December 9, 2013 – Wine: 2001 Paul Hobbs Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Last May, my wine buddy discovered half-bottles of Paul Hobbs’ wines online and asked if we could coordinate an order to save on shipping.  I agreed (and landed some fantastic bottles) and tonight he decided to open his bottle of 2001 Cabernet.  I had reservations about any half-bottle of 2001 Cabernet performing well by now after the other disappointing bottles I have opened this year.  Still, I approached this bottle with an open mind.  This wine turns out to be built for cellaring.  The nose was fragrant, and the palette was balanced, striking a pleasant mid-point between elegance and power.  Most of the fruit was expressed in the mid-palette, featuring cherries, red currants, leather, minerals, and such, but the surprise was a raspberry core down the back of the tongue during the lengthy finish.  Now I’m looking forward to my half-bottle of 2002.

December 1, 2013 – Wine: Shafer Merlot, a vertical flight inside my head

Recently, I experienced two vintages of Shafer Merlot during the same week.  The first was a half-bottle I brought to my mom’s to thank her for making the Thanksgiving pies from scratch (crust and all).  For that tasting, I opened the 2008 vintage.  Then, tonight I decided to open a half-bottle of the 2007 vintage.  The differences were remarkable and a little surprising.


One would expect that the older of these two wines would be the smoother with less fruit presence than the younger.  But, the vintage comes into play here too, and the 2008 red wines from Napa Valley have all been smoother and better balanced (and more elegant).  By contrast, the 2007 vintage features beautiful fruit more prominently.  These attributes held true for these two Shafer Merlots as well.  The 2007 offered up beautiful, vintage-typical fruits including blackberry and blueberry, but was a little disjointed and rough along the edges, begging for more time in the cellar.  By contrast, the 2008 was better balanced, silky smooth, and the fruits somewhat more restrained.  Of course the real testament to the 2008 was the way that my mom powered through six ounces of it in less than 50 minutes.  The 2008 really was that good, but I have faith in the 2007’s for next year.

Neal Family Vineyards, November 25, 2013

Winery - 5 / Wines - 7
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Howell Mountain escape hidden from the world.  Cabernets, Zinfandel, and Sauvignon Blanc.  By reservation.
www.nealvineyards.com

The real reason for my decision to return to Howell Mountain was my eagerness to visit this winery.  A recent wine e-mail came across my inbox that featured a Neal Family Vineyards’ Cabernet and I was interested in learning more.  After all, a good Cabernet selling for less than $50 is the kind of wine I want to share with close friends, so I was eager to gauge their quality.  And I was pleasantly surprised.  The winery features its estate Cabernets which it ages gracefully for a few extra years to ensure that the wine you buy is in good form to be drinking.  But the surprise was to find a Zinfandel for under $25 and a Sauvignon Blanc for under $20, both well made.  Of course the best part about this tasting experience is that you are hosted by the winemaker himself.  To encourage folks to arrive on time, the tasting fee is waived unless you miss your appointment (by as little as 15 minutes, so plan carefully).

The Neal Family winery operations and tasting room.

As I was already on Howell Mountain, my drive to Neal Family was a short one, though you need to watch carefully for the turn off of White Cottage Road.  (I blew past the turn doing only 25 MPH.)  Once you drive down Liparita Road to the winery, you find yourself in a quiet retreat from the hustle of Napa Valley below.  The outside of the winery building is a warm brown color, giving it a look of wood and helping it to fit in with the native landscaping selected.  Inside the tasting room is a single counter that can accommodate six people comfortably.  From the tasting counter, you look down a hallway and through glass doors into a room that serves (among other purposes) as a dining area.  Beyond that room is another set of glass doors marking the entrance to the long barrel cave cut into the mountain top.  The cave allows the wine to age in a naturally cool environment free of air conditioning.  One detail to look for on each of the doors is the door handle – each handle is crafted of copper to resemble a wine leaf.  There are other copper fixtures throughout the winery echoing this effect.

The tasting bar inside Neal Family winery.

My tasting flight consisted of five wines.  I started with the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, which seems reasonably priced (under $20).  This was followed by an elegant 2011 Zinfandel.  The flight finished with three Cabernet Sauvignons: the 2010 Napa Valley, the 2006 Howell Mountain Estate, and the 2005 Fifteen Forty.  The 2010 Napa Valley Cabernet is wonderfully made and ready for enjoyment now or cellaring, and it was my favorite of the lineup.

Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 5 and the wines offered as a 7.

A bench made entirely of copper at Neal Family winery.

November 16, 2013 – Wines for a birthday party (and for the cook)

I decided to throw a dinner party to celebrate my birthday.  The main dish was going to be a pork stew and I needed a lighter red wine to add some flavor and moisture.  The last time I used a Beaujolais that had been open a few days too long and that made the perfect complement to the stew.  This time, I had to find a suitable replacement wine, so I opted for a half-bottle of Pinot Noir to share with the stew.  I have several bottles of 2007 Merry Edwards Russian River Pinot Noir that I have been tracking, so I decided to open another and see what was up.  The wine has started to turn toward elegant and clean, leaving behind its muddied phase of development.  And the stew was tasty too.  By the time the first guests arrived, the Pinot Noir was gone, but I had the following wines ready for guests:

2007 Provenance Three Palms Vineyard Merlot (my favorite)
2008 Shenandoah Vineyards Paul’s Vineyard Zinfandel
2005 Hess Collection Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon
NV Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne

November 3, 2013 – Wine: 2005 Domaine Chandon Reserve Russian River Pinot Noir

It is fun to follow a wine’s development.  I first discovered this wine while tasting still wines at Domaine Chandon in Yountville in 2009.  I was unimpressed with the flight of Pinot Noirs up until tasting this wine.  They were all nicely balanced, but lacked any kind of wow! factor.  Then I tasted this wine.  Its density, richness, and complexity were immediately appealing, as was the clean fruit on the palette.  So, I picked up three bottles to cellar.  I opened the first too young as the wine had started to shut down.  The second was opened for Christmas 2011 and was better, but the fruit was still a little restrained and the texture was a little muddy, albeit tending toward rich.  Today, the last bottle has finally blossomed.  While lacking some of the richness that many 2007 Pinots are now showing, this was delicious, elegant, and well balanced.  On the palette were flavors of pomegranate, baking spices, leather, cranberry, and minerals.  I shared this wine with some friends and family who were all amazed with the quality.

Ladera Vineyards, November 25, 2013

Winery - 5 / Wines - 7
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Historic mountain-top stone winery building.  Cabernets and Sauvignon Blanc.
www.laderavineyards.com

It had been a long while since my last trek up Howell Mountain (about four years) so I decided it was time to return.  I decided to visit two wineries on the mountain to make the drive up worthwhile.  I started out at Ladera Vineyards to take in the beauty of their historic stone winery operations building.  First completed in the 1880’s, a lot of thought went into its design.  (For example, each floor has direct access to the outdoors and much of the wine flow is drawn by gravity.)  The estate is set back away from White Cottage Road (which is a couple of miles off the main road up Howell Mountain), giving the winery a very peaceful feeling, ideal for enjoying a tasting flight in the warmth of the outdoor sun.  As a navigation note, the main road up Howell Mountain is Deer Park Road.  Unless you are visiting a winery actually located on Howell Mountain Road, you should avoid this longer, twisty route up the mountain.

The historic winery building at Ladera Vineyards

When you visit Ladera Vineyards in pleasant weather (such as today), you will be served your wine flight outdoors at one of their patio tables.  From your table you look across a pasture and out to the rolling hillsides planted mostly with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.  Inside the old stone building the air is a bit cool to enjoy your flight comfortably and there is no place to sit.  When it is raining, you will be served indoors.  The stone building was restored around 2000, and the contrast between the 130 year old stone and the gleaming new fermentation tanks is remarkable.  Adding to this contrast are the stainless steel grates used for each of the upper floors of the winery building, allowing more light from above to reach the bottom floor.  Because you are able to see through the floors, you get a better sense of the sheer size of the winemaking infrastructure, more so than at most other operations in the valley.

The contrast of modern fermenting tanks against the old stone walls at Ladera Vineyards

I had come to Ladera Vineyards to enjoy their Cabernets.  But, our tasting flight started off with the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc which impressed me so that I ended up buying a bottle.  Next I was poured the 2011 Pillow Road Pinot Noir (from the Russian River) which could not hold a candle to the Sauvignon Blanc.  The tasting wrapped up with three 2010 Cabernet Sauvignons: the Stile Block, the High Plateau, and the Howell Mountain Reserve.  Of the Cabernets, the Howell Mountain Reserve was my favorite, but I enjoyed the Sauvignon Blanc most of all.  This wine shows just how consistently good the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc wines have turned out in Napa Valley.


Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 5 and the wines offered as a 7.  This is consistent with my previous visit.

November 2, 2013 – Wine: 2004 Ridge Monte Bello

When I first started looking into acquiring wines and half-bottles, I learned of Ridge’s wine futures program (which morphed into the Monte Bello Collector’s Club).  The program offered a great discount on the Monte Bello wine and was available in half-bottles, so it seemed like a win-win.  I bought the 2004 futures and was able to taste the 2004 vintage from barrel.  It showed all the characteristics of a great wine in the making, and even showed better fruit than the 2002 vintage being previewed at the event.  When my bottles arrived in 2004, I tucked them away on the cellar floor to give them better temperature stability.  Having already enjoyed the 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001, and even the 2000 vintage, my hopes were high for this wine.  Tonight, I yielded to temptation and opened the first half-bottle.  The nose on the wine was good, but the palette was lacking.  There was no Monte Bello richness, the fruit was restrained, and the tobacco and mineral flavors dominated the palette.  On the plus side, the wine retains good tannic structure and is well balanced.  I am hopeful that a couple more years in the cellar will improve this wine.

October 25, 2013 – The five components of Bordeaux Blends: Petite Verdot

Back in 2011, Hendry Winery offered a blending kit for a reasonable price.  The kit consisted of five half-bottles of 2007 red wines, each 100% of a single grape variety.  The idea is that you host a party where each person tries their hand at a blend of the five varietals to see what comes up.  Lacking enough wine-geek friends to drink that much wine in one sitting, I instead decided to open them one-by-one to learn the characteristics of each wine.  In May 2012, when they put it on sale, I decided to pick up a kit. 


Tonight I opened the first of the five half-bottles, a 2007 Petite Verdot.  Most often this wine is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon in tiny quantities, seldom more than five percent of the finished product.   I have had a few other Petite Verdot wines in the past that I have enjoyed, but I have heard that they too were blended some with Cabernet, so I was a little nervous to try this wine.  The only time in the past that I have tried 100% Petite Verdot was at the Ridge Monte Bello component tastings, and those wines were recently pressed and still in barrel, which is not when a wine shows its best qualities.  Still, I was hopeful that this wine would prove to be interesting at the least.  And it was … albeit a bit light bodied and jammy at the onset.  After being open for about 90 minutes, the wine took on a little weight and some structure, making it a very nice wine to drink.  The nose was beautiful, and the palette featured flavors of blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, pencil lead, and minerals, all in terrific balance.  I am hopeful that the remaining bottles will perform equally well.

October 24, 2013 – Wine: 2003 Clos Les Lunelles Cotes du Castillon

This was one of my early successful Bordeaux forays.  I bought this wine out of curiosity and rating (92 points) and opened one soon after.  I was sufficiently impressed with the wine’s potential to pick up four half bottles to work through over time.  I opened the next in March 2011 and then another in August 2012.  This wine has improved its balance and integration over the years.  Now it is developing complexity and intensity.  Tonight’s bottle was fairly smooth and well balanced, with flavors of tobacco, black currant, salty mineral, smoke, lead, and subtle notes of cherry on the finish.  One half-bottle remains … next year perhaps?

2003 Clos Les Lunelles Cotes du Castillon