Robert Biale Vineyards, January 19, 2015

www.robertbialevineyards.com

My wine-tasting buddy and I had this holiday off, so we decided to spend the day in Napa Valley.  His idea was to start earlier so we could squeeze in one additional winery visit.  I also had pick-ups at three places and he had a pick-up at one, so in all it was a busy afternoon.  Since we would be starting earlier, I wanted to start at someplace on the southern side of the valley, in Oak Knoll.  He had never been to Robert Biale, and I was eager to try their 2012 wines, so we planned our trip to start there.  I took some beautiful pictures of the foggy fields with the mustard starting to open and bloom – and deleted the files by mistake when I tried to copy them to my laptop (the file names collided).  Although I was disappointed, it does afford me another reason to return to Robert Biale, especially during the fog.

The Robert Biale black chicken points the way to the tasting room

In order to visit five wineries today, I would need to keep track of my pours and limit myself.  Of course, once the winery staff recognize your appreciation for their craft, they start to bring out their favorite bottles (not on the tasting menu) for you to try.  In this case, rather than four samples, we were treated to six.  But that’s OK, because I can simply curtail later at the next stops.  (Right!)  We started off with the 2012 Black Chicken Zinfandel, followed by the 2012 Varozza Zinfandel, the 2012 Old Kraft Zinfandel, the 2012 Pagani Zinfandel, the 2011 Old Crane Ranch, and ended with the 2011Thomann Station Petite Sirah.  The Pagani piqued my interests because Ridge Winery also makes a Zinfandel from the Pagani vineyard.  Of these, my favorite was the 2012 Varozza for its balance and elegance, while the Pagani was a close second.

A full review was written already about Robert Biale Vineyards during my visit on March 1st, 2013.

March 23, 2015 – Wildflowers gone wild

On my drive into Napa Valley this day, the one thing that stood out were the flaming California poppies and the purple patches of wild Lupine growing along Highway 12 through American Canyon.  There were many other wild flowers, but these two stood out.  Surrounded by the green natural grasses, these colors popped in the midday sun.  All along Highway 29 through Yountville, Oakville, and Rutherford I came upon these patches of vivid colors.  But the most incredible was not strictly the work of Nature.  At Provenance Vineyards, they have removed about 75% of the lawn that once occupied the front of their winery operations.  They replaced this with a handsome patio and seating area, but still had about 25% of the area left to landscape.  This year they planted perhaps the largest wildflower garden I have seen.

Wildflower garden at Provenance Vineyards

I also noticed another annual milestone in Napa Valley … bud break.  This is the time that the foliage pokes through the crusted-over branches of the grape vine and the leaves start to emerge.  It won’t be long before you see the canopy develop and the appearance of the tiny, infantile grape clusters emerging.

Bud break at Corison Winery

December 20, 2014 – The five components of Bordeaux Blends: Cabernet Franc

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. 

 

2007 Hendry Blending Kit 100% Cabernet Franc

Tonight I opened the second of the five half-bottles, a 2007 Cabernet Franc.  This wine is a blending wine, often blended into Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot to lend a little lift to the fruit, and some interest to the nose.  Even when it is sold as its own varietal, it has some Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon blended in to lend the wine some richness and depth.  I wasn’t certain what to expect from this wine, but from what I had heard from winemakers, I wasn’t expecting much.  … and I was right.  The fruit on this wine was really quite tasty, although it was not quite vintage typical.  The flavors tended more towards cherry pie and baking spices and lacked any suggestion of blueberry.  The palette was where this wine was lacking.  The fruit performed wonderfully on entry, but on the mid-palette and the finish, the wine became un-dimensional, lacking any kind of structure or complexity.  While uninspiring on its own, it is clear the role that this wine plays in improving the experience when blended into Cabernet Sauvignon.  I have experienced this same effect during the component barrel tasting events at Ridge winery.