These people know something about making great wine.

Their 2011 Syrah is no exception.

“Our 2011 Syrah is the most northern Rhone-like Syrah we’ve ever made” Steve told me.

 

“This is a wine that has the spice and floral notes of a lot of those Syrahs from around Hermitage (site of the world’s best and most respected Syrah),” Steve adds.

I loved the wine. It exhibits some of those coffee and young leather notes that you find in a Rhone Syrah.

“It’s the first Syrah that we’ve ever made which comes in under 14 per cent alcohol,“ Steve adds. Another reason I like this wine: it’s food friendly.

“Make no mistake about 2011,” Steve says, putting the vintage into context: “In my 35 harvests, the two hardest were 1989 and 2011. You had to know what you were doing in those two vintages to make decent wine.”

Steve and Carole only made 350 cases of the 2011 Syrah. $48 a bottle.

There were other wonderful 2011 discoveries at the Tasting:

Tanya Beers, marketing manager for Mount. Veeder Winery, pours for guests at the Appellation tasting. She is joined here by Curtis Ropp, “brand ambassador” for Mount Veeder Winery.

2011 Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Franc

A blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec exhibiting delicious top notes, and great blue fruit, which I always think is a hallmark of well made Cab Franc. Only 150 cases made, available only at the winery. $50.

Samantha Hansen, wine educator for The Hess Collection, pours for guests.

2011 The Hess Collection Mt. Veeder Cabernet

A blend of 85% Cabernet and 15% Malbec, this wine is closer to the “simple” end of the graph axis than the “complex” end, but it delivers good flavor, is very pretty and certainly approachable right now. $50.

Estate manager, Brooke Gadke, at Mt. Brave, explains the geology of the winery with large, loopy visuals. Helluva good wine.

2011 Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon

From a vintage which the wine press said was horrible, comes this impressive, big, well structured wine which you want to swallow, not spit. Lots of purple fruit, very approachable, and a discernable hint of licorice on the finish. $75.

Betty O’Shaughnessy of O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery.

2011 O’Shaughnessy Estate. Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon

Pretty, elegant, feminine – describes Betty herself, as well as her 2011 effort. What’s not to like about either?

Betty admits that her 2011 wine has less stuffing than most years, but she has turned out an admirable win. $100.

Paul and daughter Laura Woolls, of Progeny. Laura calls herself “the Progeny elf,” helping her dad when she has free time from studies. Paul did not make any wine in 2011, so there are no comments.

Jimmy Hayes, estate director at Mayacamas Vineyards, tells guests about the winery and the very, very good 1999 and 2009 Cab Sauvignons he poured today. Jimmy did not bring any 2011 wines to pour

What you need to know about Mt. Veeder:

In 1981, Napa Valley became California’s first officially recognized wine Appellation. Or in wine-speak, an American Viticultural Area, or AVA.

Over the years, sub-sections of the lager parcel, Napa Valley, have become sub-appellations, where there is demonstrable change in soil or climate. Today, there are 16 sub-appellations, Mt. Veeder being one of them.

Mt. Veeder is a peak in the Mayacamas Mountain range, which mostly runs south to north along the western edge of Napa Valley. It has an elevation of 600 to 2100 feet, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah and Chardonnay are grown here.

My favorite shirt worn by one of the men attending this year’s appellation festivity.

2011 Rutherford Cabernet – The Plush Toy Vintage!

Today’s Rutherford Dust Society event was held at Francis Ford Coppola’s Inglenook Winery.

I never expected to come away from an all-day tasting of 2011 Rutherford Cabernets and use the word “plush” as a descriptor of the vintage.

Nor think of it in terms like a dog’s, or a child’s, play toy, which when in use, brings a smile to your face. But it really is a totally friendly, totally tasty, vintage.

Regina Weinstein, Honig Vineyards & Winery, is president of the Rutherford Dust Society. She addressed members of the press, describing aspects of the 2011 growing season.

The press – and winemakers – have been leading us to believe that 2011, which was plagued with rain, cooler-than-average temperatures, and low yields due to mold, rot and Botrytis, is a mediocre vintage, sandwiched between two stellar vintages, 2010 and 2012.

Members of the media at the tasting.

So what a treat to discover that so many 2011 Cabs from Rutherford are “charming,” “balanced,” “feminine,” “showing poise,” “food-friendly,” and “supple.” These are words I found myself using over and over to describe 13 wines tasted blind at this morning’s annual Rutherford Dust Society Trade and Media Tasting.

Tom Rinaldi, Director of Winemaking at Hewitt & Provenance said that to be successful with the 2011 crop, winemakers had to be extremely diligent about sorting fruit – to remove rotten, moldy, or Botrytised grapes.

The event, one of my favorite trade events of the year, is hosted by Rutherford growers and wine makers.

Today’s event was held at Inglenook (formerly Rubicon, and formerly before that Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery, and some time before that, it was called... Inglenook).  

The gorgeous stained glass window at Niebaum-Coppola...er, Inglenook.

Rutherford is one of 16 sub-appellations within Napa Valley. Many winemakers in this tiny appellation chose to tweak their 2011 wines with up to five percent of their 2010 or 2012 beefier Cabernets to give a boost to their potentially underwhelming reds. This is totally permissible by wine-making regs.

In the morning, the Press tasted a flight of 13 unlabeled 2011 Rutherford Cabs; in the afternoon, restaurant and retail wine buyers were let into the action as Rutherford wineries poured their new-release wines.

There was a pleasing uniformity among all 13 wines in the Press blind tasting.

One of my favorites of the tasting was the 2011 Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon which I discovered afterward has an extremely low alcohol level – 13.5 percent – just as top Bordeaux often exhibit.

How refreshing to find wines of lower alcohol levels – this tends to make them prettier, softer, more approachable early on.

Though make no mistake about the 2011 Cabs – they are going to age just fine. In fact, I predict that some of the wines we tasted today will still be gorgeous six to 10 years from now.

Lunch time.

Philippe Bascaules, Inglenook Estate Manager and Winemaker, at lunch.

After the morning media session, guests were treated to a catered luncheon at Inglenook. I had the pleasure of sitting with Philippe Bascaules, Estate Manager and Winemaker, who hosted the luncheon. His own 2011 Inglenook Cab was approachable, refined, charming, and did I say compelling?

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Rutherford Factoid

% of vineyard acres planted to Cabernet Sauvignon – 71%

Size of viticultural area – 6 square miles

No. of wineries in Rutherford – 48

Oldest bonded winery – Inglenook, 1879

Average altitude  - 172 feet above sea level , though if the polar icecaps melt as predicted, tractors in Napa Valley may have to be equipped with pontoons by 2050

Soil composition – the soils here are primarily Gravelly, Sandy and Loamy. Wait, aren’t those King Lear’s three daughters?

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After lunch, guests joined trade members in a free-for-all tasting of some 65 different wines poured by no fewer than 37 wineries

2011 Frank Family, Winston Hill -- another one of the wines I really liked at the morning press tasting. The wine was velvety in texture, had a softness you might associate with the photos of gorgeous fashion models taken with a camera lens smeared with Vaseline to heighten the desire; the wine was that alluring.

Pouring Cabernet at the Alpha Omega stand.

Nancy O’Connell pours el Molino Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – proof that man cannot live on Cabernet Sauvignon alone!

2012 Napa Valley Cabernet – The OMG! Vintage. $4,333.33 per bottle proves the point.

The price paid per bottle for 2012 Scarecrow’s special Cabernet selection called Toto’s Opium Dream, Scene III. A 5-case lot sold for $260,000 this weekend. That’s $52,000 a case, or $4,333.33 per bottle.

More than 600 wine buyers, restaurant wine directors, sommeliers and wine retailers descended on Napa Valley this weekend for a three-day, mid-winter, extravaganza known as Premiere Napa Valley.

For the first two days, appellation associations and individual wineries entertained the out-of-town tradesfolk at daytime and late-into-the-night parties.

And then Saturday, the trade crammed into the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus, in St. Helena, to bid $5.9 million for one-of-a-kind, auction lots of (mostly) 2012, not-yet-released, Napa Valley Cabernets.

Fritz Hatton, one of two auctioneers, set the tempo for a three-and-a-half-hour auction, which raised $5.9 million.

Previously, the high water mark of auction proceeds from this annual event was last year’s $3,044,500. In other words, Napa Valley Vintners, organizers of the event, nearly doubled their best-ever previous total. Doubled!

Today’s barrel auction, the 18th annual version, is one of the wine trade’s most eagerly anticipated auctions because it gives buyers their first glimpse – and first taste -- of the next, soon-to-be-released vintage of Napa Valley Cabernet.

Wine buyers from 8 countries and 28 states attended the auction.

Proceeds support Napa Valley Vintners’ mission to promote the Napa Valley appellation, its wines, vintners and community. With this auction’s astounding results -- $5.9 million -- they should have enough funds to promote Napa Valley wines even on Mars!

The highest bid for a lot was the $260,000 bid for 5 cases of 2012 Scarecrow. It was purchased by Los Angles retailer The Wine House.

“We are thrilled to bring home this magnificent wine, drawn from the J.J. Cohn vineyard from nearly seventy-year-old vines,” Bill Knight of The Wine House, told organizers.

For consumers who read this blog, the big question, of course, is:

“OK, just how good are the 2012 Napa Valley Cabs?”

While most winemakers with whom I spoke over the three-day, wine weekend deemed 2012 “the best vintage we have seen in at least 15 years,” wine producers are fully aware that 2013, coming down the pike for release next year, is an even better vintage.

One talented winemaker, who asked to remain unnamed, told me:

“2012 was a perfect vintage. I mean PERFECT. But wine makers are reluctant to say it’s the ‘Vintage of a lifetime,’ because we all know that one year from today, at next year’s barrel auction, we’re all going say that 2013 is the ‘Vintage of a lifetime,’ and you know how that’s going to fly - we’re going to look like jerks for saying the same thing two years in a row.”

What winemakers say on the record about the 2012 vintage

Mary Rocca, owner, and Paul Colantuoni, consulting winemaker, Rocca Family Vineyard

Paul Colantuoni, consulting winemaker to Rocca Family Vineyard:

“The fruit in 2012 is a mile deep and a mile wide. We LOVE our 2012 Cabernet.” Paul said this with a capital-letters-kind-of-emphasis on the word ‘love.’

Winemaker dad, Chris Phelps, and winemaker son, Josh Phelps, who produce Ad Vivum Cellars

Chris Phelps, who is winemaker at Swanson and also winemaker of his own brand, Ad Vivum, summarized the 2012 vintage:

“This is the first of two back-to-back vintages which demonstrate what Napa Valley Cabernet can achieve. There were no weather extremes in 2012. Vineyard managers just watched and waited... watched and waited. If you picked at the peak of ripeness, and didn’t mistreat your fruit – you made gorgeous Cabernet.”

Nicole and Ryan Hill of Hill Family Estate

“2012 was a rare vintage,” says Ryan Hill of Hill Family Estate, in Yountville. “It was one of those rare years when grape growers were happy with what they produced... and wine makers were happy with what they produced. In most years, one of them is unhappy – and often with the other’s output!”

Jean-Charles Boisset, owner of Raymond Vineyards, hosted a magnificent party Thursday for the St. Helena Appellation in his winery’s “Crystal Room.” Glasses were abundantly filled with extravagant wines from the 2010, 2011 or 2012 vintage, poured by reps from 31 different appellation wineries. Space does not permit a detailed critique of these wines, but they were real palate pleasers.

Katharine DeSante, winemaker, and Linda Neal, owner, Tierra Roja Vineyards.

“2012 was a classic vintage,” says Katharine DeSante, winemaker at Tierra Roja Vineyards. “The wine has excellent structure and textbook balance.”

Elias Fernandez, winemaker, Shafer Vineyards.

“2012 is a poster child for the perfect vintage,” says Elias Fernandez, who has been making wine at Shafer Vineyards, earning impressive scores and begetting a cult following, for 30 years.

“I started working with Doug (Shafer) 30 years ago next month - specifically, March 24, 1984,” Elias adds.

(As an aside: Napaman has learned that to commemorate their 30-year history together, Elias and Doug are launching a wine to be called something like “Project 84” in the next few weeks. Details will be announced shortly.)

Greg Martin, owner, and Aaron Pott, consulting winemaker, Martin Estate

Napaman asked Aaron Pott, consulting winemaker to Martin Estate, to complete the sentence: “The 2012 Napa Valley Vintage is ___________.”

Aaron filled in the blank: “... a vintage of exceptional elegance.”

He went on to say that while the vintage is not one of power (that will come with 2013 Cabernets when released a year or more from now), it is a vintage of noticeable complexity.

Aaron compares the 2012 vintage to 1991, which was one of my own personal favorite vintages of the entire 1990s decade, and compares the next-to-be-released Cabernets from 2013 similar to wines from the 1994 vintage, only better.

After tasting more than 100 Cabernet-based wines this weekend from the 2012 vintage, my own observation is that I can’t remember a barrel auction in the last 15 years at which the still-in-barrel samples were so gorgeous and approachable. I have never applied the word “delicious” to so many barrel samples.

Basically, what most winemakers say about the 2012 vintage is that if you are a local winemaker and failed to make a gorgeous, voluptuous, harmonious, approachable, elegant wine, perhaps you should think about a new career – maybe try working at that other Napa – the one that specializes in Auto Parts... this one:

 

Multi-Vintage Perspective

Molly Brooks-Thornton, of the Barrel Room, San Diego, CA, and Rina Bussell of Altura Restaurant, Seattle, WA, taste through 62 different wines blind at the Friday Multi-Vintage Perspective hosted by Napa Valley Vintners.

 

The barrel tasting

Preceding Saturday’s barrel auction, out-of-town wine buyers caromed from kiosk to kiosk in the CIA’s barrel room, tasting as many of the 225 to-be-auctioned wines as possible in a three-hour, free-for-all.

After the barrel tasting, guests were invited to a sensational lunch prepared by culinary students at the CIA. This is often my favorite buffet of the year, just as the barrel auction is one of my favorite wine events of the year. I enjoyed a 2009 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet with my meal selections – guests had their choice of hundreds of different, top-tier Napa Valley wines.

The single best scallop that I have tasted in the past five years was served at the luncheon buffet; a sweet and sensuous sea scallop, served atop a puree of mashed potato and celery root puree, was crowned with a dollop of fermented, black garlic aioli. Napaman went back for three servings – THAT’S how good they were. Chef-to-be Heidi Mitchell, served them (above).

The little darlin’s...

And finally, for sheer originality...

I noticed the following tattoo of an old-fashioned, wooden, grape press on the forearm of Kenneth Olsen, a Dane who lives in Copenhagen, who attended Premiere to purchase Napa Valley wines for clients in Copenhagen. Now that’s wine passion – way to go, Ken!

 Look familiar...?

 

Mike Grgich turns 90. Again!

Mike Grgich turned 90 years old yesterday. For the 167nd time.

Mike, who’s one of the founding fathers of America’s wine industry, actually turned 90 April 1, but Napa Valley is celebrating the winemaker’s birthday as many times as possible throughout the course of the year.

Last night was the 167^th night since his actual birthday – a good occasion for another celebration.

Mike blowing out 90 candles on his cake last night

This one was held at one of my favorite hotels in Napa Valley, Bardessono, in Yountville.

Mike doesn’t seem old for 90 but I suspect that after blowing out a 90-candle cake so many times at so many celebratory birthday dinners across the valley this year, the guy must be pooped.

If Mike’s last name, which looks like a typo, doesn’t ring a bell, then it’s possible that you have been living in a cave, or have been on life support, for 37 years. Because Mike became a favorite Napa Valley son in 1976 when the Chardonnay he made for Chateau Montelena outscored France’s best white Burgundies at the now famous “Judgment of Paris” tasting.

This victory transformed the status of Napa Valley wines forever. America knocked the French off their fancy schmancy wine pedestal - on their home turf! And Mike had made the killer Chardonnay that changed history.

So important was Mike Grgich’s contribution to American culture, in fact, that the winning bottle of Chardonnay is now displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History along with one of Mike’s famous berets, his suitcase, and his wine textbooks.

Mike is actually a shortened version of Miljenko, his real name, bestowed upon him by his parents in communist Yugoslavia.

Mike grew up in the village of Desne on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, where generations of his family had grown grapes and made wine.

Last night at dinner, Mike told me that, for the first 30 years of his life in Yugoslavia, under communist rule, he never once was able to celebrate his birthday. (It looks like he’s making up for lost time this year...)

“We only ever celebrated one person’s birthday each year in Croatia – Jesus’.... on December 25^th. For the rest of us, no one celebrated a birthday,” he said.

Looking for a better life in North America, Mike fled Yugoslavia, first settling in Germany for 18 months, then in Canada for two-and-a-half years.

In 1958, Mike landed in Napa Valley, with one suitcase (now at the Smithsonian), some wine textbooks, and $32 hidden in his shoes.

The rest is pretty much the story of which dreams – and Hollywood movies – are made.

People reverentially speak of Mike in the same breath in which they speak of pioneering vintners here like Robert Mondavi, Brother Timothy from Christian Brothers, and André Tchelistcheff from Beaulieu Vineyards.

After crafting the prize-winning 1973 Chardonnay for Chateau Montelena, Mike teamed up with Austin Hills (of Hills Bros. coffee) to establish his own eponymous winery.

In July 1977, ground was broken in Rutherford to create Grgich Hills Cellar. In 2006, the name was changed to Grgich Hills Estate once Mike opted to produce all his wines from estate-grown fruit.

Today, Grgich Hills Estate owns five properties in the three temperature zones, which run the length of Napa Valley.

The winery earns many international awards for its balanced, elegant wines and is recognized as a leader in sustainable vineyard practices. And did I mention, the wines are sensational...?

I always send visitors to Mike’s winery because his Chardonnay is such a gorgeous, refreshing, beverage. Even if it hadn’t won the 1976 Paris tasting, Mike’s Chardonnay would deserve a special niche at the Smithsonian - for its finesse.

Last night was proof again that, years later, Mike hasn’t lost his Chardonnay touch.

At the Bardessono dinner, Mike yucked it up with dinner guest Candi Kosich

The 2010 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay served at dinner was, to my mind, the single best glass of Chardonnay that I have had all year. And this includes many bottles of over-priced white Burgundy, which more often disappoint than inspire.

Mike’s Chardonnays are balanced, harmonious, elegant, and exhibit a great deal of finesse.

They are juicy, yet focused, and are never buttery, as Mike does not let his Chardonnay go through malolactic fermentation. This is a common winemaking stage - a secondary fermentation in which naturally occurring malic acid is converted to lactic acid.

Chardonnays that have gone through “ML,” as it’s called, tend to pick up buttery, or dairy, notes. When “malo’d,” Chardonnay may even exhibit hints of butterscotch.

Mike also goes against the grain (so to speak) with oak, fighting the trend to over-oak white wines. Mike only gives his Chardonnay a soupcon of oak letting it age six months in a combination of Limousin and Nevers French barrels - one-third new oak, one-third once-used oak, one-third twice used oak.

If I were asked to sum up Mike’s style of winemaking, I would say that he is a Master of Restraint. His wines are well balanced, they are NOT oak monsters, they are NOT alcoholic, they are NOT fruit-bombs.

Mike’s wines display a restraint that is rare in Napa Valley.

Last night, to celebrate Mike’s 90^th birthday (again), the Bardessono Hotel hosted a dinner for 20 special friends and clients. Executive Chef Victor Scargle looked after the menu.

Bardessono Executive Chef Victor Scargle

I have followed Victor’s career since he appeared on my food radar screen at Julia’s Kitchen, at COPIA, in Napa. I dined regularly at COPIA, always excited to taste Victor’s dishes.

I was happy for Victor when he moved on, accepting a teaching position at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), in St. Helena, but I felt that Napa Valley had lost one of its best practicing chefs. At night, when we’d head out to dine, it was like there was one less twinkling star in the restaurant firmament.

And then Victor left academia and turned up at Bardessono to run Lucy, the hotel’s fine dining room. Happy were we. Happy were our palates.

Victor and Mike Grgich ham it up for the camera at the Bardessono dinner

So what a night last night! The dynamic duo were both on hand – Mike Grgich with many wines to complement Victor Scargle’s sensational fare.

Mike speaks to the dinner group; that's Bardessono GM Jim Treadway on the right

Here’s the menu of the four-course dinner.

RECEPTION

Diver scallops, rau rum (AKA Vietnamese cilantro), and garden melon

2011 Grgich Hills Estate Fume Blanc

DINNER

Kampachi Paillard - Lucy greens, padron peppers, sweet corn, basil

2010 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay 

Liberty Duck Breast - Forbidden rice cake, garden choi  

Don Watson Lamb Sweetbreads - Romesco sauce, wrinkled cress

2009 Grgich Hills Estate Zinfandel

2008 Grgich Vina Plavac Mali

 

Dry-aged Beef Striploin - Lucy strawberry spinach, Little Farms potatoes

 2009 Grgich Hills Estate, Yountville Selection, Cabernet Sauvignon

K&J Peach Galette - Almond cream, crème fraiche sherbet

2009 Grgich Hills Estate Violetta

 

A couple of notes about the wines served at dinner

The pairing of Mike’s Napa Valley Zin and his Croatian-made Plavac Mali has historic and ampelographic importance:

Plavac Mali is a cross between Zinfandel (called Crljenak Kaštelanski in Croatia) and Dobričić grapes. It is the primary red grape grown along the Dalmatian coast.

The name refers to the small blue grapes which the vines produce. In Croatian, plavo means blue; mali means small.

Plavac Mali produces rich wines that resonate with the flavors of blackberries, dark cherries, pepper, and spice. Not unlike our domesticated Zinfandel.

In the 1980s, Plavac Mali was initially thought to be an ancestor of Zinfandel. In 1998, with urging from Mike Grgich, Carole Meredith from UC Davis and researchers from the University of Zagreb, researched the origins of Zinfandel through DNA fingerprinting. They discovered that Zinfandel is actually one parent of Plavac Mali. The other parent is an ancient variety known as Dobričić.

Of the two wines paired at dinner – the 2008 Plavac Mali and the 2009 Grgich Hills Estate Zin, I actually scored the Plavac Mali one point higher. It has many of the same ripe red and black fruit flavors of the Zinfandel, but it also has a softer, medium-bodied weight in the mouth, is more sensual, more ethereal – if that’s a word that can be applied to a wine containing 15.4% alcohol!

In sum, the evening was a grand success. As they say in Mike’s native Croatia - Hvala, Mike and Victor, for a wonderful evening – Thanks!

A great souvenir from the evening -  a photo of the Master of Restraint and moi.

Best Manhattan and Best Burger in Napa Valley – and they’re in the Same Restaurant!

There are days that I wake up thinking about the best burger and the best Manhattan cocktail that I have ever had.

They are served at Goose & Gander, in St. Helena, and often, as I open my eyes, I think: “This is going to be a G&G Manhattan & Burger Day.” In short, I am addicted.

To others like me, who are co-dependent on this incomparable, perfect pairing, Goose & Gander is now the large X on our local gastronomic map. X marks the spot for Sublime Pleasure.

I asked one of America’s top sommeliers to join me at G&G earlier this month to experience this formidable food/cocktail pairing and he pronounced the Manhattan, which bartender Scott Beattie has perfected, “the best Manhattan I’ve ever had.”

And that’s saying something, because this sommelier lives and works, in Manhattan, NY, where they know something about making delicious cocktails. Especially the city’s namesake drink.

How much do I love the Manhattan and Burger at G&G? Consider this my 1138-word love poem for the perfect Manhattan and perfect succulent, juicy, addictive burger served here.

First, We Take Manhattan

(With thanks to Canadian poet and singer, Leonard Cohen, who wrote and composed “First We Take Manhattan. His lyrics: “First we take Manhattan... then we take Berlin...”)

Scott Beattie making the Perfect Manhattan

Popular myth suggests that the Manhattan cocktail originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the 1870s where it was invented for a banquet hosted by Winston Churchill’s mother.

Supposedly, the success of the banquet made the drink fashionable, prompting people to request the drink by referring to the name of the club where it originated—"the Manhattan cocktail."

However, if truth be known, Winston’s mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, was in France at the time, so the story is fictive.

Since inception, wherever and when ever that was, the Manhattan has always been a mix of American whiskey, Italian vermouth and Angostura bitters.

Scott Beattie, bartender extraordinaire, at Goose & Gander

“When my co-bartender Michael Pazdan and I were asked to set up the bar at Goose & Gander, we assembled 300 different whiskies and spirits to select the best flavor combinations,” recalls Scott Beattie.

“To make the best tasting Manhattan, we opted for a combination of equal parts bourbon and rye. It makes a more compelling drink.”

Beam me aboard, Scottie!

Scott’s personal choices were for Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon and Templeton Rye, which together produce warm, harmonious, tones; cut them with Carpano Antica, an Italian vermouth, add splashes of three different bitters, and you have the makings of a Perfect Manhattan.

The Holy Trinity of Spirits used by Scott Beattie to make his Best-Ever Manhattan

Then Scott adds unique touches to amplify pleasure:

Instead of pouring the stirred (never shaken), ingredients over small ice cubes, Scott opts to pour them over ONE large cube that’s about the size of a major league baseball. Or Muhammad Ali’s fist.

Cutting a single ice cube out of a 25-pound block of ice

“We import our ice from San Francisco where we have a specialty firm make 25-pound blocks for us of oxygen-removed, totally clear ice,” says Scott. We saw it down to manageable size with a chain saw and then use a serrated knife to chip it into individual cubes.”

“This is how they chilled cocktails when they were first invented,” Scott points out, “so our practice pays homage to the drink’s origin.”

Besides, Scott says that one large cube does a better job of chilling the drink and doesn’t dilute the whiskies, as smaller cubes might do.

Another secret to the G&G Manhattan is that it is made with not one, but splashes of THREE different bitters. These are Angostura Aromatic Bitters, Jerry Thomas’ The Bitter Truth Bitters, and Fee Brothers Old-Fashioned Aromatic Bitters.

Bartenders, to whom napaman has spoken about Manhattan cocktails, generally choose two commercially available liqueur-infused cherries for garnish.

Some barmen like Amarena Fabbri wild cherries from Italy; others, like Scott, prefer Kirsch-soaked Morello cherries, produced in France under the Griottines label. Both products are available on amazon.com.

And finally, for home mixologists, there is this sensational tip:

COMBINE ALL THE INGREDIENTS IN A SEALABLE JAR DAYS, EVEN WEEKS, AHEAD OF SERVING. STORE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, OR IN THE FRIDGE, AND POUR THE MIXTURE OVER A LARGE SINGLE ICE CUBE IN A WIDE, OLD-FASHIONED, WHISKEY GLASS WHEN DESIRED.

“All the ingredients in a Manhattan are high in alcohol,” says Scott. “We mix them together in their proper ratios and store the mixture in a container for later use – we never have time to make individual Manhattans from scratch at the bar.”

So the barman makes up quarts, or gallons, of his cocktail mix ahead of time, and pours out drinks as they are ordered.

Mixologists at home can do the same.

How to Make the Perfect Manhattan

¾ oz Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon (or bourbon of your choice)

¾ oz Templeton Rye (or any rye of your choice)

¾ oz  Carpano Antica Sweet Italian Vermouth

Splash each of Angostura Aromatic Bitters and Jerry Thomas’ The Bitter Truth Bitters and ½ splash of Fee Brothers Old-Fashioned Aromatic Bitters      

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, mix together all ingredients.

Using a metal bartender’s spoon, stir well. Do not shake.

Pour over one large ice cube in a wide-mouthed, old-fashioned whiskey glass. Garnish with several Amarena wild cherries, or Griottines Kirsch-macerated, Morello cherries.

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

THE BEST BURGER TO ACCOMPANY THE BEST MANHATTAN

Why stop at perfection from the bar?

The kitchen at G&G is equally successful in the domain of Perfection. Namely, their burgers.

Here’s what makes this burger so dramatically better than any other burger I have tasted in Napa Valley:

They ask their meat purveyor to blend ground chuck that has been procured from three different ranches.

The G&G burger has a sheen, a juicy ooziness, that first affects the eye – and afterward the palate -- the same way a sensual Renoir, or Cezanne, painting causes wonderment,  sometimes leading to Stendhal’s Syndrome, a condition experienced when art (or hamburgers!) cause you to faint from the overwhelming pleasure of the experience.

Oh, and the burger’s taste? Magnificent. Primal. Ethereal. Addictive.

Each 9.5-ounce burger is grilled over a combination of hardwoods and served on a ciabatta bun created exclusively for G&G by Model Bakery, in St. Helena.

The burger is topped with Romaine leaves, cheese, bacon, bone marrow (optional) and the bun is lathered with a tasty, textured, remoulade sauce.

The burger is accompanied by a generous serving of French fries twice-fried in duck fat.

If you can find a better burger in Napa Valley – or a better Manhattan – napaman wants to hear about it.

Until we have the names of other Bar n’ Burger candidates to share with readers of this column, head to Goose & Gander for your own OMG! Manhattan & Burger moment.

Where all this takes place...

Goose & Gander, 1245 Spring St., St. Helena. 707-967-8779.

Happy Woulda-been 100th Birthday, Bob!

Robert Mondavi in 1966 

My friend Robert Mondavi would have turned 100-years-old today.

To commemorate his 100^th birthday, and acknowledge how much he influenced the lives of so many of us living in Napa Valley, Margrit Mondavi, and Bob’s eponymous winery, hosted a birthday party of sorts this afternoon.

Margrit Mondavi and Genevieve Janssens, Director of Winemaking.

Some 200 guests assembled on the lawn at the foot of Bob’s favorite vineyard, To Kalon, and toasted to his memory with a glass of perfectly chilled Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc. Bob would have loved it.

Margrit spoke and said that her 28 years married to Robert were among the most cherished of her life.

Genevieve Janssens, Director of Winemaking at Mondavi, spoke and said that going forward, all Mondavi Reserve Cabernet bottlings would, for the first time, be made exclusively with fruit from the To Kalon vineyard, which Bob identified as being the most important, best producing, vineyard in the valley.

“Mr. Mondavi always urged us to keep improving our wines,” said Genevieve. “From now on, we will only use fruit from To Kalon in our reserve Cabernet... which is one more way to keep improving our wines,” she added.

To make better wine, to make wine as good as, or better than, the wines coming out of the Old World, that was Bob’s passion.

And boy, did he make a difference and prove his point.

I remember nights in the winery’s Vintage Room, well beyond 1 am, spent with Bob and one of his visiting Great Chefs of France, like Jean Troisgros, or Paul Bocuse, sipping and comparing Mondavi Cabernets, or Mondavi Pinot Noirs, with French selections from Bordeaux, or Burgundy, respectively.

The chefs always agreed that Bob was on to something... that his wines complemented their dishes equally as well as any wines they brought over from France, and quite a few chefs agreed, off the record in our late night tasting sessions, that they liked Bob’s Napa Valley wines more.

Happy Birthday, Bob, wherever you are. I raised a glass to your memory this afternoon, and I shall do so again tonight. It’s an ideal occasion to pull an old Mondavi Cabernet out of the cellar and thank you, one more time, for having introduced me to Napa Valley.

Come Celebrate The Cameo Cinema’s 100th Birthday -- Major Party May 15!

Talk about projecting yourself! Over the past century, the Cameo Cinema, in St. Helena, first projected silent films, then talkies, then 3D, computer-generated, digital epics. And now, on the eve of turning 100, the dowager screen queen is being remodeled to become the single best independent movie theater in America.

With more than $300,000 pledged from private donors, Cameo owner-operator Cathy Buck is remodeling the cinema. Local contractors are donating their time and Dolby has donated its top-of-the-line ATMOS screening system.

Cinema-goers are in for a treat. “With ATMOS, we’re adding many speakers, including in the ceiling, which will provide the best movie experience possible, “says Cathy.

Cathy Buck, owner-operator of the Cameo Cinema

“We will be the only independent, single-screen cinema in America with the ATMOS sound system and Meyer Sound speakers,” she adds.

That’s quite an achievement. Meyer Sound is considered THE top speaker-maker in the industry. The Berkeley-based firm makes all the top-end speakers for Pixar, Lucas Films, Skywalker Labs, American Zoetrope and Cirque du Soleil. That’s a Triple-A list of customers. Now add the tiny, tony, terrific Cameo and you get a sense of how good the sound system will be.

Factoid: There are 39,580 movie screens in America today. Not one will have a sound and projection system better than the Cameo's! 

Additional reno details

When the renovation is completed, just ahead of the Cameo’s 100^th Birthday Bash May 15, there will still be 142 seats. And, yes, all the love seats in the last two rows are coming back, all new but the color remains grape purple.

The theater has the size, feel and intimacy of a movie director’s private screening room at home.

Lobby of the Cameo Cinema, before the renovation

At the confection counter, Cathy will add chocolates made locally at the CIA, and sweet potato chips made locally by Food of Love. There will also be a new popcorn machine.

“Every year, we fall short by $75,000, which we make up with fund-raising drives,” says Cathy. This was the reason she applied for, and received, 501c3 status. So now, Friends of the Cameo donations are tax deductible.

May 15 – Cameo’s Centennial Party

The Cameo opened its doors on Main Street, in St. Helena, on May 15, 1913. The first screening was a silent film, Kings of the Forest.

Which is what Cathy will screen for the 100^th birthday bash. Musician Mike Greensill will accompany both the afternoon matinee and the evening screenings with an original score.

Each projection will be followed by a screening of Napa Valley Dreams, a special documentary, which has taken several years to produce; it’s a complete tour of our little paradise, Napa Valley, and it will play several times daily, seven days a week, at the new, upgraded Cameo starting May 16.

For the May 15 matinee birthday bash, doors open at 2 pm, the two films will be screened starting at 3 pm. Cameo popcorn and birthday cupcakes, baked by students at the CIA, are included in the $25 admission ticket.

For the evening screening, guests will first attend a Hollywood-like cocktail party at 7 pm at Caldwell Snyder Gallery, 1328 Main Street, St. Helena. Meadowood’s Michelin-starred chef Christopher Kostow will prepare hors d’oeuvre to accompany premium Napa Valley wines.

As well, chef John Defilippo of the CIA is creating a special anniversary centennial cake and chef Stephen Durfee is producing a unique chocolate sculpture. At 8 pm guests walk the red carpet to the Cameo Cinema to view the two films, which start at 8:30 pm. The $100 admission ticket for the evening includes food, libations and film screenings. 

For additional information, visit cameocinema.com, or drop by the Cameo box office, which opens daily an hour before the day’s first screening. Or call 707-963-9779.

All proceeds from the 100^th Birthday Bash will be donated to Cameo Cinema Community Programming.

Several years ago, I wrote a story about the Cameo Cinema under this headline:

The Second Best Thing You Can Do in the Dark in Napa Valley!

With the giddy rush that comes from watching films screened with the new sound and projection system, I may just have to revise this sentiment; watching films at the Cameo may just become the best thing you can do in the dark in Napa Valley!

Napa Valley Premiere Barrel Auction Raises More than $3 million!

Auctioneer Fritz Hatton sets the auction in motion...

$3,044,500 to be exact, by napaman’s tally.

More than 1,000 wine tradespeople, media personnel and winemakers crammed into the barrel room of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), in St. Helena, today to taste barrel samples of more than 210 wines, most of them from 2011, and then to bid on them.

The event was organized by the Napa Valley Vintners’(NVV) association. Proceeds from the auction are used to promote the valley’s wines. NVV represents about 450 local wineries.

What winemakers were promoting today was their 2011 vintage; guests were given a chance to peak beneath Pandora’s skirt – this was the first official chance for the wine trade to taste the 2011 Cabernets.

Initially, 2011 was the Rodney Dangerfield of vintages; it didn’t get much respect.

Wine writers wrote off the vintage as being water-logged. Production was down so low that many winemakers talked about the pounds of fruit they got off an acre rather than the tons they normally harvest.

Napaman reveals all

But here’s my tip: FORGET what you’ve heard, or read, about the 2011 vintage of Napa Valley Cabs.

Doomsdayers who predicted that the water-logged crop would be lean, mean and green were WRONG. Just plain wrong.

The Barrel tasting Room at the CIA this morning

I’ve just spent three days tasting through dozens of 2011 Cabs and 2011 blends and these wines are soft, pretty, even elegant. And approachable on release. These will be great wines for restaurant wine lists. And also for impatient wine drinkers who don’t want to wait seven years for their wines to age.

The only word one wouldn’t include in describing these wines is “complex.”

Of the 2011 Cabs, which I have tasted, not a single one could be described as “showing great complexity.”

From today’s barrel sampling, I really loved these wines:

2011 Vineyard 29 Cabernet Sauvignon which exhibited a juicy core of fresh, ripe fruit and sweet dark cherries; one of the more thrilling wines of the day, I thought. And so did someone else because the lot fetched $27,000 at auction for 60-bottles.

2011 Turnbull Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, cuvee Le Corbeau.

"! ! !" This was the complete set of notes I made about this wine, so impressed was I by the presence of fruit and character - three very large exclamation marks in the column of my notebook. Nothing more needs to be said about this glorious wine.

2011 ADV (Adler Deutsch Vineyard) Rutherford Cabernet.

I am NOT raving about this wine because I am a personal friend of the Adlers; I just didn’t think it fair to penalize them by omitting their wine because they are friends.

Besides, I heard enough positive spin around the barrel tasting room about this wine to know that I am not alone in praising it; it reminds me of a young Spottswoode, it’s that good.

Elegant, pretty, extremely well balanced and expressing a minerality, which I did not find in many wines of the vintage.

Show Time!

Regular readers of napaman.com will recall that I typically ask winemakers at the annual barrel auction to describe wines of the vintage in terms of a Hollywood star or actor – to give readers a more vivid sense of what the vintage holds, or is like. You know, is it an edgy, boring, or flashy vintage?

Here’s how winemakers responded to the question this year:

If the 2011 vintage in Napa Valley were a Hollywood star, who would it be?

Steve Reynolds of Reynolds Family Winery.. he offered:

“Debby Reynolds. Not because we share the same last name, but because she is classy, classic, stands the test of time and is not flashy. Just like wines of the 2011 vintage.”

Cliff Lede of his eponymous winery suggested...

“Catherine Deneuve. She is elegant, understated, elegant – a timeless beauty.”

The dynamic duo from Broman Cellars: Lisa Augustine, sales & marketing, and Bob Broman, owner and winemaker.. they agreed on their answer:

“Natalie Portman. She is small in stature but her performances are BIG!”

Peter Heitz, winemaker, Turnbull Wine Cellars

“I think the 2011 vintage is best represented by a nameless Sundance Indie actor. Someone who is charming, not well known, somewhat awkward, waiting to be discovered.”

Robert Adler, owner, ADV (Adler Deutsch Vineyards)

“Anne Hathaway, for sure. The wines from this vintage remind me of her – soft, elegant, voluptuous and unforgettable.”

Sue Parry (right) who with her husband Stephen makes a wonderful Cabernet, volunteered to pour wines at lunch; she took the bottle table labeled A-J while Stephen was nearby pouring from bottles labeled K to Z.

Lunch for 1,000 is prepared by students at the CIA, and all the wines are donated by NVV sponsors.

It’s usually a free-for-all at lunch, as guests race to try favorite, hard-to-get wines.

Stephen Parry's wine table, K to Z

After lunch for 1,000 in the CIA kitchen, the auction gets underway in an adjacent room. The air is chilled by the activity of bidders raising their paddles:

The largest single lot sold was $75,000 for 120 bottles of Bevan Cellars and Chateau Boswell Winery’s 2011 Red Wine called “We Will Rock You.”

And the largest price PER BOTTLE was paid for 60 bottles of Shafer Vineyards – Total Wine, a chain with 89 stores across the country, bid $50,000 for the lot, bringing the price per bottle to $833.33.

Total Wine also happened to buy the Bevan/Boswell lot above, too. 

"We want the industry to know that we are serious about high-end wine and the Napa Valley Vintners Premiere Barrel Auction allows us to offer wines not avaialble anywhere else," a spokesperson for Total Wine told napaman.   

"Some people only see us as a big box store, but we are focusing on acquiring impossible-to-come-by wines for our high-end clientele. We purchased many of the top lots at the Barrel Auction, including Bevan/Boswell, Shafer, Cade, Pride, Moone Tsai, Chappellet, Silver Oak, Rombauer, Amici, Spring Mountain, Stags Leap, Baldacci, Raymond, Red Mare, VinRoc, and Peter Paul," the spokesperson added.

How much someone bid per bottle for each of 60 bottles of 2011 Shafer Vineyards Sunspot Vineyard Cabernet.

In an unusual move, someone bid $316.66 per bottle for a Sauvignon Blanc – the 2011 from Lail Vineyards.

Sure hope we don’t see retail prices like this when these wines hit the street!

Finally...

Helen Buehler of Buehler Vineyards

I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation of two young wine producers on the shuttle bus from the event parking lot to the CIA. They made no effort to guard their conversation or keep it private.

 Helen Buehler, on the bus, to a wine pal:

“I had to stay out drinking with a Canadian film crew last night and didn’t get home until 5 am (it being 9 am when she said this).”

“How do you feel?” asked her friend out loud?

“If my hangover were a person, it would be John Goodman!”

Which says it all.

It turns out that even hangovers have star qualities at the Premiere Barrel Auction.

Napa Valley – How I Do Love Thee!

The only way you can make living in Napa Valley any better is to stage a weekend wine event, invite a thousand professional wine tasters, and let them loose, tasting hundreds of unreleased wines.

It’s a bit like inviting lemmings to a cliff. They all come. They all partake. They all jump.

This weekend marks one of my favorite annual wine events in the valley, the mid-winter Premiere Barrel Auction, organized by the highly professional trade group called Napa Valley Vintners (NVV), a marketing association representing 450 local wineries.

This morning’s session, organized by NVV, called a Multi-Vintage Perspective, gave professional tasters and tradespeople a chance to taste three successive vintages of Chardonnay and three of Cabernet Sauvignon, to prove that climate and weather DO make a difference in winemaking here.

The tasting was held at the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America’s St. Helena campus.

British wine expert, Steven Spurrier

Among attendees were Steven Spurrier, the UK wine expert who organized the famous 1976 Paris Wine Tasting, and Napa Valley’s own Karen MacNeil, author of “The Wine Bible“ (which is a MUST compendium in every wine library).

Karen MacNeil and Steven Spurrier

The session enabled invitees to taste blind three vintages of Chardonnay (the ‘09, ‘10, & ‘11 vintages) from 12 different producers and three vintages of Cabernet (the ’08, ’09 & ’10 vintages) from 12 different producers. A total of 72 wines tasted blind.

Tasters tasted.... photographers photographed...

This is often one of my favorite tastings because it reaffirms my belief that when Napa Valley Cabernets are tasted blind, price does not necessarily dictate quality.

Often at this tasting, my preferred wines are the low- to mid-priced wines, not the really expensive, cult wines.

A roomful of tasters

This year, for example, I rated the 2010 Reynolds Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2009 Titus Cabernet Sauvignon as my top wines of the blind tasting.

The 2010 Reynolds Family Estate Cab is a gorgeous, beautifully balanced wine, showing a great deal of elegance and “European restraint,” as Steve Spurrier noted. It retails for $45 (they haven’t raised their price in 10 years, according to Matt in their tasting room).

This 2010 wine won’t be available in retail circles until May, 2014 ... but oh! is it worth waiting for!

The 2009 Titus Family Estate Reserve Cab had me going back for seconds and thirds. I loved the structure, the complexity, the texture and balance of this wine. Simply breathtaking. It retails for $65.

By contrast, there were wines in the tasting running from $110 to $230 a bottle, which I didn’t think showed as well.

Emma Wellings, UK taster

The purpose of this tasting was to show that our wines DO alter from year to year; many consumers think that we have hot, sunny summers every year, but, in truth, no two vintages here are the same.

The wine buyer for Selfridges, London, was on hand to judge Napa Valley wines. She took notes on her Samsung tablet, converting hand-written notes to typewritten text at the stroke of a button.

2008

This was a nightmarish vintage born with a crippling spring frost, which lowered yields, followed by dry-bordering-on-drought conditions, followed by freaky summer heat spikes. You want an example of an inconsistent vintage? This is it.

2009

The trick this year was to pick before the rains came in mid-October or to wait to pick until well afterward. Anyone who picked during the deluge, has watered-down wine. The 2009s are, for the most part, lovely, medium-weight, graceful wines, built for a long evolution.

2010

Until I tasted the 2012s (which readers won’t see for some time), I thought that 2010s were among the best we’ve ever made in Napa Valley. The killer Cabs are powerful, shockingly big, yet balanced - what wine writers like to call a “thrilling vintage.”

Margrit Mondavi Honored for a Lifetime of Wine Achievements

Margrit Mondavi, the Wine World’s Patron Saint of Culture, was recognized this afternoon for her lifetime contribution to the American wine industry, essentially for proving to us all that wine is part of an active lifestyle.

Man cannot live on bread alone. Or on books alone, Or on art, theater or film alone. Everything, it turns out, goes better with a glass of wine, which Margrit has taught us to think of as the hydraulic fluid of life.

Margrit with the Tiiffany Monteith Trophy

At a formal luncheon at The Robert Mondavi Winery today, Margrit, as we all call, know, and love her, received the elegant, sterling silver, Tiffany Monteith Trophy, one of the most prestigious awards in the American wine industry.

Mike Thompson, our regional congressman, and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Wine Caucus, presented the award to Margrit at the luncheon, honoring her for her tireless promotion and consumer education in the fields of wine, food and the arts.

The Tiffany Monteith Trophy was created in 1980 and Margrit is its 30th recipient. The award is sponsored by the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association, whose board members were present for the presentation.

The award is presented annually (with a few exceptions) to an individual who, or an organization which, has made an exceptional contribution to the development of the American wine industry.

The Monteith Wine Bowl Trophy, made of pure sterling silver, was made by New York’s Tiffany & Co for the Vinifera Wine Growers Association. Its craftsmanship represents one of the earliest forms of silversmithing.

The award was presented to Margrit ahead of a delicious lunch, served in the Robert Mondavi Vintage Room, where I have had some of the best food I have ever been served in Napa Valley. (Let the record be clear: I first had the privilege of dining with Bob & Margrit Mondavi in this private dining room 33 years ago.)

Margrit kibbutzes around with L. Pierce Carson, food, arts and wine reporter for the Napa Valley Register.

Good going, Margrit! We’re sure happy for ya! It’s recognition you’ve earned. I’m pleased to be able to call you a friend and neighbor.

In St. Helena, FB Does NOT Mean Facebook. FB is the Town’s Toniest New Restaurant – French Blue!

Not sure why they called it French Blue, given that the sexy, blue hue is only an edging detail here.

Howard Backen, impresario, architect, and now restaurant owner

Better they should have called it “Backen White,” after the predominant shade, which owner and architect Howard Backen created and which he used to paint all the wooden surfaces of his new restaurant on Main Street.

Okay, so French Blue (real credit due: the name comes from Howard’s wife and business partner, interior designer Lori Backen) opened a month ago but it’s still too early to identify menu favorites because in every new restaurant, 50 percent of everything changes in the first few months of operation.

Here’s what napaman does know:

The restaurant is now open for BLD – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.

The 98-seat room looks and feels as though it should be at a resort, or on the hillside of a pineapple plantation in Maui. It’s a relaxing, casual, comforting, welcoming room.

Aurally, French Blue doesn’t have the harsh, loud sounds, which keep me from returning to Goose & Gander, another new St. Helena restaurant, where it’s so noisy at dinner you can barely hear your waiter recite daily specials. By contrast, French Blue is calming.

Setting the communal table

At French Blue, there’s a welcoming, casual, communal table, which seats 14.

Who’s surprised that Howard Backen has created a room that compels one’s spirit to soar?

Howard is THE architect of Napa Valley, as well as the architect of the rich and famous. (Spoiler alert: Howard was the architect of our home in Napa Valley, though napaman doesn’t pass the physical – of being rich or famous.)

Howard is internationally recognized for his work on wineries (Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle), hotels and resorts (Meadowood), institutions (Sundance Institute), and retail stores (Restoration Hardware retail locations).

Architectural Digest recognizes Howard’s talents, having named him one of the Top 100 Designers each of the last five years. Now they’ll have to recognize his prowess as a restaurateur, too.

French Blue has some mighty talented hands at the helm.

Howard’s wife Lori designed the interior and created all the sexy blue-and-white items for sale around the room.

Stanley Morris, responsible for operations at French Blue, has worked in the hospitality and entertainment industries for 30 years; he took Jeremiah Tower’s San Francisco Stars restaurant concept to Singapore, where he lived for six years, then returned to the Bay-area to direct operations at Il Fornaio. Most recently, he launched and operated Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco.

Philip Wang, originally from Indiana, is the FB chef. After studying at the CIA, Philip cooked in San Francisco for Traci des Jardins at Rubicon and Jardinière. In NYC, he helped open Daniel Boulud’s eponymous restaurant, which eventually earned four stars from the New York Times.

It’s too early to give a full and proper restaurant critique, but at Howard’s behest, napaman stopped at French Blue for breakfast last week.

While the Cowgirl Mt. Tam Omelette was light and fluffy, the Oven-Baked Blueberry Pancake was the superior breakfast item. (Howard confided to napaman that he has one for breakfast many mornings.)

This is not a conventional pancake, but rather a German-like pancake, baked in a cast iron, Staub skillet, in which the pancake is then served. House-made rhubarb maple syrup adds richness to the dish. Best to share – otherwise you may find yourself overloading on carbs and snoring through your first morning meeting.

Favorite feature: A delightful outdoor patio a step off Main Street.

Most restaurants put their patio at the back, keeping guests hidden; I love the FB French city touch here, putting tables and chairs at street level out front, so guests get a sense of the town action. (This may be the year’s top oxymoron: “St. Helena town action.”)

Pet peeve: They don’t take reservations.

When even a tiny restaurant like Cook down the block makes the effort to accept dinner reservations, why can’t, or won’t, French Blue?

Who wants to exit from a film at the Cameo Cinema and be told at a neighborhood restaurant that “there’s a half-hour wait for a table… how about drinking at the bar until a table is ready?”

If there were only one thing to fix at French Blue, it would be to offer reservations.

French Blue, 1429 Main St., St. Helena. Tel: 707-968-9200.

They Finally Hosted a Cultural Event for Margrit at Mondavi Winery!

After four decades of hosting receptions for visiting artists, chefs and musicians at her family’s winery, Margrit Mondavi was finally accorded her own cultural reception yesterday – for the publication of her new book, Sketchbook: Reflections on Wine, Food, Art, Family, Romance and Life.

The star of yesterday’s cultural event, Margrit Mondavi

Margrit, wife of the late Robert Mondavi, has created a collection of personal stories and sketches based on reflections about her life with Robert in the Napa Valley.

Margrit’s stylized drawing of the winery

The book is written in the spirit which Margrit and Robert brought to the winery; they always believed that food, wine and the arts need to be celebrated in everyday life – and all together. 

Margrit painting for Sketchbook

Margrit has illustrated many anecdotes in Sketchbook with her own watercolor images.

Janet Fletcher, who lives in Napa town, is co-author of Sketchbook

Foodwriter Janet Fletcher, who has written more than a half-dozen of her own food books, many of them award-winning, was Margrit’s co-author on Sketchbook, helping to give it structure and flow.

“We worked on Sketchbook for more than a year,” Janet told napaman, “and I kind of wished the project would never end. Margrit and I had a great time working on the project together!”

A number of close friends and family members also added to the memoir. French Laundry chef/owner Thomas Keller wrote the forward.

Margrit signing books at the launch reception yesterday

$10 from the sale of each book sold at yesterday’s signing was earmarked for the Napa Valley Opera House, an example of Margrit’s ongoing cultural support to the community.

Margrit and Robert Mondavi, 2005. I took this shot at the winery, on the occasion of Robert being awarded the French Legion of Honor for his lifetime work in advancing wine knowledge and appreciation.

Talk about cultural support; Margrit and Robert started the Robert Mondavi Winery Summer Concert Series in 1969 to bring first-class music to the valley and to support local musical development. 

Over the Summer Concert’s 43-year history, more than $2 million in proceeds have been earmarked for local musical education and enrichment; funds have been steered to support the Napa Valley Symphony, the Napa Valley Opera House and the Napa Valley Unified School District.

More than 300 guests showed up for the book reception and launch of Margrit’s Sketchbook

Margrit Mondavi’s Sketchbook: Reflections on Wine, Food, Art, Family, Romance and Life is available for $35 on amazon.com and also at the Robert Mondavi winery.

A Shout Out – for the First Talkie Film!

 

Okay you mugs, listen up! This is the President speaking…

The President … of the Al Jolson Fan Club of Toronto, Canada, which a classmate and I started in 1960. We loved the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, made in 1927, and we loved Al Jolson who starred in it, so we started a fan club for the long-dead (even then!) singer.

In you live in Napa Valley… or will be visiting July 15, here’s your chance to experience the first talkie film… under the stars!... with live musical accompaniment! The celluloid experience doesn’t get any better, or more real, than this.

In celebration of its centennial anniversary, our wonderful, charming, and historically important local Cameo Cinema, in St. Helena, is hosting a delightful evening of music and film at the Castello di Amorosa, in Calistoga, Sunday, July 15.

Highlights

 

Highlights of the evening, called “Jolson and Jazz Under the Stars,” include a screening of the film outdoors, along with live jazz performed by internationally acclaimed guitarist Martin Taylor and jazz vocalist Alison Burns.

FYI: Alison Burns was recently nominated a candidate for “Best Jazz Vocalist of the Year.” The award will be announced at the Scottish Jazz Awards later this month; Martin Taylor has already been awarded the prestigious “Order of the British Empire” by Queen Elizabeth.

Also on hand for the screening of the first talkie at Castello di Amorosa will be writer/filmmaker Cass Warner, granddaughter of Warner Bros. founder Harry Warner, who financed The Jazz Singer.

Cass will share family stories about the making of The Jazz Singer.

Hors d’oeuvres and desserts will be served by Knickerbockers’ Catering and wine will be poured by Castello di Amorosa, Cade Winery, Rasmussen Winery, Consentino Winery, Coquerel Winery, Domain Chandon, Casa Nuestra, and Swanson Vineyards.

Doors open at 7 pm. Tickets, which are tax deductible, are $125 in advance and $150 at the door. All proceeds will benefit Cameo Cinema Community Programming.

Tickets may be purchased at the theater’s box office at 1340 Main St., in St. Helena, every day an hour before the day’s first show time, or online at cameocinema.com.  

For further information, visit the website or call the Cameo box office at 707-287-4172.

See you at the movies! See you under the stars!

 

How Can a Wine Be This Good 13 TIMES???

The only wine in my life of which I have drunk an entire case and rated every single bottle of the case a perfect wine was the 1990 Le Vieux Donjon, from Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

I LOVED THAT CASE. And every bottle in it.

I was apparently justified in thinking so highly of the 1990 Le Vieux Donjon; in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate several years ago, 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.

As perfect as 1990 was, other vintages of this wine have also produced giddiness when served with great food.

Several years ago, I paired a 2001 Vieux Donjon with my wife Carol’s homemade pappardelle tossed with a sensational veal ragout (a variation of a Mario Batali recipe, only Carol makes it better!). The wine offered a near-duplicate experience of the 1990 vintage.

Here was a wine of exceptional length and extraordinary quality. Another perfect wine. Brilliant, elegant, rich, balanced. A 100-pointer, for sure.

There was nothing missing in this wine, no flaws, only gemstone brilliance, bright mature fruit, terroir, minerality, and a finish that Burgundian producers would kill to duplicate.

So imagine my extreme pleasure to have received an email two weeks ago from Stefan Blicker at BPWine, in St. Helena, offering to collectors a single bottle of 1990 Vieux Donjon, which he had acquired with the purchase of a large private cellar. He was asking $150 for the bottle.

I called Stefan, from whom I have bought many fabulous Chateauneufs-du-Pape over the years, and made an offer he couldn’t refuse:

“Take that bottle of Donjon off the shelf and bring it to lunch. I will write an encomium to the wine, which is the best press coverage you – and the wine – will ever have, “ I pledged to Stefan, knowing full well that he didn’t know what an encomium is.

He agreed. Which just shows that wine retailers aren’t any smarter than winewriters.

Hey! Before we get to details of our lunch, let me give a brief overview of Vieux Donjon, pirated from the superb book The Chateauneuf-du-Pape Wine Book, by Harry Karis.

If you missed my earlier review of this book, you’ll find it here:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2011/02/the-best-wine-tasting-of-2011-and-its-only-february.html

The winery

Le Vieux Donjon was founded in 1962 by Marcel Michel.

The winery is named for the view of the original Chateauneuf chateau, which Marcel’s home over looks.

Today, a third generation of Michels runs the winery; it’s in the hands of Marcel’s granddaughter Claire Michel, who interned at -- of all places! -- Harlan, here in Napa Valley.

VD (as we affectionately call it) has nearly 35 acres of red grapes and 2.5 acres of white varieties.

Unlike neighbors, who make several cuvees – a luxury selection and a lesser cuvee – VD only makes 1 cuvee, producing the single best wine it can make from its grapes. And man, they hit the ball out of the park many times each decade. But particularly in 1990 and in 2001, two of my favorite-ever years for Vieux Donjon.

The traditional blend is 75% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Cinsault.

All varieties are vinified together, with the exception of Mourvedre, which is vinified separately and then blended with the others to be matured in wood.

The Michels age their Chateauneuf-du-Pape for 18 months in large wooden foudres.

Not terribly impressive for its “world headquarters,” but Le Vieux Donjon’s wines, produced here, are among the tops in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

To Lunch We Go…

And now, ladies and gentlemen… to the luncheon with Stefan, who, last seen, was clutching the 1990 Vieux Donjon as though it were a bar of gold. I think he feared that I wouldn’t have anything to write about if he dropped it.

Stefan Blicker, of BPWine.com

We dine at one of my favorite Napa Valley restaurants, Market, on Main St., in St. Helena.

Upon being opened, the wine exhibited scents of cedar, wood, rich white truffles, anise, garrigue, licorice, herbes de provence, and kirsch.

The wine is opened by waitperson exceptionelle, Lacey McDaniel

“1990 was one of the ripest Donjons ever made,” says Stefan, who loves the Grenache grape almost as much as I do. Stefan, 44, owns and operates BPWine with partners Brent Pierce and Cory Wagner.

BPWine is one of Napa Valley’s larger wine retailers. I asked Stefan what’s the oldest, rarest wine he’s ever sold.

“We secured an 1865 Lafite (Bordeaux) from a private cellar and a collector bought the bottle from us for $10,000. The customer then consumed it at The French Laundry as part of an exceptional dinner.” 

The 1990 Donjon may not be in this same league, but for us humble folks who remember our roots, and who can stretch to pay $150 for a wine of this stature, there is still a ton of pleasure here.

The Donjon is elegant, focused and shows improvement with each ten minutes of passing time, putting on weight and adding complexity. 

After 30 minutes, the wine is humming along, exhibiting raspberries, lots of garrigue, truffles, and fresh herbs, just cut from an organic garden. Sure doesn’t taste or smell like a 22-year-old wine.

Lacey asked if she could shoot the two diners wasting her time  -- I think she meant with a .45 caliber pistol, but she settled for my camera when I handed it to her to take this shot. That’s me on the left, Stefan on the right.

The wine is also special – and one of the year’s best – for what’s NOT present. There is NO:

+ Bottle funk

+ Bottle stink

+ Brett

+ Off-flavors

+ Advanced Age

+ Storage issues

In sum, the wine is a perfect 100 – in both provenance and pleasure.

I LOVE the chopped salad at Market

We paired the wine with two of my favorite dishes at Market; the appetizer chopped salad has many delicious ingredients. It has crunch, richness, complexity, and sensational taste.

The small plate pepper-crusted filet medallions, served with Napa Valley’s best truffled, shoestring fries, is a natural, totally complementary dish to the wine, which itself boasts truffle-y flavors. I LOVE THIS DISH and have had it at Market a half-a-dozen times in the past two months. Congratulations to chef Eduardo Martinez for duplicating this perfect dish time after time.

And thanks to the Michel family for making yet one more perfect bottle of 1990 Donjon, my 13^th perfect experience of this wine.

GIII – It could stand for Gorgeous Grape Growing!

These uncommonly good wines come from grapes commonly grown in one of the most historically important vineyards in Napa Valley.

GIII (G3) sounds like a hot new sports car, or maybe a reference to a summit meeting of finance ministers from the industrialized nations. 

But it's actually shorthand wine-speak for one of the most revered vineyards in Napa Valley.

GIII, as it became known, was the third vineyard, which legendary winemaker Georges de Latour bought, in 1928, for his winery, Beaulieu Vineyards.

Latour’s three Beaulieu wine blocks, all in the tiny hamlet of Rutherford, are reputed to produce some of the best Cabernet in America. They certainly produce some of the most historically important, and critically acclaimed, wine in the country.

Georges de Latour, a chemist from Perigord, France, came to Napa Valley in 1883, in search of tartaric acid (cream of tartar), required to make baking powder. (One of the byproducts of winemaking is tartaric acid.)

Like so many of us today, Monsieur de Latour got hooked by the wine bug and began to buy more than just tartaric acid – he started to buy land and bought a winery.

Latour, in many ways the granddaddy of grape growers here, called his winery Beaulieu (“Pretty Site”). By 1913, his Rutherford winery could produce 126,000 cases of wine annually, mostly Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

The original blocks of land, which de Latour bought, are designated:

BV 1 (his first acquisition), on the west side of Highway 29, across from today’s BV winery. The block stretches west to the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains.

Today the 79-acre block is planted with all five classic Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

BV 2, the second purchased property, is adjacent and south of BV 1. These 125 acres are today planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and a small amount of Merlot.

de Latour’s GIII block, shot last week, before bud-break

BV3, when sold by Beaulieu became… GIII Aha! We finally get to the hero of today’s story and tasting. This 300-acre parcel, adjacent to what is Caymus Winery today, runs between Conn Creek Road and the Silverado Trail.

(Relax, this history portion of the story is nearly done! And besides it’s not on the final exam.)

The GIII block

Georges de Latour made many innovations in California’s wine industry. Most notably, turning to his French roots, he advocated using small oak barrels to age different varietals. This gave his wines a complexity and depth not seen before in American wines.

The best wine produced at BV has always been the Georges deLatour Private Reserve, first produced in 1936. At one point, running into quality issues, de Latour hired wine wizard Andre Tchelistcheff to modernize production. This was a brilliant move as Tchelistcheff elevated the wines – and the brand – to superstar status.

The GIII block, today owned by Andy Beckstoffer

In 1988, Andy Beckstoffer, Napa Valley’s largest independent grape grower, bought GIII. Recognizing the historical importance of the vineyard, and knowing what great fruit it produces, Andy replanted with five updated Cabernet Sauvignon clones, changed the direction of the rows, imposed tighter vine spacing and opted for advanced trellising to improve quality and tonnage.

How we got to where we are today – the GIII tasting

David Stoneberg, St. Helena Star, and Andy Beckstoffer at the 750 Wines tasting

One day in January, David Stoneberg, who is both editor and wine editor of the St. Helena Star, suggested to Andy Beckstoffer that he bring together a number of the winemakers who purchase his GIII grapes and conduct a blind tasting to celebrate the bounty of this historic vineyard.

Good thinking, David! Good work, Andy!

David and Monica Stevens, owners of 750 Wines, in St. Helena, amenable as ever, agreed to host the tasting. Only the winemakers and several members of the press were invited, napaman included.

Today, the fruit, which Andy Beckstoffer manicures and matures on the 300-acre GIII parcel, is sold to no fewer than 30 different producers who forge their own style of wine. The purpose of today’s tasting was to see if a common elegance, or thread of DNA, might be evident in the resultant wines.

The wines, tasted blind, were split into two flights and scored; 2008 wines, and then 2009 wines (with one 2010 barrel sample included as a ringer). 

2008s

2008 Myriad, GIII Vineyard

Among the 2008 wines, napaman and the group shared a common opinion. We ranked the Myriad Cabernet as our favorite expression of GIII fruit. I noted that the wine had a lovely balance and elegance, and a syrupy texture bordering on silky.

On the Internet, this wine is $65.

2008 12 C GIII Vineyard

Napaman and the group were also of the same mindset about a wine called 12 C, which we ranked our second favorite of the 2008s. The wine exhibited plum and blackcurrant aromas and flavors and had an aromatic complexity suggesting that it may not be all Cab.

You can find this wine on the Internet for between $60 and $75.

2009s

2009 Fairchild Estate, GIII Vineyard

In the 2009 flight, my first choice, tasted blind, was the Fairchild Estate Cabernet. A gorgeous wine. The group, whose scores were added up and divided to get a group average, ranked this wine its second favorite.

I thought the wine had a sensual element, exhibiting soft ripe, as well as dried, fruit flavors.

At the winery, the wine is $145.

2009 Sojourn, GIII Vineyard 

I ranked Sojourn Cellars my second favorite of the 2009 wines, while the group ranked it tops. The wine is made in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County.

At the winery, the wine is $95.

At the end of the tasting session, the winemakers were asked if they could detect a common thread in the wines, all made with GIII grapes.

Roy Piper, a Napa Valley winemaker and winewriter, voiced the opinion that there was noticeable acid (a good thing) in the wines and good loamy (soil) characteristics.

“These GIII wines are not uber-big, like the wines from Ta-Kalon vineyard (in Oakville) – they’re more restrained, exhibiting red fruit flavors rather than darker fruit flavors,” Roy noted.

Most of the winemakers agreed with Roy, as did I.

In the end: Could I isolate a GIII wine in a blind tasting of wines from many different Napa Valley vineyards? Absolutely NOT.

But what we learned from the tasting is that GIII grapes, under the tutelage of talented winemakers, can sure make one tasty beverage.

Waiter, Hail Me a Cab…

In fact, get me four Cabs - two from France and two from Napa Valley. 

Our Boys Night out For Burgers started earlier yesterday when I read winewriter Richard Jenning’s column on 2001 Napa Valley Cabs.

Richard is my favorite, new, go-to voice for judicious juice commentary, This guy knows his wines and has a great palate. He lives in the Bay-area and we were fortunate to have dinner together a month ago.

Go here to see Richard’s thorough overview of the 2001 vintage of Napa Valley Cabs:

http://www.rjonwine.com/cabernet-sauvignon/2001-napa-retrospective/

Richard’s observations are that some big-name 2001 Napa Valley Cabs have lost their balance, fruit, and charm, and many are just quirky and flawed.

This made me run to my cellar to pull out some 2001 Napa Valley Cabs for dinner to see if my wines were experiencing this bottle breakdown.

A good Rutherford winemaker friend pulled out some 2000 French Bordeaux for comparison and we headed to Market, in St. Helena, for what is possibly the valley’s best burger.

Yes, I know, it’s hard, if not impossible, to judge Bordeaux and Napa Valley Cabs at the same time; California wines, with their higher alcohol, and elevated fruit extraction, usually clobber the bejesus out of French wines at such pairings. Not because the Napa Valley Cabs are better, but because they’re just more in-your-face bombastic.

Surprisingly, the four wines we chose from our respective cellars were flawless, delicious and one Bordeaux, the 2000 Chateau Pape Clement, was so filled with fruit and ripe blackcurrant flavors, that it was my “wine of the night.”

The two Napa Valley Cabs, thankfully, showed well.

 

2000 Chateau Brane-Cantenac (Margaux)

 Perfectly mature at 12 years, showing soft, rose petal scents and tasting more of ripe red fruit than anything dark or plum-like. Medium-weight. 91 points.

2000 Chateau Pape Clement (Pessac-Leognan)

A remarkable beverage, reminding me of dark purple, blackcurrant pastilles. Wine of the night. 94 points. 

 

2001 Turnbull, Weitz Vineyard, Oakville

Of the two Napa Valley Cabs, this one was the more puissant, the more fruit-forward. Perhaps a bit of residual sugar here, or is the perceived sweetness simply from an abundance of fruit? A delicious wine showing balance and remarkable grace, given its forward fruit. 93 points. 

2001 Beringer Private Reserve

Upon release, I thought that this might become one of Beringer’s best-ever wines. I have followed its evolution since the day it was bottled (I was there) and must remark that no single bottle I have tasted since (and I bought a case) has yet to deliver what I expected from this wine.

Tonight’s bottle is the best I’ve yet tasted, so perhaps the wine is just now coming into a stage of maturity?

Lots of licorice, anise and salt on the palate; an hour into the bottle, the wine was starting to show angular features and tasting a bit hot. 91 points.

Eduardo Martinez, executive chef/owner, Market Restaurant

2012 Hamburger, Market Restaurant, St. Helena

To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Oh how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thy fresh, juicy, warm center, of delicious Niman Ranch beef;

I love thy egg-y bun, almost sweet, never spongy, a superb carrier;

I love thy toppings, rich Fiscalini Cheddar, and sweet grilled onions;

I love thy bountiful fries, perfectly cooked and salted.

Market Restaurant is at 1347 Main St., St. Helena. Tel: 707-963-3799.

 

 

Here Comes the (Tuscan) Sun!

Get out your Crayola crayon and circle NOON, Sunday, April 1 on your calendar.

This is when the Cameo Cinema, in St. Helena, will host a premiere showing of Under the Tuscan Sun.

This is the movie adaptation of Frances Mayes’ bestselling tale of the same name. And guess who will be on hand to answer questions and sign copies of her new tome, The Tuscan Sun Cookbook?

Frances Mayes, that’s who.

In addition, my close friend, Steven Rothfeld, a St. Helena resident, will be present; Steven, one of the most gifted photographers I have ever known, took all the photos for Frances’ new cookbook. And like everything Steven shoots, they’re stunning.

Kale, white bean & Sausage Soup

About the Cookbook:

La dolce vita. For real. A typical al fresco table.

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook is a collection of 150 recipes inspired by 20 years of cooking at Bramasole, Frances and Ed Mayes’ home in Cortona, Italy.

Napaman received a review copy of the cookbook, but too late to prepare any of the mouthwatering dishes for this column; but  the dishes look stupendous, don’t appear to be challenging, and if you like “food porn,” you’ll want this volume for your collection just for  Steven’s images.

But more about the movie, starring Diane Lane:

We asked Cathy Buck, who owns the Cameo Cinema, for details about the premiere screening:

“We like to think of this as an afternoon in Italy! Frances Mayes will be our guest for the screening, which will be followed by a Q&A and book signing of her cookbook.”

Frances in her garden, in Cortona, Italy

“Italian bites from St Helena’s Knickerbocker’s Catering will be paired with wine from Benessere Winery. Guests will also be served gelato from Sogni Del Dolce and a taste of homemade limoncello,” adds Cathy.

Ed and Frances in their Tuscan kitchen – source of all the recipes in her new cookbook

Tickets are $50 each. Cathy will have copies of Frances Mayes’ new cookbook, which Frances will sign, for sale. Book tickets online on the Cameo web site – www.cameocinema.com – or at the box office.

The doors open at 11.30 am Sunday, April 1.

See you at the movies!

PS: All the photos in this story courtesy of Steven Rothfeld. Way to go, Steven!

Don’t miss this sensational winemaker dinner, April 19!

Hola! If you live in the Bay-area within the sound of my voice, circle April 19 on your calendar and immediately call Tra Vigne restaurant, in St. Helena, to reserve a seat, or two.

Charter Oak, homegrown here in Napa Valley, and EIEIO, from the Willamette Valley, OR, are co-hosting a sensational dinner to:

1. Show off their respective wines (six will be poured at dinner) and
2. Celebrate the cooking of one of my favorite Napa Valley chefs, Nash Cognetti.

The seasonal Italian dinner will be served in the restaurant’s private dining salon, Cantinetta, and there will only be 36 seats for this rare event. (We prefer our winemaker events as we prefer our steaks – rare.)

EIEIO is a fun label, but a serious wine, produced by a colleague and friend, Jay McDonald, who actually lives on a farm in the Willamette Valley.

Jay borrowed from the childhood nursery rhyme, figuring that since he lives on a farm, where he grows grapes, he might as well name his wines on this basis: “Old McDonald had a farm, EIEIO.”

Jay also owns and operates one of Oregon’s foremost retail wine stores, a sweet, small, focused operation called The Tasting Room in Carlton.

Jay Mcdonald, right, walks through his Yates-Conwill Vineyard with Shannon, a harvest helper.

Essentially, Jay took over what used to be the community bank, converting it into a wine store. The treasured wines are kept in what used to be the bank’s vault. 

If you’d like some background on Jay and The Tasting Room in Carlton, check out an earlier story I wrote:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2008/05/oregon-pinot-noir----proof-that-the-best-things-in-life-are-not-free.html

EIEIO vineyards, source of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir dinner wines

The dinner and wines 

For the dual winemaker dinner at Tra Vigne, Jay will be on hand to pour three wines:

2009 EIEIO Chardonnay Yates-Conwill Vineyard. Produced from Dijon 76+96 Clones, aged in predominately neutral French Oak. $25.

2008 EIEIO Cuvee E Pinot noir Willamette Valley. $35.

2009 EIEIO Cuvee I Pinot noir Willamette Valley. Predominately old Pommard vines planted in 1974. $45.

And from Charter Oak….

Rob (on right) and me, kibbutzing at Charter Oak.

Rob Fanucci

Rob Fanucci, Charter Oak winemaker, who asked me to become his winery partner four years ago, and I will be on hand to pour three of our favorite wines:

2009 Charter Oak David Fulton Vineyard, Old-Vine Petite Sirah, from 80-year-old vines planted in St. Helena. $48.

2007 Charter Oak Mt. Veeder Hillside Cabernet, from a vineyard high above Napa Valley. $75.

2009 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Zinfandel, from the oldest block of Zinfandel planted in the United States – 128 year-old vines in Sonoma County. $48.

If you like what you taste, you can order any of the six wines from the respective producers at dinner.

Charter Oak Zinfandel on the vine.

Rob and his family, in the cellar of Charter Oak

At Charter Oak, we hand press the fermented juice in Rob’s grandfather’s wooden basket press.

The price of a meal ticket is $100, subsidized by the winemakers in order to keep the cost down. The price includes a four-course meal, six wines, taxes, and even gratuities!

In the fall, I help Rob punch down fermenting grapes.

Here’s the full menu:

                EIEIO & Charter Oak Winemaker Dinner

                    Tra Vigne, Thursday April 19

 

                                            Primo

    Olive Oil Poached Santa Barbara White Seabass ‑ spring pea

                and watercress puree, shellfish nage

         2009 EIEIO Chardonnay, Yates Conwill Vineyard

 

                                            Pasta

    Hand-made Maccheroni alla Chitarra ‑ slow cooked sonoma duck

                        with wild mushroom sugo

                 2008 EIEIO Cuvee E Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

                                            and

               2009 EIEIO Cuvee I Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

 

                                            Entrée

          Bistecca alla Fiorentina ‑ garlic spinach, rosemary roasted potatoes

              2009 Charter Oak David Fulton Vineyard, Old-Vine Petite Sirah,

                                                and

                 2007 Charter Oak Mt. Veeder Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon

 

                                        Formaggi

            Cave-Aged Fiscalini Farmstead Cheddar ‑ Modesto California

            Black Market Colston Basset Baby Stilton ‑ Nottingham, England

           2009 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Vineyard, Zinfandel, Sonoma County

If you like what you see, call 707-963-4444 and ask the Tra Vigne receptionist to reserve a seat, or two. Seats will be held with a credit card. Reservations can be cancelled by phone up to one week in advance of the event.

See you there!

Holy smokes! This restaurant reviewer makes Michael Bauer look like he’s anorexic!

An old friend from my Toronto days, Josh Josephson, breezed through Napa Valley a few weeks ago.

Josh Josephson

I was out of town, so I asked Josh, who fancies himself a fulltime restaurant critic, when he isn’t researching neurosurgical drug matters, to send me a list of where he ate, what he ate, and what he liked while in Napa Valley.

The guy ate at all the places listed below in TWO days, took all these photos, and posted all these comments on his own site, http://cookbookstoreblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/napa-restaurants-french-laundry-tra.html

I append Josh’s review in full. It is unedited and does not necessarily carry my full endorsement or agreement. But this guy pretty much knows what he’s talking about; for one thing, Josh has a serious passion for food, cooking and cuisine, In fact, he opened, with Alison Fryer and Barbara Caffery, Canada’s first cookbook store. Called "The Cookbook Store," in Toronto, it's still running strong 30 years later.

As well as being an optometrist actively involved with research. Josh is chairman of the Standards Council of Canada, Ophthalmic Committees (spectacle lens, contact lens, contact lens care, product standards, etc.). He is Canada's sole voting representative at all ISO meetings.

Most recently, working with a research neurosurgeon, Josh founded a pharmaceutical company that has developed a stroke drug, which prevents complications from a stroke; at present, it is in FDA clinical trials.

All the while, Josh still owns and operates Josephson Opticians, Canada's first high fashion optical chain, established in 1935, by his dad, David, who outfitted me with my earliest glasses.

Anyway, have a look at where Josh ate in Napa Valley, and what he had to say about each course. It’s like a condensed visual Zagat trip through the entire valley.

One more thing: those aren't misspellings below. Those are quaint Canadian spellings: "flavour, colour, etc." Hey, Blame it on Canada!

 

The French Laundry, Yountville, California 

The French Laundry is on any serious eater's hit list and probably the number one on anyone's list of important restaurants to eat at in North America. Finally, I made the list of reservations! There are only 2 menu's, one having everything including meat and fowl, the other, "a tasting of vegetables."

A friend and I, both certifiably NOT vegetarians, and unbeknownst to each other, and, for the first time at any restaurant in our experience, we chose the vegetarian option.

My friend is a highly experienced mangeur of both great rustic and refined cuisine, a Frenchman who lives in London, has a second home in Cap Ferat and a third on the Isle of Wight. Both of us were taken aback when we learned about our choices and realized that we chose this menu for the same reason. The courses and course descriptions were more interesting to us than the meat/fowl menu. We were not disappointed.

Perfectly rendered cheddar cheese filled gougeres.

Cornet filled with salmon tartar, red onion, creme fraiche. 

Medjule date puree, chopped roasted cashew and cilantro in advance of the carrot soup to be poured.

The carrot puree soup with a touch of peanut butter in the puree. The sublime sweetness of the carrot puree went so well with the sweet date flavour. I do not eat mellons. The carrot soup was the chef's menu substitution.

My friend's choice of compressed summer melons with crystallized ginger, lemon verbena and garden mint. 

Salted and sweet butter for the bread. The butters were redolent of field flavours.

Jardiniere de legumes d'ete with Australian black truffle coulis. A marvellous, memory provoking range of bright flavours and textures.

The presentation of the gazpacho ingredients before an emulsion of tomato essence is poured: toybox tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, cilantro and Manni extra virgin olive oil sorbet.

The gazpacho complete. Certainly one of the best gazpachos that I have enjoyed, with a bright tomato flavour complemented by the Manni oil sorbet.

My friend's choice of chawanmushi, dungeness crab, current tomatoes, bonito, tosaka seaweed and strips of nori.

Salad of black mission figs with petite onions, Piedmont hazelnuts, arugula, and smoked soubise. The figs added a heavenly dimension to this dish and worked well with smokey flavour of the soubise.

Degustation de pommes de terres, fingerling potatoes, red radish, petite lettuces and Australian black truffle. This was a sensational dish of earthy, complementary flavours.

Cranberry bean agnolotti with brentwood corn, filet beans and bean blossoms awaiting the bouillon.

The mangalitsa ham bouillon is added. Fabulous contrasting flavours from the bouillon and the perfectly cooked, delicate pasta of the cranberry bean filled agnolotti.

 

My friend ordered the hand cut farfalle with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, eggplant, Spanish capers, meyer lemon, pine nuts and parmesan "nuage". He felt that the pasta was not cooked adequately, left the pasta over and ate the rest.

"Burrata" consisting of "pain de campagne" croutons, baby squash, Greek basil and charred padron pepper vinaigrette. Again, wonderful layers of flavours that worked so well together with the nicely contrastng textures.

Persian lime sorbet with mascarpone "panna cotta", graham cracker and toasted marshmallows. After this great dessert  I was so satisfied and yet there was more!

Dark chocolate "marquise", malt "anglaise", raison puree, cocoa "financiere" and muscovado sugar ice cream.

 My friend's selection.

 

Fabulous mignardises with various fillings.

"Coffee and donuts!" A coffee, chocolate pudding like consistency on the bottom layer with a thick rich milk foam on the top, accompanied by chocolate coated macadamias and the best "timbits" (for you Tim Horton people) you have ever tasted, sugar dusted crispy skinned dough balls with a soft interior...addictive!

Tra Vigne, St Helena, California

Tra Vigne is a an always jammed, people friendly place with a rather somber inside room and an arbored, leisure encouraging outdoor eating area. A good friend, former Toronto epicure, food writer Jim White, now a Napa resident, praised the bistecca fiorentina at Tra Vigne. I was glad he told me as the waiter did not announce this steak as a special and it was not on the menu. Further, when I did ask, I was advised there were only 4 of these 2.5 pound behemoths and he better get right back into the kitchen to make certain that he could reserve one. Our steak was confirmed and we ordered it rare.

We began with wood oven roasted, baked fig pizza, with Sister Mercy's black mission figs, gorgonzola, arugula and aged balsamic. Great, complementary topping flavours and a nicely thin, tasty, crispy crust.

Another crisp and well flavoured hit, the rosemary pizzetta with roasted head of garlic, cambozola cheese and Dickson Ranch "Regina" olive oil. The pizzas at Tra Vigne were the very best that I tasted in the Napa region.

The best wood oven roasted padron peppers I experienced in Napa and almost every resto offered some version of these peppers! Perfectly cooked, tossed with Napa's taggiasca olive oil, pleasantly crispy skinned and not over oily. The gold standard for me.  

A perfectly rendered rigatoni alla carbonara made with guanciale bacon, onions, organic eggs, cracked pepper and parmesan. This was a very rich tasting dish for which the critical elements were the richness of the egg and the properly reduced sauce.

Our wine of the night. Pardon the side view as I tried to rotate the image: A fabulous Whitehall Lane Reserve vintage 2003.

The rare steak, served with crispy skinned, roasted potatoes and  perfectly sauteed spinach with olive oil and chopped garlic. This steak was as good as the best bistecca fiorentina I have ever enjoyed in Florence. Great flavour, texture and juiciness. A "beef boys" ranking of 8/8 1/2/ 8 1/2 (all out of 10).

Bistro Jeanty, Yountville, California

This casual bistro owned by chef Philippe Jeanty is where one can experience classic examples of well prepared, rustic, French influenced cuisine with a contemporary twist. The cuisine also well represents local produce and a good selection of regional wines.

Warm lamb's tongue, with potato, frisee endive, small capers, copped chives, chopped tomato and chopped parsley, all tossed with a tart, creamy mustard vinaigrette dressing. A superb dish.

Our wine, a very good example of regionally made pinot noir, Red Dog Vineyard's Ancien vintage 2007.

Blood sausage, caramelize apple on mashed potatoes. I love blood sausage and with the caramelized apples and mash, this well executed dish, with it's sweet earthy flavours, smooth but coarse texture, really hit the spot.

Leek and melted goat cheese tart. A melt in the mouth, intensely leek flavoured, thin crispy crusted delight. A perfect tart.

Bone marrow, sauce bordelais. Remarkable quality marrow, not too fatty/oily, perfectly cooked to be somewhat firm in texture. Wonderful flavour. 

Pied de cochon, lightly breaded, deep fried, crispy skinned, perfectly spiced and accompanied by a whole grain mustard sauce and tasty, crispy frites.

Lemon meringue tart with a shortbread crust, accompanied by a lemon orange sauce !! Just look at this mile high piece of indulgent pleasure! It tasted as good as it looked.

Armagnac soaked prunes over rich vanilla ice cream. These liquor soaked prunes were as good as I have enjoyed anywhere.

Oenotri, Napa, California

Oenotri has an ambitious menu and that attracted me to try the restaurant. The menu is rustic but sophisticated. 

To begin, the wood oven pizza disappointed. This pizza was topped with peppers, pancetta, red onion, aglio rosso and wild arugula. The toppings were very good, tasty and the dough had a nice flavour. However, the dough was too soggy in from the outer crust. The texture was almost bready and had an unpleasant stretchy/doughy texture.

Brentwood sweet corn, grape tomatoes and Blue Lake beans. This was a bland dish with no distinguishing element. The corn was sweet but not sweet enough.

These padrano peppers were strangely textured, rather oily and almost slimy. The aioli was spicy and had a nice creamy texture.

This was a good salad with Marin Roots mustard greens. roasted eggplant, Jimmy Nardello peppers, a slow cooked Tully Dolci egg and pecorino sardo. A very tasty salad with intriguing flavours. The wonderful tasting egg was perfectly cooked but did not seem a great complement for this dish.

Bucatini alla carbonara with pancetta, Tulli Dolci egg, coarsely ground black pepper and pecorino romano. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the black pepper a very good accent for the rich addition of the Tulli Dolci egg. However, the sauce was slightly too salty.

Wild nettle fidei pasta with wood oven roasted san marzano tomatoes, eggplant, Jimmy Nardello peppers and pesto Genovese. Again, the pasta was perfectly cooked and most of the flavours of this dish were good, especially the strong eggplant flavour. However, the dish may be too complicated with too many things happening. The pesto flavour component was a bit too salty and perhaps a bit overwhelming.

Perfectly cooked donuts had very good flavour and good texture with a crispy skin. The mascarpone sauce was a good tasty complement.

Lunch at Rutherford Grill

Lunch at the Rutherford Grill is said to be the time that many vintners and area farmers attend.    

It was certainly a convenient place to eat in the area that we were tasting wines.

We began with a wonderful coarsely ground, flavourful house made Italian sausage (no photo). This was probably one of the 2 best things I ever ate at the Grill in the 2 meals that I had there. It was juicy and had a mild fennel flavour. It was very juicy without being fatty.

Colcannon mash with a nice mild bight had good flavour and a texture that was pleasantly coarse rather than boringly creamy. That was the accompaniment of the tasty, oak wood roasted, rotisserie chicken. The problem was that is was a bit dry. Only the thigh section had any reasonable moistness (I am reaching here).

The burger arrived perfectly medium rare, as ordered. It was juicy, but too much of that juiciness was the fatty component. The fries were crispy and ok.

Dinner at Rutherford Grill

I ordered roast beef with high expectations. The owner of the Grill is reputed to be the owner of Huston's Steak House and apparently this resto is his "baby". He should know beef. The menu read well: slow roasted, roast beef.  I  asked if i could get my beef medium rare to rare, on the rare side. I was advised that my request should be no problem. It arrived as you see below: medium. It was tough and the texture a bit dry too. It was too well done for me to enjoy, so I asked to have it returned to the kitchen and I reordered the beef. The waiter was very gracious about my request.

In the meantime, I enjoyed the artichoke grilled over a wood fire. The artichokes had been basted with garlic butter loaded with finely chopped garlic and served with an extraneous sauce resembling remoulade, which after tasting, I ignored. This dish was one of my 2 favourite dishes in the 2 meals at the Grill.

While I was waiting for my beef, I had oak grilled pork ribs which were sided with the house made BBQ sauce. The ribs were a bit too "fall off the bone" done, but they were tasty from the wood smoke. They arrived with very good crispy french fries and a very good, creamy dressed slaw made with chopped parsley and chopped cabbage 

My Second serving of roast beef arrived. Remarkably, not to my liking, again: medium to medium rare, on the medium side. The beef was on the tough side and a bit dry tasting too! Clearly my server is no judge of what degrees of doneness should look like....and he should be as he is the quality controller of what is put in front of guests. The beef in this restaurant was a sincere disappointment. On the beef tasting scale we have established among our serious amateurs and professionals (the "beef boys") I would give it a rating of 53/4 /4 /4 (taste, texture and juiciness, on a scale out of 10). The horseradish sauce was not particularly enjoyable and the "au jus" a watery stock that a good piece of beef would make completely redundant. The potatoes were as I described before, for me, the only edible food on the plate!

Mustard's Grill

We began with a very tasty tomale made with sweet creamy corn, wild mushrooms, and accompanied by pumpkin seeds and a terrific tomatillo, avocado salsa.

Lightly breaded, crispy, very tasty onion rings were accompanied by a nice house made ketchup. They are great when they are fresh and hot.

The dungeness crab cakes were good but the salad dressing for the greens was really very enjoyable, a raspberry, canola oil, vinegar molasses vinaigrette. I have never had canola oil taste so good.

This was my half of the fabulous Don Watson lamb burger which arrived perfectly cooked as ordered, medium rare to rare, and what a great burger, my favourite item ordered. The burger was very juicy and had a light smokey flavour. The bun was also perfect, a crispy skin with a soft interior that did not fall apart as one ate the burger. Arugula and sliced onion were added to the burger. The fries were crispy and tasty but were over salted and frankly inedible. 

I had high expectations of the wood smoke oven cooked Sonoma duck. Unfortunately, the smoke flavour was overly strong. I suspect that apple wood or pecan wood was not used but would have been preferable. The meat was a bit too dry. The duck was accompanied by local beans, grilled sweet potatoes and mustard fruits.

Dessert was a terrific, intensely flavoured plum orange sorbet and pleasingly not too sweet. There was a very nice lingering after taste, an experience often lost in the quality of most restaurant sorbets.

Hurley's

We began with lightly breaded crisy mix of calimari, rock shrimp, red onion and cauliflower florets accompanied by a caper remoulade.

The best dish of the night was the lovely, crusted, savory onion tart, which contained caramelized onion with rosemary, applewood smoked bacon and goat cheese. Frisee lettuce and sliced cherry tomato were on the side.

The main was a tamarind and chipotle glazed portion of buffalo short ribs accompanied by a ginger and scallion risotto, and baby bok choy.

Bardessano Hotel Restaurant: Brunch

The Baldessano is a very attractive, modern and cleanly designed hotel that is so respectful of a natural habitat. I ate outside on a lovely, clear skied, sunny morning.

This was one of my very favourite meals in Napa. Pork cheek confit hash, wilted spinach, roasted root vegetables, yellow and green zucchini, crispy "Little Farm" potatoes all topped with a sunny side up egg and served with a house made, somewhat bland fresh tomato tasting ketchup (which I only tasted). What a great dish, alone, worth the drive to Yountville all the way from the Silverado Country Club! Wonderfully integrated flavours, each component perfectly cooked and all bound with a rich, highly reduced sauce that really helped to make this dish. Two varieties of toast accompanied this dish, rosemary flavoured sourdough toast and a whole wheat toast. Mclelland's lovely butter was served on the side along with very good house made preserves of blackberry jam with such bright flavours that made one want to eat more.

Oxbow Market: C Casa and Pico Pico Bar

My friend Jim White, now a native of Napa, highly recommended a sojourn to this market full of different food a craft purveyors. At certain times of the week there is also a farmer's market that I did not make.

C Casa

C Casa specializes in creatively made tacos with very wholesome, tasty ingredients. I just had to order 3. I began with a rotisserie duck taco with baby spinach, orange wedges, goat cheese, cilantro and serrano salsa. This delicious taco went down quickly! Then, a pork carnita taco with cabbage slaw, mildly seared pineapple, avocado and serrano salsa. I loved the fabulous flavours and textures. This taco did not last long either! Finally, a spiced lamb taco, with goat cheese, avocado crema, mint, jalapenos, garlic aioli and micro greens.This last taco was my favourite!

Pica Pica Bar

Still hungry, I wandered down to Pica Pica Bar. Their display looked very appetizing. I enjoyed a "maizewich" of grilled sweet corn bread "pernil", a wonderfully spiced, slow roasted shoulder of pulled pork, with sliced tomato, sliced avocado and a garlic aioli.

The patacones also looked so enticing, fried, crispy crusted plaintain tarts one filled with chopped avocado and chicken breast salad, another with spiced beans, chopped raw onion, chopped cilantro and chopped tomato and the third with shredded pork, avocado and chopped tomato. Despite the fact that by this time I was stuffed, I enjoyed finishing them all!

My Favorite New Tech Tool - A MUST-HAVE for European Travelers!

My iPhone was tireless and my Tep tool was wireless

Every time that I have previously gone to Europe, I have had to turn off my iPhone and keep it on Airplane mode for the duration of my travels.

Otherwise, I could run up a roaming data bill of $2,000 for a two-week vacation, as many irritated AT&T customers report they have unwittingly done.

But now there’s a new service in Europe that let’s you connect to the Internet for data wherever you go, for however long you want, and it’s not expensive.

The Tep Wireless Wifi device

Tep Wireless is a British-based data service that rents a pocket-sized Wifi device for between $8 and $10 a day, depending on which country, or countries, you are visiting.

You turn on the playing-card-sized Tep device and it picks up a wireless phone signal in the country in which you are traveling; it then converts this signal to Wifi for up to five of your own devices (cell phone, iPad, tablet, laptop), permitting you to surf the web and send emails to your heart's content. There are no additional roaming fees, and no fear of returning to America to face a $2,000 roaming data charge.

What you get in the Tep Wireless kit they courier to you: An electrical charger, a car charger (an optional fee) and the Wifi device itself.

Remember, this is for data transmission only and not voice, but you can always get voice for free by using Skype on your Tep device.

Tep Wireless has even taken a page out of Netflix; they courier you the device (along with a wall charger and an additional car charger, if requested) just prior to your international departure and provide a free, postage-paid, return mailer.

No hassles, nothing to take back to a store, no late fees, and no nonsense.

Me using my iPhone in Italy last week – thanks to Tep (data only); I checked the stock market daily, called up Google maps repeatedly to get un-lost and located some tremendous, off-road restaurants, thanks to Tep.

One more positive note: the cost of Wifi in Italian hotels has gotten expensive; in one Rome hotel, the posted rate was 15 Euros ($20) per day per device. For two travelers each with a cell phone and maybe an iPad or laptop, between them, this could easily run up to three devices x $20 each per day = $60 a day to have Wifi at the hotel only.

By contrast, I took my Tep Wireless device every where I went – even in remote outback areas -- and only paid a total of $10 a day, which enabled me to hook up as many as five devices for the one flat daily fee. That’s a substantial savings and a whole lot more coverage in Wifi-speke. Thanks, Tep!

Interested in learning more? Go to www.tepwireless.com

It must be August – I just attended Spottswoode’s Annual Garden Party

There are many wonderful annual major wine events in Napa Valley, to which I look forward, including February’s Barrel Auction and June’s Wine Auction.

But sweet, smaller, perfectly orchestrated wine events are no less compelling.

In particular, I look forward to Spottswoode’s late summer garden party, held each August on the front lawn of the family’s estate. 

I’m actually embarrassed to say how many times I’ve attended and written about this event, but if you search the napaman.com archives, you’ll find numerous references and alluring photos.

Orlando Torres serves gazpacho shots, offered to guests at the lawn party. This year, Knickerbockers’ Catering, from St. Helena, provided tasty salads, cheeses, and breads to soak up the many poured wines.

My two favorite wines of the afternoon were the 1998 Spottswoode Cabernet, poured from 6-liter bottles, and the unctuous, memorable 2003 Spottswoode Cabernet. 

Two of the cheeses served to winery guests

Commenting to one of the winery’s team about the 13.5 percent alcohol in the 1998 Cabernet, I mentioned how wonderful it was to drink a wine with such low alcohol. I added that I miss those days of lower levels of alcohol. 

By contrast, today’s Napa Valley fruit-bomb Cabs often have more than 15.5 percent alcohol, which diminishes their food friendliness, as well as how much of them you can drink at one sitting. 

One of the winery’s staff told me that there is a move afoot in the valley, and certainly at Spottswoode, to make wines with lesser amounts of alcohol.

“We are making an effort to get the alcohol down,“ I was told. “The fact that (wine critic) Robert Parker has handed over the reins from personally rating California Cabs to his associate Antonio Galloni, means that wines will now be praised for their balance, not their bombastic imbalance.”

In short, Parker loves large, fruit-forward, higher alcohol, scratch-out-your-eyes wines from the new world. Galloni, by contrast, who rates the wines of Italy, Chablis, Champagne and Burgundy is thought to have a palate that enjoys – and scores more highly – wines of balance, and lower alcohol.

We’ll have to see. But a universal truth is that winemakers everywhere will bend their winemaking ways to achieve high Parker scores, so if the new kid on the block likes them more sotto voce, that’s likely the way producers will try to make them. Nothing sells a wine like a good Parker rating.

If you want to be invited to Spottswoode’s next late summer garden party, you’ve got to become a good, and regular, customer, as I have been for the past nearly 20 years.

Poured today:

The 1998 Spottswoode Cab is at the top of its game. It will not get any better, so if you have some in your cellar, drink up. This is a truly tremendous wine from a cantankerous vintage. 94 points.

The 2003 Spottswoode Cab is, in a word, gawjus. What a stunning beverage, filled with ripe fruit and mature grape flavors. The wine exhibits a glorious middle palate of many flavors and an equally engrossing texture. 96 points.

The Best Gift you can Buy a Wine-lover!

 

 It’s the 2007 Stags Leap District Wine Box, a superb collection of 18 different wines from one of my favorite Napa Valley appellations. 

The Stags Leap District winegrowers have produced a mixed case like this for many years, and I have often bought the collection as it’s an easy way to get some of the top-favored, top-flavored, top-rated, wines in Napa Valley without having to careen from winery to winery.

A tremendous shot from Stags Leap District, taken by my friend, Steven Rothfeld

The 2007 collection is considered one of the best Stags Leap Wine Boxes ever assembled, according to Nancy Bialek, the association’s executive director.

In her own words:

“The 2007 wines are generous in aromatics and texture. The vintage opened with cool weather and early growth. A mild April turned into a hot May and June, with grapevines blazing through bloom and the first phase of development.

Late summer heat punctuated the start of harvest. The 2007 vintage … has unusual depth and complexity.”

What all this means is: A superb vintage with bright, youthful, fleshy wines.

Another amazing shot in Stags Leap District, taken by Steven Rothfeld

Here’s how Elizabeth Vianna, winemaker at Chimney Rock Winery and Vice President of SLDWA, sums up the vintage:

“The 2007 harvest will go down as one of the great harvests of the decade for Stags Leap District. The fruit concentration is amazing.”

The Stags Leap District Winegrowers didn’t provide napaman an easy, one-tasting-pours-all way to sample the 2007 wine collection to provide readers with detailed tasting notes on the 18 wines; the best that I could do was visit several Stags Leap District tasting rooms.

Chimney Rock Winery, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Ganymede Vineyard

I like the way winemaker Elizabeth Vianna explains her 2007 effort:

“We experienced a dry spring, which is the first thing we need to grow great grapes. We like vines to stress early so that they focus their attention on the fruit. One of the parameters of quality is the size of the berry. Most of the color and flavors in wine come from the skins; the smaller the berries -- the greater the ratio of skin compounds to pulp – results in a better concentration of flavor and color.”

“The average Cabernet Sauvignon berry in 2007 was nearly 30 percent smaller than in the previous two vintages,” Elizabeth says. Which explains the concentrated flavors in her 2007 wine.

Only 500 cases of the estate Ganymede were made and they are all gone now, save for bottles in the 2007 Stags Leap District Wine Box.

The wine is delicious, exhibiting gorgeous ripe fruit notes and flavors. This wine has a pedigree in balance and finish.

Regusci Winery, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Some 3,000 cases were made of this $53 wine, a blend of Cabernet (92 percent), Merlot (6 percent) and Cab Franc (2 percent).

The Cab has a warm and inviting nose with scents, and flavors, of red currant-bordering-on-cranberry. Has attractive floral notes on the nose and exhibits medium length on the palate. Well structured. I like the alluring middle palate. 

Cliff Lede Vineyards, 2007 Poetry

Probably the most expensive wine in the 2007 collection ($150), though it definitely delivers; coffee, dark ripe fruits on the nose with a hint of animal and an identifiable green scent toward the end of the sniff.

On the palate, juicy notes, a l-o-n-g finish, flavors reminiscent of dark plums with a sunburn. Needs to be cellared - big time.

Silverado Vineyards, 2007 SOLO

In the old days, this wine at Silverado was simply labelled their Stag’s Leap District offering, made exclusively from estate fruit. But the label was confusing with other house labels, so they created a new brand, Solo, to better register the essential elements of the beverage: made from one SOLO vineyard and made exclusively with one SOLO grape, Cabernet.

In 2007, Silverado made 1,400 cases of this exquisite wine which begs to be drunk now, but which will cellar for 10 years and then magnificently enthrall your palate.

At Silverado, I spoke with Jen Withrow, one of the extremely pleasant tasting room staffers; she encouraged me to try the 2000 Silverado Stag’s Leap District Cabernet – the same wine offered in the 2007 collection, only seven years older, and now, fully aged 11 years.

Of all the wines I previewed for this Stag’s Leap District Wine Box story, nothing approached the beauty, balance and majesty of this striking older wine. In fact, the 2000 Silverado Stag’s Leap Cabernet is one of the best wines I’ve tasted in months. It’s simply gawjus. Easily a 97-point wine.

Anyone who was smart enough to buy this upon release has a majestic wine in his, or her, cellar.

Come to think of it: the 2007 Solo Cab is $90 at the winery today. For $20 more you can buy the fully aged, 2000 Cab from the winery library – actually, a much better value!

Photo by -- who else? -- Steven Rothfeld

The Appellation Collection is the only offering in the country, comprised entirely of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from a single appellation and a single vintage. Each of the Association's 18 member wineries is represented in the collection.

The Collection is limited to 200 cases. You can order it starting October 15^th.

Photo by him again, Steven Rothfeld

The Collection contains one bottle each of the following Stags Leap District wines:

Baldacci Family Vineyards, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Chimney Rock Winery, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Ganymede Vineyard

Cliff Lede Vineyards,  2007 Poetry

Clos Du Val . 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Hartwell Vineyards, 2007 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Ilsley Vineyards, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Lindstrom Wines, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Malk Family Vineyards, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Pine Ridge Vineyards, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Regusci Winery, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Robinson Family Vineyards, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Shafer Vineyards, 2007 One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon

Silverado Vineyards, 2007 Solo

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, 2007 Fay Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Stags' Leap Winery, 2007 The Leap Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Steltzner Vineyards, 2007 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Taylor Family Vineyards, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Terlato Family Vineyards. 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
 

 

The 2007 Appellation Collection of 18 wines costs:

$1,450.00 per case. 7.75% tax applies to California sales and various states by law.

To order:

Online as of October 15 at www.stagsleapdistrict.com/appellationcollection

Welcome to Somerston, Napa Valley’s Newest Winery!

 

If you ever wanted to learn about the terroir of Napa Valley, Somerston Winery’s a good place to do it.

Napa Valley’s newest winery (it opened to the public yesterday) features more than 87 distinct growing blocks, five completely different soil types, multiple sources of water each with different mineral properties, and the ranch sprawls across a tall ridge, which joins two different valley systems.

Somerston, the creation of real estate developer Allan Chapman, has been seven years in the making. In 2004, Allan started acquiring land on Sage Canyon Road, ten miles beyond Pritchard Hill and Lake Hennessey.

The winery’s mail address may be St. Helena, but the isolated, mountainous location has as little to do with the tony town. If anything, visiting Somerston to party for an afternoon, is like heading out on a safari. Be sure to pack your water bottles, sunscreen and photo equipment.

Somerston owner Allan Chapman

Allan, born in Newcastle, UK, studied at Cambridge University and came to America via Vancouver. The bulk of his career has been spent in real estate and telecommunications. Allan says that he had no expectation that one day he would own a 1,626-acre winery in Napa Valley.

There are 17 different grape varieties planted between 800- and 2200-feet elevation at Somerston. More than 200 acres are planted.

After speaking with Allan, I understand how he thinks and why he’s been successful at business; it’s in his genes. Allan’s family operated and sailed giant clipper chips in the 1850s era in England.

“In those days, in England, the annual crop of Indian tea would run out before the next year’s crop was picked and delivered. As soon as the next new crop of tea was picked, whoever got it from India, or Ceylon, to England first, was able to charge five times more than the market price; consumers bid up the price of the newly arrived, new-crop tea,” explains Allan.

Allan’s family realized that if they added great billowing sails to transport boats, and built and sailed giant clipper ships, they could make the voyage from India to England much faster than others, landing the new-crop tea first on the shores of England and earning themselves a premium price for the tea. 

“My family was able to build a new sailing clipper each year with the profits,” says Allan.

I’m not sure the same rules apply in bringing new-crop Nouveau Cabernet to market in Napa Valley, Allan, so maybe don’t think about applying this strategy to your winery business….

Even so, to honor his family’s shipping heritage, many of the planted blocks and vineyards at Somerston are named after Allan’s family sailing ships.

Today, 1500-head of Dorper sheep, originally from South Africa, graze in the vineyards, eating weeds and keeping grasses short. “We call this organic fire control,” quips Allan, who is intent on ultimately getting full organic certification for the property. 

“At present, everything we do here is sustainable farming; in fact, we are building a solar power system, which will completely remove us from the outside electrical grid,” says Jim Provance II, a staff wine specialist at Somerston.

Even the sheep at Somerston get immaculate care and attention; they’re day-cared by a Peruvian shepherd who moves the herd to different blocks to keep them fed and the grasslands trimmed.

The winery occupies a site formerly known as Priest Ranch, named after Joshua James Priest, who landed in California in 1847 to stake a claim in the gold rush.

That’s the winery barn at a distance in the middle of the shot; above it tower the quarries where miners thought they would extract gold; instead, they found a source of bubbly, mineral-rich, soda, which was bottled and sold for its reputed healing properties.

Priest thought that bits of bright blue glass, which speckled on the property, indicated the presence of gold. But instead of gold, Joshua discovered a hidden natural soda springs on the property. The natural waters were bottled on the property and sold for their reputed healing powers.

While beverages bottled on the ranch today may lack health-curing powers, they contain alcohol, which will help anyone forget they have issues requiring medical attention.

In fact, three different wine brands are produced here: Somerston, Priest Ranch and Highflyer. Premium wines carry the Somerston label.

Among Somerston reds, the two I tried and liked are:

2007 Somerston Proprietary Red, a blend of 97 percent Merlot and 3 percent Cabernet Franc. $90. Only 150 cases made.

2007 Somerston Cab, which is 100 percent estate Cabernet. $120. 250 cases produced.

To celebrate the opening of the winery, Allan and his winemaker-partner, Craig Becker, hosted an all-day party Saturday.

Wine specialist Jim Provance II takes guests on zippy 20-minute rides through the vineyards

They offered rides on All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), which scootered over the ridges and through the vineyards. They generously fed guests and looked after their beverage needs, too.

Now that the winery is open to the public, here’s what you need to know:

With a booked appointment, visitors get a ride through the vineyards, a tasting flight of three Somerston wines, complementary local cheeses and freshly made pate.

The cost is $50 per person. The ATVs make their 20-minute run through the vineyards three times daily -- at 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm. To book space, call 707-967-8414. Or check details at www.somerstonwineco.com.

The winery is at 3450 Sage Canyon Rd. Set your GPS device to read “St. Helena” for ‘city.’

Can’t make it to the farm? Somerston also operates a tasting room in Yountville at 6490 Washington St.

The Napa Valley Magnificent Seven Rode into Town….

The Magnificent Seven …. high-profile chefs Tyler Florence, Masaharu Morimoto, Cindy Pawlcyn, Michael Chiarello, Thomas Keller, Jeffrey Jake and Ken Frank

Well, to be completely accurate, the Magnificent Seven were already in town and it was us, a group of food- and wine-writers, who rode into Napa town yesterday to see them.

Let me explain.

The Napa Valley Destination Council and a group of dynamic chefs decided that what our valley needs is one more festival/event/fund-raiser to keep Napa Valley on the lips of America’s wine-drinking, food-loving public. Especially in an off-month, when visitor traffic starts to fade.

The original idea, which initially rattled around the brain of Bottega chef/owner Michael Chiarello, got some heft and support from the Culinary Institute of America; then a group of civic-minded chefs came forward  as did venue support from Silverado Resort & Spa. 

And that’s how the new festival was born, to be called:

Flavor! Napa Valley.

The four-day culinary circus comes to Napa Valley Nov. 17 to 20. There will be nine signature events hosted at Silverado Resort & Spa and at the CIA, in St. Helena.

Jeffrey Jake,Executive Chef at the Silverado Resort & Spa, will be anchor host chef for many of the planned event activities.

At press time, these are the participating, high-profile, chefs:

Michael Chiarello, Scott Conant, Tyler Florence, Ken Frank, Jeffrey Jake, Thomas Keller, Christopher Kostow, Masaharu Morimoto, and Cindy Pawlcyn.

Participating chef Masaharu Morimoto, from his eponymous restaurant in Napa town, Morimoto’s.

Napa Valley’s vintner community will also be represented, as you would imagine, showcasing their wines and two of the industry’s leading sommeliers will be on hand to lead seminars and discussion – Karen MacNeil and Andrea Robinson.

Proceeds will benefit the CIA’s Greystone Campus scholarship programs to support the development of tomorrow’s culinary and wine education leaders.

Promoters are hopeful that this will become an annual November, post-harvest event.

Either intentionally, or because planning is still “somewhat fluid,” as one insider told napaman, additional event details were not forthcoming at the impressive, and tasty, press luncheon, served to food- and wine-writers, at the Silverado Resort yesterday.

2011 Napa Valley Premiere Auction – Highest proceeds ever, $2,366,000!

 
Auctioneer Fritz Hatton gets the room a-rockin’.

Would you pay $2,083 for a bottle of fine Napa Valley Cabernet?

Ichizo Nakagawa, a Japanese wine importer, did at the Napa Valley Vintners’ Premiere Barrel Auction yesterday.

In fact, Mr. Nakagawa bought more than one bottle. He bought 60, bidding $125,000 for five cases of 2009 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon, ironically labeled Toto’s Opium Dream: Scene II.

The bid was the highest ever for a single lot in the 15-year history of Premiere and helped propel the auction to raise $2,366,000, the largest sum ever garnered in the event’s history.

Yes, I know you’re asking, “What recession?”

What the room looked like to Fritz…

The results certainly bode well for wine sales in general as the winter auction tends to be a barometer of what follows in the general market.

Mr. Nakagawa was joined by more than 500 wine retailers, wholesalers and restaurant wine-buyers, who assembled from many countries in St. Helena to aggressively outbid each other for unique auction lots of mostly 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet wines.

As if Napa Valley hasn’t been cold enough this February, bidders whipped up the chilly air with their wooden paddles, pledging record sums for unique cuvees, most which won’t be released for at least a year.

Premiere Napa Valley, held at the Culinary Institute of America’s campus, is organized by Napa Valley Vintners, the non-profit trade association responsible for promoting and protecting the Napa Valley wine-growing appellation. The association represents nearly 400 local wineries, half of which produce unique wine cuvees for this annual auction.

Funds raised are used for marketing and promotional purposes in the year to come.

Biggest single lots

+ $125,000 for five cases of 2009 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon. This works out to $2,038 a bottle, which may not be expensive compared to “futures” for first-growth Bordeaux wines, but don’t tell this to an unemployed car assembly worker in Detroit.

+ $45,000 for five cases of 2009 Schrader Cabernet Sauvignon called Double Diamond “B2 Bomber.” This works out to $750 a bottle. Mr. Nakagawa likely wouldn’t invite you back to his home if you if you brought such a cheap wine for dinner.

+ $38,000 for a five-case lot of Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon. The fruit for this 2009 Cabernet came from a single block called Sunspot, which forms the backbone of Shafer’s Hillside Select. This works out to $633 a bottle. Yes, I know, the auction prices are dropping dramatically; you’d expect to find wines in this low price range at your neighborhood Trader Joe’s, not at the NVV Premiere Auction.

2009 Vintage of Napa Valley wines

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.

“Many winemakers say, ‘we picked before the October rains in 2009 and saved our crop,’” says Aaron Pott, winemaker of Pott Wine. “But I spent six years making wine in Bordeaux and can tell you that the Cabernet grape can take rain, and we made a great wine picking AFTER the rains.”

Napa Valley was struck by rain in October 2009. “Some appellations recorded as much as five inches of rain in one day,” says Aaron. Generally, wines from this vintage are considered winners.

Aiming to add some humor to the mix, Napaman posed a common question to winemakers, asking them to assess the quality of the 2009 vintage as though it were a celebrity.

The question I asked:

“If the 2009 vintage were a celebrity, who would it be – and why?”

I also asked each winemaker, or producer:

“Of the 11 vintages in this decade (2000 through 2010), name your favorite three.”

I figured that if there were uniformity in choice, napaman.com readers would get a sense of which vintages are worth hunting down in the secondary, or auction, market.

For each winemaker’s response, I have listed vintages chronologically, though often they listed their preferences in a different order. But still, these are their respective Three Favorite Napa Valley Vintages over the last 11 years.

Tom Farella, winemaker, Farella-Park Vineyards

 “2009 is the Katy Perry of vintages. The wine is forward, friendly, pretty, but not something you would accuse of being intellectual challenging.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 05, 07.

 

Philippe Melka, consulting winemaker to 14 premium Napa Valley wines

“For me, 2009 is the Juliette Binoche of vintages. The wine is filled with lots of ripe berries, red fruit and has brisk acidity. But there is also a serious side to this wine. It is pretty, has great energy and is sexy – like Juliette.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 05, 07.

 

Aaron Buoncristiani, winemaker, Roy Estate

“2009 is the Halle Berry of vintages. It is elegant, seductive, has beautiful color. In a word: stunning!”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 03, 08.

 

Robin Lail, owner, Lail Vineyard

“2009 is the Cate Blanchett of vintages. It is wonderfully complex, has a great sense of self and place, is extremely versatile, and glows with an inner beauty.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 02, 05, 07.

 

Jeremy Weintraub, winemaker, Seavey Vineyard

“2009 is the Scarlett Johansson of vintages. The wine is generous, voluptuous, and exhibits strength and power.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 03, 07.

 

Mary Ann Tsai, co-owner, Moone-Tsai Vineyards

“2009 is the Anne Hathaway o vintages. The wine is elegant, new age, young, vibrant, shows finesse, power and structure. Besides, I think it has a long future ahead.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 05, 07, 09.

EXTRA: You read it here first! Mary Ann and her press attaché, Toby Baird, confirmed that the Moone-Tsai winery will open May 2 in the space previously housing Luna. Napaman will continue to follow this story; look for an update when the winery opens.

 

Todd Graff, winemaker, Frank Family Vineyards

“2009 is the Angelina Jolie of vintages. It is big, voluptuous, smooth, gorgeous, curvaceous, yet has strong backbone.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 05, 06, 09.

 

Rich Frank, owner, Frank Family Vineyards

“2009 is the Meryl Streep of vintages. It is big, strong, will stand up to anything, has great character and knows what it wants to be.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 00, 05, 07.

 

Aaron Pott, winemaker Pott Wine, as well as Blackbird Vineyards

“ 2009 is the Audrey Hepburn of vintages. The wine appears lean but it is very elegant.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 05, 07.

 

Ryan and Nicole Hill, owners, Hill Family Estate

 “2009 is the LeBron James of vintages. The vintage shows well across all grape varieties, not just Cabernet. Like LeBron, the vintage is showy, full of potential – and it delivers. It’s hard to find a better player, or a better vintage.”

(Ed Note: If you don’t know LeBron James – he’s the hot, talented, point-scoring forward for the Miami Heat basketballers.)

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 07, 09.

 

Jennifer Rue, winemaker, Livingston Moffett

“2009 is the Natalie Portman of vintages. The wines are youthful, filled with complexity, display inner strength and are multi-layered – like Natalie’s performances.”

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 07, 09.

 

John Arns, winegrower, and Sandi Belcher, winemaker, Arns

“2009 is the Jim White – AKA napaman – of vintages! The wines exhibit zest and are full of life; they are vibrant, forward, powerful, even exuberant!”

(Ed note: Aw shucks, Sandi, you didn’t have to say that!)

Favorite three vintages of this decade: 01, 02, 07.

 

The day before

 

The day before the auction, Napa Valley Vintners and the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the CIA, typically host a wine-tasting event, allowing auction guests to sample Napa Valley wines from recent vintages. This gives participants a way to benchmark different vintages – and learn how the wines are aging.

My issue with this annual tasting is one of operations: in order to serve the hundreds of guests three different vintages (06, 07 and 08 were poured this weekend) from 12 different wineries, servers start by blending two bottles of a vintage to fill a large decanter… and then keep topping up the decanter with wine from a third, fourth, etc., bottle from the same vintage.

You could call this the “solera method” of wine tasting. What one tastes is really a blend of several bottles – something which gives a general impression, or overview, of a wine.

Obviously, this is not how professional tastings, or critical evaluations, are conducted, but the NVV has been unable to invent a better system to enable hundreds of guests to partake in such a tasting.

I must add this note about the best wines of the tasting, in case readers are interested in hunting down some tremendous unheralded wine. 

Tasters were presented three vintages of wine blind  from 12 different Napa Valley wineries. The decanters from a winery identified only as “Number 2” held my top-scoring wines. I tasted and swore these wines must be Shafer Hillside Select. They were delicious, thrilling, had texture, grip and a thoroughly engaging finish. Elegance, too.

How surprised was I to learn that the 2006 wine, which I rated 95 points, the 2007 wine, which I rated 96 points, and the phenomenal 2008 wine, which I rated 97 points, were all Bennett Lane Cabernets, crafted by winemaker Grant Hermann.

Grant Hermann, winemaker, Bennett Lane

Way to go, Grant! These were my favorite wines of the weekend, and the good news for readers is that they don’t cost like top-tier wines; you don’t have to have deep pockets like Mr. Nakagawa to enjoy them.

Atelier Melka

Napaman chose to attend a few of the nearly two-dozen open houses held at wineries and retail wine stores during Premiere weekend, which stretched into four days of revelry. 

Philippe Melka, a celebrity consulting winemaker in the valley, brought together eight winery clients for whom he made their Premiere auction lots. Hundreds of out-of-town visitors crammed into 750 Wines, in St. Helena, to make the scene, swirl, sip and spit.

At Hall Winery, also in St. Helena, 10 wineries assembled to pour their top wines and Premiere barrel samples. The place was a beehive of wannabe bidders.

It’ll be June before the dust settles around here and probably that long before Premiere bidders get the purple wine stains off their teeth – just in time for the year’s grand auction, the heralded Napa Valley Wine Auction in June, which raises millions for charity.

Napaman’s tip to the organizers:  Be sure to encourage Mr. Nakagawa to return for the event!

The Best Wine Tasting of 2011 – And It’s Only February!

A smattering of the 22 Chateauneufs-du-Pape we tasted

I can’t imagine a lustier, more anticipated, more engaging wine tasting this year than the one held in St. Helena last night, celebrating my favorite wine, Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

The event, held at 750 Wines and hosted by BP Wine, two top-notch St. Helena wine retailers, brought together Chateauneuf-du-Pape aficionados to taste wines and to meet Harry Karis, author of the most important, most researched, most detailed book ever written on the wine and the region. 

Author Harry Karis with his book

Harry’s 500-page tome, The Chateauneuf-du-Pape Wine Book, is the definitive work on the subject. Did I say definitive? I meant all-encompassing, all-knowing, all-seeing down to the molecular level, everything there is to know about Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

In addition to desiderata, the book includes profiles on all the major wine producers, a run down on ALL the properties in the appellation, a chapter on ALL the area soil compositions in the region, in fact, ALL of EVERYTHING about “CDP,” as I call the wine and the region.

“It took nearly five years to research and write the book,” says Harry, whose son Phil took all the photos and art-directed the book.

Harry, who when asked his age says “I am vintage 1956,” is a serial careerist, tackling one after another. Initially a musician (lead guitarist in a Dutch band), he became a chef and opened his own restaurant. Bored with this achievement, Harry went back to school and became a doctor, specializing in occupational health. This guy has had almost as many careers as we had bottles of Chateauneuf-du-Pape last night.

Along the way, Harry was bitten by the Chateauneuf-du-Pape bug.

“I had my first Chateauneuf in 1978, but it  took many years  to fully realize what a  sensational blend it is,” says Harry. “After I learned that many of the great Burgundy reds contained as much as 50 percent Chateauneuf-du-Pape (added for color and flavorful top notes), I gained a new respect for this wine.”

Harry opens wines at the tasting hosted by BP Wine and 750 Wine, in St. Helena

I asked Harry what was the oldest Chateauneuf-du-Pape he’s ever had:

“The 1890 Chateau La Nerthe. It was still singing! I could taste fresh red fruit, raspberries and strawberries, and there was a silken licorice finish.”

Try as hard as you will to extract a point score for any of the 6,000 wines Harry tasted while researching his book, he just won’t fall into that trap. “Wine is meant to be enjoyed not rated,” he says.

To thrill assembled tasters, Harry brought some exceptional, well aged CDPs. But before we began tasting, I asked if he was as enthusiastic about the 2007 vintage as wine critic Robert Parker, who called it “the single greatest vintage in modern CDP history.”

Harry says that he probably would prefer a 2006 CDP more than any 2007 – certainly for a good decade before the 2007s soften and integrate. “It is a bombastic vintage!”

Before the tasting, Harry and I got to discuss the world of CDP… 

 
… and generally goof around

Backgrounder

Before commenting on the wines served, for those unfamiliar with Chateauneuf-du-Pape, here’s the skinny on this exceptional wine:

+ In 1936, Chateauneuf-du-Pape became the first wine region in France to receive appellation controllee status.

+ How Chateauneuf-du-Pape got it’s name: More than 700 years ago, a series of Popes, seeking to withdraw from Rome’s military influence, moved their worship zone to an area around Avignon; in 1333, Pope John XII built a secondary residence nearby, calling it “Chateauneuf-du-Pape,” which simply means “new castle of the Pope.” The hamlet, in which the structure was situated, picked up the name.

+ While Picpoul, Terret and Clairette sound like three Shakespearean crones you’d expect to find stirring cauldrons in King Lear, they are, in fact, three of the 22 permitted varieties of grape, which can be used to make Chateauneuf-du-Pape. You likely know some of the more common grape varieties permitted – Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre.

+ Chateauneuf-du-Pape producers may blend any combination of the 22 permitted varieties; some producers, like Chateau Rayas, make wine from only one variety -- 100 percent Grenache. Others, like Beaucastel, Clos des Papes, and Clos-du-Mont-Olivet, make a practice of blending ALL of the main varieties.

+ Here’s a chart of the grapes permitted in CDP:

Harry’s Sez:

If he could only take the CDPs of a few producers to a desert island, what would they be?

“I love the wines which Julien Barot is making for Domaine La Barroche. I would also take Charvin wines, made by the talented Laurent Charvin, and some Chateau Rayas to prove how long great wines can age. And I’d also grab some Domaine de Pegau, because these are always great wines.”

I asked Harry what was the single best CDP he’s ever had.

“While I have had many superb wines, there has only been one wine, which came close to an Aha! Moment: The 1998 Henri Bonneau, Reserve des Celestins. I was drinking it with a friend; we opened the bottle and poured a glass for each of us. We took a sip and didn’t utter a single word to each other for five minutes. We sat there in angelic silence. We were stunned at how good a wine can be.”

 I asked Harry for his top three tips to best enjoy CDP.

 + “Only decant Chateauneuf-du-Pape if there is more than 10 percent Mourvedre in the blend. This grape tends to be funky and needs aeration. Otherwise, pour straight from the bottle.”

+ “Generally, in most vintages, the best age to drink a CDP is from ten years onward.”

+ “If your CDP has been at room temperature, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving, to mimic cellar temperature. You’ll find the wine is fresher, brighter, more lively.”

The cursed “CDP August Effect ”

I asked Harry if I was the only person he’s ever met who believes there is a phenomenon, almost a curse, which I call “The CDP August Effect.” It has been my experience that every summer, when August comes around, the most balanced, elegant Chateauneufs-du-Pape in my cellar become awkward, gawky, imbalanced, some of them downright nasty wines.

Harry looked at me as though I were speaking a secret language. (It’s time, Harry, to pull out our Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Rings….)

I was startled by his reply:  “I have that identical experience!” Harry says that for him, the nasties start in July.

“I make a point of not opening Chateauneuf-du-Pape from the middle of July to the middle of September,” Harry said.

Harry’s experience is based on a sampling even larger than mine. At its peak, Harry’s cellar held 4,800 bottles of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and it didn’t matter which house, or which vintage, he pulled from; during summer months, they all took an evolutionary step backward, regardless of how well they were stored.

The Tasting

Hosts for the CDP-tasting; held at 750 Wines (David Stevens, proprietor, far left), BP Wine host, Stefan Blicker, and right of him Harry Karis. At the far right is BP Wine co-owner Cory Wagner.

Host Stefan Blicker reviews two-dozen Chateauneufs-du-Pape served to guests.

Rather than give exhaustive tasting notes on two-dozen wines poured, let me concentrate on the top wines.

1949 Chateau Patriarche, Pere et Fils.

This wine, from a Beaune negociant, was the oldest CDP of the evening, and the oldest CDP I personally have ever tasted. Despite being 62-years-old (!), it still has fruit, life and personality. Call it CDP-lite; though partially oxidized, there are still hints of dried fruits, like prunes, raisins and fig, and a noticeable Virginia tobacco finish. Actually, a very “pretty” wine, considering the age.

1959 Roger Sabon.

OMG – this CDP! Don’t let the pale strawberry color fool you; this is CDP on steroids. Sweet, almost meaty, in the middle palate this wine displays a cacophony of fruit flavors and there is a l-o-n-g finish of mint and spearmint, which persists for a good 20 seconds.

1961 Chateau Cabrieres.

I know this sounds nuts: Although half-a-century old, this wine still tastes young, vibrant, and is thoroughly alluring. It grabbed my attention on each swallow, begging me to come back for another sip. Fruit and forest flavors mingle. There is a heap o’ cherry on the finish, both sweet and sour varieties, and I ended my tasting notes with this litany: “Stunning complexity, arresting flavors, exceptional wine.” Kinda says it all.

1978 Chateau Cabrieres.

They must have been doing something extra correct at Cabrieres to snag two of the top spots in this tasting; I used many of the same words to describe the ’78 as I did the ’61. As well, I noted this wine was sweet, lush, and hedonistic. Oh, and  truly sensational. Lots of berries, both black and red, tons of fresh fruit flavors, not dried or candied. What a package

The Book

Anyone who would like to learn more about Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines, or who plans to visit the region in southern France, needs this book. Period. It is the definitive tome on the subject (though I think I made this clear many paragraphs ago).

The book is $50 on amazon, and $79 just about everywhere else.

You can also buy the book on Harry’s Dutch website, www.kavino.nl

One other new toy: Harry has put his ENTIRE 500-page book, as well as a new summary guide, on a compact flash drive (pictured above), which you can transfer to your iPhone or iPad, so that you always have everything you need to know about Chateauneuf-du-Pape in your pocket or backpack.

The flash drive, available on Harry’s website, is $24.95.

Napaman’s Best Wines of the Year -- And the top wine was white!

2005 Domaine Marius DeLarche Corton-Charlemagne, Reserve

When the white wine at dinner blows all the heavy-hitter reds out of the water, you know you’ve had a special wine. Which was certainly the case for this wine, making it qualify for Best Wine – Red or White – of the Year.

In fact, at one dinner, it actually outscored all of the best reds, which I tasted this year, making it the first time ever that my highest scoring Best Wine of the Year is a white.

I brought a bottle of the 2005 Marius DeLarche Corton-Charlemagne Reserve to dinner at Bardessono, in Yountville, thinking the white Burgundy might make a pleasant dinner opener. Little did I suspect it would be the wine of the dinner… of the night.. and of the year!

The perfectly aged, 5-year-old wine had rich butter notes and a surreal finish of fruit, lingering in the mouth for a good 30 seconds.

Exhibiting sensational richness of fruit and a dreamlike weight in the mouth, this wine rated 98 points. Picky-picky, probably should have been 99 or 100.

Our dinner hosts, Rob and Lexi Adler, brought a sumptuous 1998 Valpolicella to dinner and I brought several additional wines, including a 1999 Barolo and a 2000 Les Cailloux Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but these killer reds just didn’t have the magic of the DeLarche.

I was so enthralled with this Corton-Charlemagne, in fact, that over the next two months, I pulled additional bottles from my cellar. One bottle was a close, 97 point, experience, while the other was a distant 93-pointer. Never forget: bottle variation is alive and well in even the most expensive, most pedigreed, wines in the world.

2003 Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon

The year was barely a week old when we opened what was one of the top wines of the year to come!

Carol and her twin sister, Shelly, celebrated a significant birthday at one of our favorite Napa Valley restaurants, Tra Vigne. For the occasion, I brought along a magnum of 2003 Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District.

The wine blew away everything else on the table, and there were a considerable number of bottles on the table. The Pine Ridge was harmonious, balanced, filled with ripe red and black fruits, and loads of personality.

If this wine were a car, it would be an impressive, 500 horsepower, BMW M6, capable of blowing away the competition with elegance and speed, given the firepower under the hood. This was the single best bottle of Pine Ridge, (a perennial favorite in our cellar), which we’ve ever had. 97 points.

2000 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Hot on the heels of the Pine Ridge experience, Farmstead Restaurant opened in St. Helena and we had another top wine of the year, though in our least favorite restaurant of the year. (Maybe we should start an annual roundup of least favorite restaurants, too?)

Friends brought a bottle of 2000 Bryant Family Vineyard to dinner, while we brought a 1995 Leoville las Cases. Parker scored them equally 95 points upon release.

I thought our Las Cases, a St. Julien Bordeaux with great pedigree, showed insufficient complexity and had muted, muddled, top and bottom notes. A rather punk bottle, barely worth 91 points.

But the Bryant Family Cab – ahhh, symphonic bliss in a bottle. Syrupy thick, texturally rich (very silken), and alive with juicy flavors. Loads of ripe black fruits, a hint of chocolate, too. Couldn’t get enough of this one, and scored it 97 points.

The 2000 Bryant, like all vintages, was produced from 100% Cabernet, and was the handiwork of winemaker Helen Turley (from the first vintage in 1992 through 2002).

The premium today on this 10-year-old wine is somewhat staggering. Wine merchants across the country are charging as much as $700 a bottle, considerably more than what this wine cost on release, when 800 cases reached the market. I guess wine lovers have discovered how good this wine is – and apologies from napaman for putting additional pressure on pricing with this encomium.

1999 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Our good table mates, Barry Stern and Lea Kendall, joined us at Cantinetta Piero last April, bringing with them a bottle of 1999 Domaine du Pegau.

Barry and Lea had brought the 1998 vintage of this wine to a dinner last year, earning them – and the wine – top spot in our Best Wines of 2009. I scored the 1998 vintage a perfect 100 points. It was Napaman’s Wine of Last Year.

The 1999 vintage isn’t far behind in finesse or finish. It’s an arousing wine, filled with herbs, leather, ripe red berries, and a Virginia tobacco denouement. In a word: Delicious.

Imagine having two wines, this 1999 Pegau and the 2000 Vieille Julienne (description follows) at the same table with some mighty impressive food. Life doesn’t get much better. 97 points for the Pegau.

2000 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Chateauneuf-du-Pape

As mentioned, we dined with Barry Stern and Lea Kendall at one of our favorite new restaurants, Cantinetta Piero, in Yountville, where they serve very well prepared Italian fare. Of particular note is their selection of mixed, house-cured salume, which makes an ideal table starter.

On leaving home, I had grabbed the 2000 Vieille Julienne Chateauneuf-du-Pape, curious to see how the wine was evolving. I’d had one bottle earlier out of a six-pack I own and recall that it was a stunner; perfectly focused, elegantly dressed, ready for prime-time, a knock-out of a wine.

The bead, texture, and finish on the bottle opened with Barry and Lea were all in perfect harmony. 97 points.

For the record: Five months later, in September, we had a third bottle from my half-case and it was equally as impressive; uber-complex, almost syrupy thick, a great rush of flavors followed by a lengthy middle palate revealing dark fruits, bramble, and garrigue. 97 points again.

2000 Vieux Telegraph Chateauneuf-du-Pape

This was the single best bottle of this vintage, which I’ve had from two cases purchased upon release from Kermit Lynch, in Berkeley.

We enjoyed this wine at the home of Tom and Linda Scheibal. Tom had gone into the wet forests south of Calistoga in the morning to forage for mushrooms. He found a gold mine of fresh chanterelles and picked and stuffed 15 pounds into a pillowcase. Linda, who is an extremely talented cook, made fresh egg pasta, and tossed the barely-sautéed chanterelles into her lighter-than-air, golden tagliatelli.

In general, I have been disappointed with many of my 2000 vintage Chateauneufs-du-Pape. The vintage was initially described as stellar, but I have found many 2000s, including earlier opened bottles of Vieux Telegraph, to border on austere and angular, certainly from what critics hailed as a “great vintage.”

But this 2000, from one of my favorite workhorse houses, was simply sensational. It displayed fresh ripe red fruit, had vibrant top notes and a chorus of flavors at the finish, all singing in harmony. An ideal complement to Linda’s dinner. 96 points.

Frank Sinatra Sang it Best….

“… Now the days grow short… I’m in the Autumn of the Year….”

    

Here in wine country, autumn is a particular season for reflection; we think of great wines past, and of the vintage we’ve just put into barrel.

Fall is the most colorful time of year. Once the fruit has been picked, the leaves on the vines turn bright gold before they lose luster and fall off.

Rather than fill your head with ideas, news, or concepts in this posting, let me fill your eyes with beauty.

Here are shots taken over the last seven days in Rutherford, Oakville and Calistoga, in Napa Valley, and in Dry Creek, Sonoma County.

Pax…. and now the Pix.

 

  

  

Thank God Helen Keplinger decided not to go to medical school!

Otherwise Napa Valley would have been deprived of one of its greatest young, dynamic (and did I say attractive?) new winemakers.

Keplinger – with a hard ‘G’, not like the soft ‘G’ in Beringer – and her husband of three years, DJ Warner, just treated me to a tasting of their first three vintages of Grenache and Syrah blended wines.

The Good News:

Keplinger wines are sublime, majestic, ambrosial, unforgettable.

The Bad News:

I don’t have enough exclamations in my computer to express how I really feel about them.

The tasting was arranged at 750 Wines, in St. Helena, one of the only Napa Valley wine merchants who regularly reaches out to napaman when they’ve discovered a new winemaker whom they think napaman.com readers would, in turn, like to discover.

Helen Keplinger pours while husband DJ Warner reflects on the wine he’s going to have to sell. Fortunately for him, selling Helen’s wines shouldn’t take a lot of work – production is limited and they will sell themselves by word of mouth.

Talk about discovery. At the tasting, not only did I score every one of Helen’s glorious wines 95 points or higher, I even placed a standing order to purchase a pair of every wine that she produces going forward; they’re just too good, too glorious, and too fairly priced to let an opportunity like this pass me by.

Helen has been making wine for 10 years. She has a wine degree from UC Davis, has assisted Heidi Barrett at Paradigm, has worked at Fiddlehead and Kenzo Estate and worked a vintage in the Priorat, Spain, which changed her life.

Returning to America, after working in Spain and traveling in France’s Rhone Valley, where some of the most wonderful Grenache-based and Syrah-based wines in the world are made, Helen started to look for terrain, soil, altitude, and weather conditions that would enable her to make outstanding Grenache and Syrah wines here.

 

 With a short pit stop to marry DJ, who had a career in technology and organic gourmet foods, Helen got back on the fast track to find “the perfect soil for Grenache and Syrah in California.” She found several sites, she says, which appeared promising.

The first success came from a block Helen found in Knights Valley, which Helen says has volcanic soils, an ideal balance of slate and clay, 1,000-foot elevation, ideal southwestern exposure and good protection from direct sunlight.

She is so into this subject, by the way, that slowing her down, or changing the subject, is out of the question. Even if you put your hand up in the air, like a grade school student asking a question, you are not going to get Helen’s attention; her eyes are focused far off in the distance, picturing the very vines of which she speaks.

I scored this first effort, the 2006 Keplinger Red Slope (80% Grenache, 20% Syrah), 95 points. The fruit is from 14-year-old vines in Knights Valley. The wine is lovely, lively, supple, has rich ripe fruit flavors and there is no hint that this is actually a 15.5% alcohol wine.

I don’t think I’ve ever put the words together “pretty wine” to describe a 15.5% wine, but this beaut merits the pairing. Upon release, this was a $40 wine, as is each premiere vintage for Keplinger labels. At the second vintage, the different wines each jump to $50, where they perch.

The 2006 Keplinger Kingpin Rows is a 100 percent Syrah offering from a 5-acre parcel in Knights Valley. There is a huge scent of Syrah here; new leather, saddle leather, a hint of soy sauce and then the thing rolls over your tongue like an elixir of velvet. Easily a 97-point wine.

Then we taste the 2007 Keplinger Red Slope and like the previous vintage, this wine has a kingly robe, exhibits perfect balance, is filled with juicy top notes and a proper tannic structure for ageing.

The 2007 Keplinger Kingpin Rows, again 100 percent Syrah, is ethereal, a majestic new world wine made in the tradition of old world Syrah. Easily 95 points.

 

 

Speaking of new world wines, the group around the tasting table got into a discussion, noting that there are really only a few American producers of Grenache whom we admire, among them Alban Vineyards and Sine Qua Non.

Syrah has had better success – and a better reception - in California; one of my favorites is Lagier-Meredith Syrah, made here in Napa Valley, which I have bought and cellared for years. (Just now am drinking their 2001 and 2002 Syrahs and am loving them.)

The fact that there are so few local producers who have made beautiful, balanced Grenache wines incited Helen to take action: “I decided to make Grenache-based wines here as good as the ones made in France,” she vowed.

DJ  Warner runs the business side of Keplinger, looking after sales and marketing.

In 2007, trying to expand her horizon, as well as her portfolio, Helen made two additional reds:

The grapes for 2007 Keplinger Caldera grew on vines planted in Aiken soil at 2450 feet elevation in – are you ready for this? – El Dorado, California.

Not familiar with what Aiken soil (very fine particle’d, volcanic soil) can do for a wine? Then your homework is to get some ethereal Grace Family Cabernet or Rudd Winery Cabernet and taste; now THAT is what Aiken soil can produce.

The overwhelming flavor release from the 2007 Caldera (66% Mourvedre, 26% Grenache, 8% Counoise) is that of a slice of warm toast, heavily smeared with very fresh raspberry jam. There is a l-o-n-g raspberry finish that goes on for a minute, making me think that this is like drinking Framboise liqueur sans any hint of sweetness. Easily 97 points. Maybe more.

The 2007 Keplinger Sumo will wrestle your taste buds to the ground. The fruit, from Amador, grows at 1700 feet elevation on extremely old volcanic soil. This wine is big, brawny, yet like all Helen’s wines, remarkably balanced. Who ever heard of Petite Sirah with finesse? A hint of tobacco lingers 30 seconds on the finish. 96 points.

From Helen’s quiver, she pulls a few more vinous-tipped arrows, her 2008 offerings, and fires away, the wines piercing my defense with a purity of flavor and a sensuality of texture. How do you make such ethereal UNfined wines? They have the texture of brilliant young DRC Burgundies, but taste new worldly as they are filled with ripe, juicy fruit.

2008 Keplinger Lithic is named after a geological term, which refers to the size of soil grains, the ones in which these vines are planted. There are hints of gunmetal, lavender and iodine, and lots of blue fruit in this Amador wine. 97 points.

2008 Keplinger Caldera. There is a hint of just-poured asphalt, a whiff of tar, then a fabulous crescendo of ripe fruit notes. Oooh, 96 delicious points.

Helen’s 2008 Keplinger Sumo, a brilliant blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah and a touch of Viognier could be called a “Ka-Doing!” wine, the cartoonish sound made when someone slaps his forehead, suggesting a total, overwhelming, knockout of pleasure over this wine.

This is 5-star-salute material, a rocket sled of flavors and power and yet this wine has – who’d a thunk it? -- poise. This could easily be called a 100-point wine, because you can’t put more wine into a wine and make it taste any better than what Helen has achieved.

Whatever you do, Helen, don’t give up your day job and don’t give a second thought about going to medical school; if you did, you’d sadden a lot of wine lovers who anticipate the many years of pleasure, which lie ahead, imagining the thrills of tasting successive future vintages of your stunning wines.

Keplinger current release wines are available at 750 Wines, on Adams St., in St. Helena. Tel. 707-963-0750.The premiere vintage of each new Keplinger label is $40/bottle and in subsequent years, the wines are $50/bottle. “That’s the marketing plan for now,” anyway, says DJ.

How to Spend a Perfect Afternoon in the Carneros – at Bouchaine

Good friends, the Dunns, Harrises and Witts, asked us to join them in a new experience – checking out Napa Valley wineries to which we’ve never been.

“We always get asked by visitors to our winery, where else should we go?” explain Mike and Treva Harris, the ebullient proprietors of Harris Family Vineyards, “so we decided to assemble a small group of family winemakers to inspect what’s out there that we’ve never seen and might recommend.”

You’d think that in a small valley like Napa Valley, we’d know all the players, but, in fact, there are 500 wineries in our small valley.

So we sneaked off our porch and joined the group, visiting Bouchaine, in the Carneros, last week.

What a lovely spot!

Bouchaine is the oldest, continuously operated winery in the Carneros, according to tasting room host Lisa Brown, who poured five different wines for us.

Host Lisa Brown pours wine for guests on the winery patio, which overlooks the rolling vineyards.

“The winery was built in the late 1920s, “ she said, and has only ever had three owners – first Johnny Garetto, an Italian immigrant, then Beringer, and now, it is owned by Gerret and Tatiana Copeland.”

The winemaker is Michael Richmond, who has crafted some delicious wines.

We sat on the slat-covered patio at the back of the tasting room, overlooking the sculpted vineyards, which roll off into the distance. The standard tasting room fee is $15 per person inside, and $30 per person on the deck, where you get much more personalized service and a chance to have some nibbles with your wines, as well.

Our three favorite wines of the tasting were:

 2008 Bouchaine Estate Chardonnay

A gorgeous, beautifully balanced, Chardonnay, which is 90 percent oak-fermented, and topped with 10 percent of the house’s stainless steel–fermented Chardonnay. As only 50 percent of this blend has been put through malolactic fermentation, the beverage has a refreshing acidity. Really liked this wine. Even bought some to bring home; you can’t get a stronger commendation than that.

92 points.

2008 Bouchaine Estate Pinot Meunier Pinot Noir

Pinot Meunier is one of the three grapes used to make Champagne (along with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay). It is rarely used by itself to make a varietal wine, which makes this Bouchaine offering unusual. But which also makes it tasty.

Cool nights and a rolling fog, which envelopes the Carneros on many summer nights, help the Pinot Meunier mature gracefully. The result is a delicate, floral, rose petal-scented, wine with a beautiful robe. The alcohol is under control and this is one of those times when it is absolutely right to call this “a pretty wine.” I bought this one to take home, too. 91 points.

2006 Bouchaine Estate Pinot Noir

Here’s the real deal, a strikingly delicious Pinot Noir with luscious berry fruit in the middle palate and a hint of cocoa on the finish. None of that sometimes hot Russian River alcohol, or over-extraction; this Pinot has roots in Napa Valley but has a DNA that hints of France, which you can taste. Had to buy some of this, too. 92 points.

The Bouchaine setting is beautiful, the wines are delicious (we now have a winery in the Carneros where we are comfortable sending guests) and summer is here – so what are YOU waiting for?

Bouchaine is at 1075 Buchli Station Road, Napa, 94559.

Tel: 800-654-WINE or 707-252-9065 to make an appointment for a tasting group if you are six or more in your party. Go to www.bouchaine.com for more details.

Charter Oak Zinfandel chosen TOPS out of 730 world wines!

To find out what wines "Millennials" (individuals in the 21-35 age group) enjoy, a worldwide competition was held in the Bay-area last month, bringing together Millennial winemakers and Millennial judges. The competition was called “The NextGen Competition,” short for Next Generation.

As I have been making Charter Oak wine with Rob Fanucci since 2002, two years ago, he asked me to come inside his family winery business and join him as an active partner. (Let’s get this potential Conflict of Interest relationship off the table…. But it has nothing to do with the story I’m about to relate.)

David pours wine at the annual Charter Oak ZinArt party, an infusion of good wine and good art, the latter produced by Rob’s wife, Layla Fanucci. Layla’s “Cityscape” oils are internationally shown and collected.

Over time, we have encouraged Rob’s son, David Fanucci, to help us make the wine and 21-year-old David is now Charter Oak’s official assistant winemaker, helping punch down fermenting wines, rack wines throughout the year and help prepare final blends. (That’s David in the first shot above.)

The rules for the NextGen Competion were that you must have a Millennial on your winemaking team – and as David fits the age-grade category, we submitted our 2007 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Zinfandel, which David had a large part in making and blending.

Twenty-four Millennial-aged judges – all of them wine industry professionals – assembled in the Bay-area in June and tasted through 730 wines submitted from all over the world.

Our 2007 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Zinfandel was chosen blind as THE NUMBER ONE WINE IN THE WORLD to be made by a Next Generation "Millennial" OUT OF 730 WINES IN THE COMPETITION!

You can read more about Charter Oak Winery at www.charteroakwine.com and you can read more about the NextGen Wine Competition at www.nextgenwinecomp.com.

Donny and August Sebastiani, recognized pioneers in developing innovative wines in America, served as honorary co-chairs of the NextGen event.

“For four generations, our family has produced quality value wines and now it’s our chance to take the wine business to the next level, says Donny.

Organizers of the NextGen Wine Competition say they intend to make it an annual event.

 From left to right: Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil. The three monkeys at Charter Oak – David Fanucci, me, and Rob Fanucci.

Over at Charter Oak, we’ve had to put sand in Rob’s cuffs to keep his feet on the ground.

If you’ve never been to Charter Oak, in St. Helena, let me explain its microscopic imprint; there are something like 500 wineries in Napa Valley and we are pretty sure that Charter Oak is (proudly) the smallest of the 500.

Charter Oak’s secret weapon: we press all our wine in the near-100-year-old wooden basket press, formerly used by Rob’s grandfather, Guido Ragghianti, who taught Rob how to make wine 25 years ago.

We make all our wines (about 750 cases per year total) by hand, the old-fashioned way. Which explains why our Zinfandels and Petite Sirahs have a silken texture and an elegant balance, not typically found in these varietal wines.

Jim and Rob clown around (as usual). Our motto: “If you don’t have fun making wine, stay out of the cellar!”

To make an appointment to visit Charter Oak, call Rob at 707-963-2298. Rob says that if you mention you read this story in napaman, you’ll receive a 10% case discount. See, it pays to read napaman!

What we Drank at Dinner Last Night....

.... major yum all of it.

But the hands-down favorite of the dinner group was the 1991 Philip Togni Cabernet from Spring Mountain.

Philip has told me in the past that his 1991 oeuvre may be the single best wine he's ever made, even better than his legendary 1969 Chapellet!! (You can read about THAT experience at the following URL)

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2007/05/1969_chappellet.html

Her Fruits & Vegetables are the Best, even out of Season!

 Lisa Livoni, watercolorist

Let’s get potential conflict of interest charges out of the way:

I know Lisa Livoni.

I have purchased her gorgeous watercolors and love them.

I think she is one of the most talented watercolorists in Napa Valley.

And one more thing: I worked with Lisa last year in a common endeavor, a project called Local Color, in which we tried to get Napa Valley restaurants and wineries to buy her stunning, interpretative art.

Now, the general, art-loving, art-buying public will have a chance to acquire some of her newest paintings. Lisa’s colorful watercolors – mostly of fruits, vegetables, and flowers – are on view at Whiting Nursery, in St. Helena, from today through September 30. The show is called “A Brush in the Garden.”

For the first time ever, Lisa has produced large format paintings, some in the 3- x 4-foot range, significantly larger than the postcard- and letter-sized watercolor paintings, for which she is known.

“Marsha's Inspiration,” 34" x 47"  

“Painting is a very physical thing to me,” says Lisa. “This new larger size let’s me explore how I truly feel about what I am painting… and let’s me revel in my love of color.  I should have moved to the larger painting format sooner, but art is a personal, evolutionary process and I just wasn’t there.” 

"Red Flag," 34"x 47"

As she loves to garden, Lisa has turned to this theme for the watercolors in this exhibition. The words “joyful,” “colorful,” and “fresh” come to mind when viewing the collection.

Where’d she develop her sense of color and her near-compulsion to paint?

“I developed a serious interest in art as a child and feel that my earliest creative influences came from extensive family travel at a young age. This included three years of living in Japan.”

“Anne's Artichoke,” 34"x 47"

After graduating from the California College of Art, Lisa worked as a graphic designer for 23 years. Then, after designing some of California’s most iconic wine labels, she decided to become a fulltime, professional painter, which she has been for the last 10 years.

Lisa’s watercolor images have been exhibited at the I. Wolk Gallery, in Napa Valley, at the William Zimmer Gallery in Mendocino, in the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, and at the Napa Valley Museum, Yountville.

“Quince,” 40"x 35"

Images in the Whiting exhibit range in price from $300 to $5,000 per watercolor.

A reception for Lisa will be held Saturday, July 3, at Whiting Nursery, from 2 to 4 pm. Napaman readers are invited – see you there.

Whiting Nursery is at 738 Main St, St. Helena, corner of Charter Oak Ave. Open Mon. through Sat. 8:30 am to 5 pm, and Sundays 9 am to 5 pm. For information, call 707-963-5358.

Lisa Livoni

If you are visiting St. Helena and are not familiar with the local restaurant scene, be sure to stop at the best restaurant on Charter Oak Avenue, just across the street from Whiting Nursery.

I’m speaking about Tra Vigne, one of the valley’s landmark restaurants. The food, Italian by theme, has never been better here, thanks to the attentive touch of executive chef Nash Cognetti. For a reservation, call 707-963-4444. Tra Vigne, corner Charter Oak Avenue and Highway 29/Main St., St. Helena.

Jimmy Dean – Gone, perhaps, but not Forgotten

What’s Jimmy Dean, the singer and sausage maker, who died yesterday at the age of 81, got to do with Napa Valley?

Absolutely nothin’.

But as I had a personal connection with the singer-sausagemaker, for the sake of history, and accuracy, I need to share my story here.

(Dean is remembered for several things; certainly for his hit single, "Big Bad John," and for his TV program, "The Jimmy Dean Show," which was popular in the 1950s and early 60s. In later years, Dean became synonymous with the sausage company he started.)   

In 1985, while working at Loblaws, Canada’s foremost supermarket chain, where I was responsible for the development of the line of premium-quality, President’s Choice products, I was asked to join a meeting with Jimmy Dean; one of our corporate senior vice presidents wanted to get the rights to make Jimmy Dean Sausage in Canada at a meat processing facility, which the supermarket chain owned, called Z&W.

Brian Davidson, the roly-poly, always chipper VP worked hard to get Jimmy D. to come to Toronto for the meeting. Brian was always a Big Picture Guy, buying and selling companies and brands to enhance the Loblaws portfolio. (In his time, Brian bought and sold Weight Watchers twice, he tried hard to buy Boboli, he opened the door to eventually buy Thomas’ English Muffins… and he SO wanted to own the Jimmy Dean Sausage brand for Canada. Hence the importance of the meeting he set up with Jimmy D.)

The meeting was held in the shag-carpeted, window-lined, eighth floor office of the President of Loblaw International Merchants, Dave Nichol, who was a tall, imperious leader, admired nationwide for his marketing bravado. (I suggested naming the line of upscale products we set out to produce “President’s Choice,” specifically because Dave was already so well known as the on-air presence for the supermarket.)

Present at the meeting: Brian, Dave, Jimmy Dean and me.

Brian walked Jimmy Dean into the room and I noted that the Texas singer was one of the few people I’ve ever met who was head’s taller than Nichol.

Jimmy Dean wore a ring that was larger than a Las Vegas poker chip, shaped like the state of Texas, stuffed with dozens of sparkly diamonds.

He mentioned that he had come the last little distance to Toronto in his large yacht, and that he was in a hurry to get back on his boat. This was the sum of our chitter-chatter pleasantries. We got down to business quickly. Nichol didn’t like idle chatter, and you could tell that Jimmy D. didn’t either.

The meeting got off on the wrong foot, you might say; Jimmy D. leaned back in his expensive black leather, swivel chair putting his cowboy boots smack square on Nichol’s ultra-clean, 12-foot-long, glass conference table. No one had ever offended Nichol in his private lair like this. I could sense his hackles rise. Jimmy D. picked up on Nichol’s cue but didn’t say a word.

Nichol started badgering Dean with a barrage of questions, the kinds of things he would ask of any potential supplier, but he delivered them with his rapier sword intellect, much as he had learned to do as a lawyer.

“What parts of the animal do you use for your sausage?”

“How much fat do your sausages contain?”

“Where did you get the recipe for your sausages?”

“What spices do you use?”

Dean answered the first few questions kindly, then started to answer the remainder almost belligerently. You could tell the meeting wasn’t going well. But I had no idea how not-well it was going until Nichol pushed the sausage king.

“How many employees do you have?”

“How many varieties do you make?”

“Where’s your primary factory located?”

This question was the proverbial last-straw for Dean, who was not used to being interrogated as though subpoenaed by the House on Un-American Activities.

“Where’s your primary factory located?” Nichol repeated.

“Noneya,” Jimmy Dean replied.

“Noneya, Texas?” Nichol queried, rhetorically asking where this might be.

“No. Noneya fuckin’ business!” Dean replied. And with that, he got up, stood straight and tall, making his exit to the door and then ducked out, and under, the door frame.

Jimmy Dean – gone, perhaps, but not forgotten.

94574 – New Sauvignon Blanc named after Winecountry Zipcode…

… and like the post office, this wine delivers!

This posting has two conflicts of interest. I am hopeful that, as such, they cancel each other out, resulting in a balanced story.

For starters, the winemakers, Dave Berry and Henry Schlangen, are personal friends. They did not threaten me with bodily harm more than twice to say nice things about them.

Secondly, when Dave and Henry asked me what to name their new wine, I chaired three professional branding sessions and ultimately suggested the name, which they chose for their wine: 94574, the Zip Code for St. Helena, where the wine is produced.

For the record, they did not pay cash for my services and I am fearful that they forgot our handshake deal: I am due 50% of all future revenues.

  

By day, Dave Berry runs a steel business, and Henry Schlangen sells real estate, two professions, which don’t require a whole lot of passion to keep them afloat.

So the passion-seekers turned to a common pursuit, wine, and, two years ago, decided to produce Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, two of their favorite beverages..

“Why dip your toe in the water when you can plunge in head first, not knowing – or caring – whether there are rocks or sharks in the water?” Dave asks rhetorically.

Henry Schlangen and Dave Berry, partners in 94574. When they’re not working on their wine project, Henry’s in real estate, David’s in the steel business.

So the pair bought into a 50-acre parcel along with a small group of investors; Dave and Henry get five tons of fresh, ripe, startling delicious Sauvignon Blanc from the San Mateo Ranch on Mee Lane, in Rutherford.

2009, their first vintage, was released Saturday at 750 Wines, on Adams St., in St. Helena. The stainless-steel fermented wine was barrel aged for a brief spell in neutral French oak and did not go through secondary (malolactic) fermentation.

Liz and Dave Berry are half the partner team of 94574. Genevieve, who is Henry’s wife, and Liz, above, are responsible for 94574 marketing and sales.

Here are my original tasting notes from my first bottle exposure to 94574:

Ahh, this is a striking, strident, Sauvignon Blanc with tons of character and joie.

The wine reminds me of a streaker running naked across a co-ed quad at a major northeastern university in the middle of winter; (A) because it can, and (B) because you can’t catch it.

Put another way: the taste and swallow, while ephemeral, linger in the mind for a long, long time, bringing smiles and a sense of prurient pleasure.

This wine has loads of personality. Look for a striking initial attack, then some fabulous, rich mid-palate fireworks, followed by a forceful, and delicious finish, which draws you back for more. 

Why don’t they make 32-ounce bottles of 94574? I must have had a short fill, because I found that I wanted more after my bottle was drained. 

My final tasting note may sound odd, but I detect honeysuckle, jonquils and even a hint of cumin on the end. And if YOU can’t taste it, don’t knock it – it's there!

392 cases produced. The wine retails for $18.

Genevieve and Henry Schlangen are the other half of the 94574 partner team. Genevieve works with Liz to promote sales.

Dave, Henry, Liz and Genevieve are keeping a low sales profile their first year in business. In addition to placing their wine at 750 Wines, 94574 is only on the shelf at Sunshine Foods Market in St. Helena.

As for restaurants, 94574 is being poured by the glass at Auberge du Soleil, which is one helluva coup for a frisky, first-year-out-of-the-gate wine. Good going, team!

Wanna know more about 94574? Be patient! As the 94574 web site isn’t ready for prime time, make note of it now for future reference: http://94574wine.com.

A Taste of Oakville – 41 times in a row!

Through these portals pass some of the finest wines… and today, some of the finest winemakers… in Oakville.

One of the valley’s highly sought, hard-to-get trade tickets is for the annual spring Taste of Oakville event, which brings together growers, winemakers, vineyard owners and the folks they’re all trying to reach – restaurant wine buyers, sommeliers, and retail wine merchants.

Napaman snagged a ticket and has the following commentary to share.

If the 2006 and 2007 mostly Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines poured today are any indication of things to come, the general wine-drinking public is in store for some mighty pleasurable drinking.

There wasn’t a dud among the 71 wines, poured by the 41 Oakville wineries on hand.

As I exited the event, held this year at the Robert Mondavi Winery, several colleagues approached, asking which were the standout wines, a typical reaction at this kind of tasting.

In truth, I no longer try to compare wines at this type of event; after tasting a few dozen wines, the only ones that stick out from the pack are aberrant wines, where the alcohol, or extraction, or oak, is so pronounced that the wine sticks out from the genuinely pretty, balanced, elegant wines.

Panelists who lead the morning MasterClass on “the commitment of ownership; From left to right, Paul Roberts, Estate Director, Bond, Ren Harris, owner Paradigm, Michael Weis, wine director, Groth, and Tom Garrett, winemaker, Detert Family Vineyards. The bowls in the foreground, filled with each winery’s respective soil, showed how soil composition changes across the appellation.

Oakville, at the epicenter of Napa Valley, is one of 15 valley sub-appellations. Oakville is a small-ish subsection but it carries a large and important historical mantle – it is where Robert Mondavi built his winery, shared his vision and created Napa Valley’s earliest and best wines, and on which the reputation of the entire valley was predicated.

Robert Mondavi Winery, site of this year’s Taste of Oakville event. Bob Mondavi would have been happy and proud of the number – and quality – of wines poured.

At the morning MasterClass, led by four of the appellation’s highly recognized wine producers (see photo with caption, above), we learned that global warming is here, it is hot and it has been scientifically recorded.

“Between 1960 and 2010 – that’s only 50 years – the average night time temperature in Oakville in the month of April, which used to be considered a cool month, has been documented by university scientists to have jumped 5.3 degrees Fahrenheit,” Ren Harris, of Paradigm, told the assembled group.

Them’s a lot of degrees over such a short period of time, in case you needed someone to interpret what Ren said.

Some 120 people were invited to the MasterClass session, which culminated in a tasting of four 2006 Oakville-made wines.

Several participants expressed concern about the higher degree of alcohol, which we’re seeing in many California wines today, due to higher levels of ripeness.

Paul Roberts, of Bond, answered this one: “I don’t want to appear as an ‘alcohol apologist’ but drinkers want freshness, brightness and minerality in their wine and when you make a wine with these characteristics in Napa Valley, you inherently get higher levels of alcohol.”

“Listen,” he continued, “when you look at some of the great old-world wines from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, there is so much complexity and minerality that the higher levels of alcohol – sometimes in the 16.6 range – are hidden. We don’t hear wine drinkers or wine writers railing against these wines; why do they single out California, or new world, wines for their sometimes elevated levels?”

“Our job is to make the best wine we can from the grapes we nurture and source; it is not to make a lower alcohol wine at the expense of diminished flavor, freshness, or minerality.”

Amen. I’m not gonna argue with this guy.

After the MasterClass, guests were joined by about 450 members of the wine trade in the Robert Mondavi barrel room. Way too many people for such a confined, narrow, angular space. That’s Bill Harlan, of Harlan Estate, in the foreground, and a multitude of glass-carrying, wine-seeking, pushing and shoving industry revelers in the background.

After the morning MasterClass, and after a sensational luncheon in Mondavi’s Vintage Room, guests re-assembled in the winery’s barrel room to taste through the wines poured by 41 wineries. 

Brothers John and Tom Garrett, respectively responsible for marketing/sales and for winemaking at their family’s Detert Family Vineyards. I’m surprised the brothers fit into this small space – these guys define TALL… in fact, when their feet are planted on the ground in Oakville, their cropped heads belong in another appellation with the hillside attributes of a cooler climate.

Estate Director, Paul Roberts, pours two of his 2006 Bond wines for the swelling crowd of professional tasters.

Upper tier of the Modavi barrel room, where the Taste of Oakville was held.

If you’re interested in learning more about the wines of Oakville, log onto www.oakvillewnegrowers.com

Swanson… this Renaissance Winery is making Renaissance Merlot

What do you do when you’ve been making great Napa Valley wine for 25 years but want to turn up the heat? You hire new talent and make even better wine!

At least that’s what Clarke Swanson Jr. has done at his eponymous winery in beautiful downtown Rutherford, population 450.

Clarke Swanson Jr. If the name rings a bell, it should, His granddaddy started Swanson TV Dinners and his father and uncle sold it nearly 50 years ago to Campbell’s.

As a neighbor of Swanson Vineyards, I have been to the property numerous times, but welcomed an invitation this week to spend a morning with winemaker Chris Phelps and owner Clarke Swanson Jr., along with a small coterie of local wine writers.

There wasn’t a real agenda to the get-together, other than to present us current wines and give us a sneak preview of the Swanson Sip Shoppe, a slightly less formal, retail room that is opening this summer next to the famed Swanson Salon, where by-appointment guests may enjoy Swanson wines paired with different foods.

For the record, the food pairings here are as friendly as the staff; no one goes home without a smile, and oh yes, purple teeth.

Winemaker Chris Phelps speaks with a small group of wine writers, assembled in the elegant Swanson Salon.

Winemaker Chris Phelps, who has been at Swanson seven years, is largely responsible for shaking up the winemaking practice. But then, you’d expect this from a wineman trained at U.C. Davis, as well as the University of Bordeaux and who then worked at Chateau Petrus, Dominus (Petrus’ Yountville property), then at Caymus, in Napa Valley.

Winemaker Chris Phelps 

Napaman Tip One

Chris is making a fabulous Pinot Grigio that is one of the most refreshing Napa Valley white wines that I have tasted in a long time. The fruit is a blend of Oakville, Oak Knoll, Carneros and even some Santa Barbara fruit, seamlessly blended in stainless steel. Read my lips: NO WOOD. The resulting wine is d-e-l-i- c-i-o-u-s, suggestive of spring flowers It would go extremely well with seameats, and has a lovely creamy finish. 91 points.

 

Napaman Tip Two

Are you looking for a way to recall which were the good recent vintages in Napa Valley? Let’s eavesdrop on Chris Phelps:

“’05, ’07 and ’09 were like Bordeaux vintages; we had longer, cooler growing seasons. The fruit had longer ‘hang time’ and the phenolics were allowed to fully develop. These are superior vintages across Napa Valley, if one can generalize.”

Salonnier, Shawn Quick LaRue, takes us on a sneak preview of the soon-to-open Swanson Sip Shoppe, a new ‘wing” on the winery.

Napaman Tip Three

The Merlot at Swanson is better than it has ever been. Merlot has been, since 1987, the bread and butter grape at Swanson. In fact, Swanson is the largest producer of Merlot in the Oakville Appellation and Chris suspects that Swanson may actually produce more estate Merlot than any other winery in Napa Valley.

I tasted the ’05, ’06. ’07 and ’08 (from barrel) Swanson Merlots and they just keep getting better.

As the 2005 Swanson Merlot contains 14 percent Syrah, the wine has a slightly herbaceous, purple-y nose, though it does exhibit lovely balance and textural elegance. 91 points.

The 2006 Swanson Merlot has more floral and cherry notes, and appears to be a softer wine. Possibly due to the absence of Syrah? Another solid 91 pointer.

The 2007 and 2008 Swanson Merlots are each a dinner winner, though exhibiting younger flavors and texture than any of the siblings above. But these wines will come around nicely in a few years. 91 points for each vintage.

Each of the Swanson Merlots retails for $36.

 

Napaman Tip Four

But it’s what Chris Phelps has done to the flagship wine, Alexis (named after Clarke’s daughter) that is the most pronounced wine revival, or reversal, here.

Alexis, first made in 1994, used to be a blend of Cabernet and Syrah. But Chris, who had some ‘splainin’ to do when he proposed removing the Syrah, has succeeded in producing some gorgeous wines.

2005 Swanson Alexis, which is 90 percent Cabernet, 10 percent Merlot, has scents and aromas far deeper than the color of this wine would suggest. Warm fruit aromas, gobs of spice, ripe fruit and lush richness. What a twist on “Napa Valley Cab”  – since it doesn’t taste as though it’s passed through the kidneys of a beaver. The wood is in HARMONY with the fruit. What a novel idea in a Napa Valley Cab. 93 points.

2006 Swanson Alexis. This wine’s composition is different; 81 percent Cab, 19 percent and the mixture shift is evident in the wine as it is softer, juicier, fleshier than the ’05. But still ‘loverly.’ 92 points.

2007 Swanson Alexis. Ahhh, this is the daddy! Wine of the month for napaman, a solid achievement, made with 90 percent Cab, and 10 percent Merlot. A stunningly good wine, delicious on the attack, right through to the swallow. There is a crème de cassis element in the middle palate. A fabulous, food friendly wine. 94 points.

Each of the Alexis wines retails for $75.

 

What has Chris done to cause these improvements?

“We are picking the fruit more ripe than we have in the past, but we are extremely aware of not letting the alcohol levels get out of check. Highly alcoholic wines are not refreshing.”

“For another thing, we’ve changed the level of toast on our barrels. We’ve cut way back, from heavy toast and toasted heads (the ends of the wooden barrels) to a medium toast.”

“We’ve also moved to screwcaps for our Pinot Grigio. No more corked wines.” (As far as napaman is concerned, Chris could move everything he makes, even age-worthy reds, to screwcap.)

It’s also evident that Swanson is engaging in some “alternate therapy” winemaking. Napaman spotted recent crop Merlot aging in small standard-sized, 225 liter barrels made of stainless steel, something I’ve not ever seen in a winery in this region.

Chris hinted that he’s conducting some ‘trials,” with them, but the nature of his short reply (so uncharacteristic of him!) leads me to believe that Swanson is experimenting. Which is a good thing, always the sign of a smart producer who refuses to accept commonplace methodology in an effort to improve the quality of core products.

To learn more about Swanson wines, go to www.swansonvineyards.com or call to make an appointment to visit the winery, 707-944-0905. To make an appointment to visit The Salon or The Sip Shoppe, call 967-3500.

Mission Implausable: Hunting for Mushrooms in Napa Valley

On a Mushroom Hunt in Napa Valley! (Yes, intentionally blacked out – read on.)

My friend Tom Scheibal, who is a local artist, is an ardent mushroom forager.

Over a dinner of fresh chanterelles, which he had just foraged, I asked Tom if I might accompany him on his next chanterelle hunt. His one requisite was that I be blindfolded so that I would not learn where in the deep forest his favorite patch of chanterelles grow – a patch he’s been foraging for 15 years. Hence the shot above – that’s me walking through the forest with a bandana tied across my eyes, on our way to the patch, north of Calistoga.

Mushroom hunting we go! Tom carries a woven, wooden basket in which he will protect his hope-to-be-found treasures… while I wear a blindfold!

After recent, late winter rains, Tom has been picking chanterelles as though he were cropping tomatoes from his organic garden in summer; they’ve been growing like topsy on the wet forest floor. In fact, on his most recent field trip, Tom picked 15 pounds of golden chanterelles (Cantharella cibarius, in case you are taxonomically inquisitive).

He brought them home and his wife, Linda, who is a talented cook, sautéed them lightly in butter, then tossed them with some buttered, egg tagliatelle she had just hand-made. The dish was ethereal, exquisite, light and delicate.

That was the moment, over that plate of pasta, that I asked Tom if I might join him on his next mushroom hunt.

For the record: There are something like 10,000 species of mushrooms in North America, only 250 of which are edible.

“Aha! I think I found one!” says Tom on our field trip into the forest. No, we didn’t see Goldilocks, the Three Bears, or Little Red Riding Hood in the forest, but we sure did find mushrooms.

He was right again!

 

The day's haul.

In case you knew, but have forgotten: a mushroom is a fungus (from the Greek word sphongos, meaning ‘sponge’), not a plant. As such, mushrooms contain no chlorophyll and produce spores instead of seeds. They survive by feeding off other organic matter – the ultimate ‘sponge,’ indeed!

I’m not sure that I would call Tom a mycologist, the word for a fungi expert, but he is certainly a mycophile, someone whose passionate hobby is to hunt edible wild mushrooms.

You aren’t likely to ever taste Tom’s handwork in the forest… we’ve eaten up all the chanterelles he gathered this week, but you can see his latest handiwork this coming weekend; his colorful Horse Head portraits are being exhibited at the Robert Mondavi Winery, starting Sunday March 14.

If you‘d like to attend the opening reception this Sunday, 2 to 4 pm, to meet Tom, sip Mondavi wine and enjoy a few hors d’oeuvres (don’t expect any chanterelles!), you must RSVP by phoning 707-968-2040, or send an email to [email protected], indicating how many are in your party.

See you there. But don't ask me where the chanterelles are to be found, because I haven't got a clue!

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