Anomaly Vineyards, April 6th, 2012

Winery - 6 / Wines - 7
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Underground tasting room.  Cabernet Sauvignon.
www.anomalyvineyards.com

This may be one of the smallest winery operations in Napa Valley that I have visited.  The first time I visited, they gave me a tour of the winery building (both floors) and a brief history of the estate.  Then they took me downstairs for the tasting.  This time, neither the winery nor I had time for a tour, so we went straight for the tasting.  Anomaly is such a small operation that they can only offer tasting appointments to members of their mailing list.  It is easy to join the mailing list at their website.  I am uncertain how long you can remain on the mailing list without making a purchase.  (I really should test that, but the wines are irresistible.)  Once on the list, you need to make an appointment to visit.  This is typical for small, family-run wineries in the Napa Valley.  If they had a typical tasting room open to the public, they would run out of wines pouring tastes for visitors without selling a bottle, so they have the need for this kind of control.

Anomaly Vineyards is not located on the main highway through Napa Valley, but rather is tucked away off a side road just southwest of St. Helena.  The winery building rises up two stories from the surrounding vineyards, and is faced in beautiful stonework.  The building is obviously only a few years old.  The tiny building houses their operations, which should give you an idea about the limited quantities of wine they produce.  What is above the ground is only half the story though.  Climb down a flight of stairs, past a locked door to get to the tasting room.  The tasting room can best be described as richly minimal.  There is a handsome table in the middle of the room, halogen lighting throughout the room, and working barrels running down opposing walls.  The walls and floor are all done in concrete, because this room is part of the winery operations.  At the back end of the tasting room is a window to the temperature controlled wine library made of handsome wooden racks.  Out the opposite wall is the main barrel storage room.  The tasting experience is about as intimate as you can get without getting romantic.

The St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon is Anomaly Vineyard’s only wine.  That they make any wine was purely by chance, but I’ll leave that story to the wine makers.  They always pour the current release, which in this case was the 2009 vintage.  Sometimes they will pour a prior vintage.  On my previous visit, I was able to taste the 2005, 2006, and 2007.  This time they poured the 2008 alongside the 2009.  Both wines are quite nicely made, though the 2009 is more to my liking with its more prominent structure.  Many people will prefer the 2008 with its elixir quality and sweet tannins.  It is hard to go wrong with either vintage.  (Just after visiting the winery, I opened a 2004 vintage – look for it on this blog.)

Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 6 and the wines offered as a 7.  This is consistent with my previous two visits.

April 2, 2012 – Wine: 2005 Miner Family Vineyards The Oracle

Wow!  I remember this wine when it was young: rich, dense, fragrant, and promising.  After three years, this wine stands and delivers.  Upon popping the cork, this wine oozed an enchanting fragrance which persisted all evening.  After an hour of decanting, you are struck by the aroma simply by nearing the wine in its vessel.  The real magic is in the drinking.  Silky tannins carry flavors of juicy red currants, sweet prunes, and coffee in a palette saturating flow across your tongue.  While the finish can’t compete with the mid-palette, it is more than adequate.  There is tremendous balance, but a little intensity across the palette throws it off.  Still, given a couple more years, this wine will be an intensely elegant expression of my favorite (recent) vintage.  This wine embodies what I love about Bordeaux-style blends from Napa Valley.

2005 Miner Vineyars Oracle

April 1, 2012 – Wine: 2006 Artezin Dry Creek Zinfandel

I remember tasting this at the Hess Collection winery short after its release.  The wine suggested  a certain richness that few Zinfandels offer.  It was also full-bodied and well structured, so I bought a couple to age in the cellar.  Three years later, I opened the first one.  The richness has evolved into a slightly liqueured quality, but the wine retained its balance, tannins, and fruit.   The wine was immediately approachable before sliding into an awkward state for the better part of an hour.  After 60 minutes in the glass, it balanced out and opened up to reveal flavors of cherry, black licorice, and coffee.  Lying somewhere between elegant and rich, this wine was delicious.



2006 Artezin Dry Creek Valley



A rose and red wine

What has a rose to do with wine?  This rose is one of the more fragrant varieties.  There are other roses that are beautiful but lack any sort of significant aroma.  This one can be detected from four feet away.  I believe that the variety (breed?) is called Chrysler Imperial.  This is not the stereotypical rose smell that finds its way into perfumes (which I believe comes from a white rose - I had one like that until the utility company drove over it while replacing the gas lines in my neighborhood.)  This red rose has a slightly musky quality, some sense of baking spices, but is clearly a rose’s scent.  A number of good Bordeaux wines and California cabernets also exhibit this quality, sometimes referred to as floral.  And it is these first roses of spring that are often the most fragrant, and so I was reminded of the connection with wine today while working in the yard.

The Cabernet rose?

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards, April 6th, 2012

Winery - 5 / Wines - 8
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Tasting room deep inside a cave.  A Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and blends.
www.connvalleyvineyards.com


This was my second tasting visit to Conn Valley Vineyards, and I was looking forward to it.  Rather than a conventional tasting room, the folks at Conn Valley take you up to a hillside door.  Behind this door lies the cave where much of the wine-making magic takes place.  You walk past long rows of barrels to arrive at a large circular table set up for tasting, much as the chef at a restaurant has his own table for the staff to share new creations.  It is here, deep inside the dark but nicely illuminated cave that we all sat down to taste through the wines.
 The tasting alcove is furnished so as to make you feel at home.  There is a credenza, the table and chairs, a water stand within convenient reach, and a few other furnishings.  There is plenty of lighting along the way to the tasting area, and three stylish lights hanging directly above the table for good illumination of the wines.  But the stars of the cave are the barrels.  All of the barrels are stacked neatly along the length of the cave running down the middle and along the sides.  I found the symmetry of the barrel arrangement appealed to my mathematical side.  The air is filled with the scent of the young wine in the barrels – not intoxicating, but welcoming the visitor.
 When you visit Conn Valley Vineyards for tasting, be prepared to spend more than an hour there.  Not only is there an ambitious mountain road to travel to the winery, but they are generous with their samples.  On my visit, we tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, two vintages of Pinot Noir (though one vintage is usual), a Merlot blend, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Cabernet blend.  (That makes seven.)  Then, these folks are proud to sample the next two upcoming vintages of their Cabernet directly from the barrel.  (That makes nine.)  Unless you have hired a driver, you will need some time to sober up afterwards before returning down the mountain.  That said, my favorite wine was the 2008 Eloge, a Cabernet blend that finds the sweet spot between power, restraint, balance, and elegance.  I also noticed that the 2011 Cabernet shows amazing promise.


Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 5 and the wines offered as an 8.  This is consistent with my previous visit about two years ago.

March 31, 2012 – Wine: 2004 Bell Cellars Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon

I stumbled upon the 2001 vintage of this wine at a Whole Foods market back in 2005.  I was intrigued by the wine’s price, bottle, and designation (Clone 6), so I did some research.  My research ultimately landed me in the tasting room at Bell Cellars, where I ended up joining their wine club for 4+ years.  The nose of this 2004 is sweet.  The palette starts with minerals, followed closely by sour cherries, cocoa powder, wild black berries, and many other layers.  The finish endures for nearly a minute.  The tannins are not noticed until after you have swallowed, and there is not a harsh edge to this well-balanced effort.

2004 Bell Cellars Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon

March 29, 2012 – Wine: 2007 Blackbird Illustration

I was introduced to Blackbird wines by a friend at a tasting room in Yountville, CA.  I tasted the 2006 vintage and was immediately taken by the wines (especially the Contrarian).  I later found the 2007 vintage at a reasonable price and bought a few half bottles.  This wine is drinking quite nicely now, with blackberry fruits backed up by blueberry fruits, a balanced mineral component, and sturdy tannins.  Intense but balanced right now, this wine will benefit from 2 to 5 years more slumber in the cellar.

March 28, 2012 – Wine: 2005 Meyer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine represents my favorite characteristics of the 2005 vintage.  The wine is a juicy, lush cabernet with flavors of red currant, sour cherry, and a note of baking spices, all wrapped in soft, sweet tannins.  The finish on this wine lingers for over half a minute.  I have been working my way through a case of this wine and have been amazed by the consistency as this wine matures.  I first discovered this wine in a tasting lineup with the 2003 vintage, which impressed me equally.

A Day About Barrels

On April 6^th, I traveled to Napa Valley again.  This time the trip was motivated by the need to pick up wine.  I had a wine club shipment at Corison, and purchases I had made earlier to be picked up at Hendry Estate, Anomaly Vineyards and Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards.  Off the top of my head I would say that these wineries have very little in common, except for the exceptional Cabernet Sauvignons that they each produce.  After having visited each winery, it hit me.  Each winery’s tasting environment is surrounded by wine barrels at work. 

The barrels at Hendry

At Hendry, I was escorted into their operations area where their barrels are stored.  At Conn Valley, we tasted in one of the caves used to store the barrels at a cool temperature year round (without A/C).  At Anomaly, the tasting room is located beneath the winery building, underground, and is again lined with wine barrels at work.  Finally, at Corison, the tasting counter is inside the winery warehouse where the barrels of wine are stored.  Most of the wine will spend 18 to 24 months in barrel before being bottled, so there is almost always a barrel at work at any winery making Cabernet Sauvignon.  I just like getting up-close and personal with the barrels.  And that smell …

The underground barrel room at Anomaly

March 27, 2012 – Wine: 2006 Hendry Zinfandel Block 28

This turns out to be one of the good wines that emerged from the 2006 vintage.  When I tasted this wine at the winery, I could tell it had a sense of elegance to it.  But, in 2011, it turned very tannic, so I let it rest.  Keeping in mind its tannic nature, I decanted this bottle for 90 minutes.  Now, the tannins, while still present, are mellowing and the fruit that emerges is delightful.  There are notes of cranberry and sour cherry, along with mineral and some white pepper.  The nose is nice now, although it is still slightly restrained.  The finish lasts long enough to enjoy this wine slowly.  Both elegant and structured, I would describe this wine as a cab-drinker’s zin.

March 26, 2012 – Wine: 2007 Ramey Claret

Did you ever open a bottle of wine to share with your guests that you wish you could have all to yourself?  This is that wine.  At the price, I don’t mind sharing it, but for what’s inside the bottle, I turn selfish.  The aroma that emerged from the bottle upon opening was that of a fine liqueur.  After an hour of decanting, this lush, juicy wine presented beautiful black cherry and blackberry fruit, minerals, and silky texture in a restrained, yet powerful way.  Much in the same way that a well-tuned V-8 engine lets its power be known while at idle, this wine delivers a potent, yet well controlled punch.  I have enjoyed every vintage of this wine that I have tasted: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.  Give any vintage of this wine 18 months or so after release to lie down before opening and then get ready to enjoy the ride.

J. Lohr Winery, March 25th, 2012

Winery - 6 / Wines - 7
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Intimate tasting room convenient to downtown San Jose.  A wide variety of white wines and red wines.
www.jlohr.com

Is there really a winery by downtown San Jose?  J. Lohr winery has been in downtown San Jose for decades.  (There is a newer tasting room just outside of Paso Robles too.)  They make a variety of wines, most of which you can taste free of charge.  One thing I appreciate about J. Lohr, beyond the quality of their wines, is that they accept wine corks for recycling.  That was my guise for visiting today.  I walk in with a bag full of wine-stained corks, deposit them into a box, taste a few wines, and walk out with a few bottles of wine.  Who knew wine-tasting could be so environmentally friendly?

The winery tasting room is housed in an older, brick-faced building that is covered with vines.  There is ample parking in spite of its proximity to downtown San Jose.  And, unlike most wineries, there is frequent public transit service just steps away.  Inside, the building exudes a well-maintained old-world charm.  Floors are a light-colored polished tile.  The walls are done in a tasteful cream color.  A tall tasting counter has a natural stone surface.  In addition to wine, there is a variety of winery-branded merchandise, including wine glasses that are nearly ideal for drinking Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.  If you are expecting a call on your cell phone, forget it – the winery building creates a dead-zone inside (and a welcome one at that).  Your phone works perfectly just outside the door.

J. Lohr makes a number of very good wines at a variety or price-points.  All of their super-market wines can be previewed here, along with their gold-label wines (which I recommend tasting).  This visit, I tasted their Merlot, Highlands Pinot Noir, and two of their premium cuvee’s.  While the Merlot could not compare to the other wines, it was priced accordingly.  My favorite was the 2007 Cuvee Pau (primarily Cabernet).  The quality of these Cuvee’s rivals that of many Napa Valley wines, even though the grapes are sourced from Paso Robles.

Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 6 and the wines offered as a 7.  This has been consistent as long as I have been visiting J. Lohr’s San Jose tasting room.

March 25, 2012 – Wine: 1997 Duckhorn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (cont.)

What a difference a day makes … although, I’m guessing this wine peaked in the middle of the night.  But, by the time I got to it, the locked-down state had evolved into an ultra-smooth, completely balanced, and elegant expression of cabernet.  The well-restrained fruits presented include a mix of red and black fruits, starting with black cherry, sweet blackberry, and subtle notes of cranberry.  A fine weave of minerals holds it all together.  And with a bite of chocolate, this wine was magical.  When I open the second bottle, I’ll decant it at least four hours, maybe all afternoon.

March 24, 2012 – Wine: 1997 Duckhorn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Once again, an older half bottle seems to be past its prime.  I opened this bottle at 9:30pm, and by midnight, the wine was still locked down.  This experience brings to mind a friend’s daring purchase of a 1981 Rubicon Estate Red, which he shared with me about a year ago.  That wine remained locked down for over three hours.  It wasn’t until after 3 hours and 40 minutes that the wine opened up and then exploded on the palette.  This older Duckhorn seems to be following the same path, but it’s now time for bed.  I have bottled up one last glass to revisit for tomorrow.  I’ll add more then.