December 12, 2014 – Wines for a surprise party

A dear friend was having a birthday, and unbeknownst to him, he was having a small party to celebrate it.  My contribution was the wine.  Since I was invited about five hours beforehand, this was the best I could pull together after work (plus a card, or course).  We started off with a half-bottle of 2007 Clos du Val Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and followed with a bottle of 2007 Provenance Vineyards Winemakers Reserve Blend.  Both wines flaunted the vintage characteristics, and both surprised me a little.  The Clos du Val surprised me by finally coming into its pulled-together stage, where good balance, softened edges, and delicious fruit prevail.  (This wine showed much promise when I first tasted it at the winery on release.)  The Provenance surprised me for the development of elegance it was undergoing.  Regrettably, this was my last bottle of the 2007 Provenance blend, but I have newer vintages standing by.  And this is probably the longest that I have aged any screw-cap bottle in my cellar to date (about five years now).  Tom Rinaldi, who was the master winemaker at the time, suggested that a screw cap could easily go about four to six years.  Implicit in his remarks was that he preferred corks for longer aging of red wine.