March 21st, 2012 – Wine: 2005 Conn Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine tastes like a 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet.  This wine has an intense nose right after opening it.  After an hour in the decanter, the classic flavors of the vintage come through – red currant, sour cherries, cloves, minerals, and notes of plums.  The wine is still edgy with tannins, indicating it could stand another couple of years in the cellar.  Still, the wine has a wonderful richness to it now, while maintaining some sense of balance.

How half bottles affect wine aging

I have read that wines age faster in half-bottles than in full-bottles or magnums.  I can say that the differences are subtle, but are there.  I have also noticed that a wine will reach its peak much earlier in a half bottle.  As an example, the 1992 Ridge Monte Bello half-bottle peaked about two years ago, but the regular bottle still performs nicely today.  On the other hand, I opened a fascinating 1982 Chateau Duhart Milon in a half-bottle about three years ago that was truly amazing.  The life-shortening effect seems to be related to the tiny amount of air at the top of the bottle.  A half-bottle, regular bottle, and magnum all share the same volume of air at the top of the bottle, and this air contributes to the aging effect of the wine.  It stands to reason that if you want to hold onto a wine for a long time, age it in a magnum (and then invite me to the party).

March 20th, 2012 – Wine: 2003 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

I have been working through a little more than half a case of this wine since 2007.  This wine hit its peak (for my palette, and in the half bottle) about a year ago.  Since then, its fruit has waned.  In its place, is an interesting blend of black licorice, minerals, cocoa powder, and dark-skinned plums.  The nose is still wonderful, the texture is silky and elegant, and the finish is well balanced.  Everything about this wine is great, except for the shut-down fruit.  I decanted this for about an hour.

March 15th, 2012 – Wine: 2007 Honig Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This was another wine that I purchased a case of.  I tasted it at a small wine shop and was impressed with its value.  This time it opened with a nice nose.  I let the wine decant for a while.  After 45 minutes, it had an edgy, liquored quality.  After another 30 minutes, this softened into a silky smooth, black fruited palette pleaser.  After 2 hours, the tannins opened up in a big way.  This wine still has a number of years left for it to develop.

Wine Decanters

I have always found that decanting a quality bottle of wine improves the wine’s character, balance, and flavors.  The idea is that decanting (or leaving the wine in your glass) allows the wine to breathe, which essentially means that the alcohol interacts with the air, smoothing out some of the wine’s rough edges.  (Even white wines benefit from decanting.)  In talking with the wine maker at Provenance, Tom Rinaldi recommends always decanting your wine before serving.  When decanting older wines (5+ years), the time in the decanter also allows the sediment in the wine to settle to the bottom of the decanter before serving.  This sediment can be caught before pouring the last of the wine by slowly rotating the decanter while pouring.

So, what kind of wine decanter (carafe) do you need?  A good wine decanter has the following traits:

·       a large surface area (at the level of the wine) increasing the interaction with air

·       an opening large enough to allow you to pour into and out of it neatly

·       built of a material that won’t react with the acids in the wine (think glass, not metal or plastic)

There are a number of vessels on the market that satisfy these needs.  On one end of the spectrum is the Riedel decanter, perfectly engineered to maximize your wine-drinking experience.  Then there are heavier, less-expensive, yet still effective wine decanters available at Cost Plus World Market, BevMo, Create and Barrel, and Wine Enthusiast.  Some thought went into these decanters to provide a balance between aeration and convenience.  Then, there are other vessels that can be repurposed for decanting wine, including any glass pitcher.  Ikea sells a simple, glass pitcher that holds a full bottle of wine for about $3.  They also carry a more expensive pitcher ($10) that more closely resembles a wine decanter.  The most important consideration is to have more surface area of the wine exposed than is possible in the wine bottle itself.

March 14th, 2012 – Wine: 2008 Sobon Estate Rocky Top Zinfandel

I enjoy a good Zinfandel.  As I started to criticize this wine in my head, I had to stop and remind myself how much I didn’t pay for this bottle.  This was not a $30 to $50 half-bottle of wine, but a mere $8 half-bottle.  From that perspective, I found that this medium-bodied wine offered flavors of dark cherries, lemons, and black pepper, with mineral notes developing on the decent finish.  While lacking the depth of a Napa Valley Cabernet or the elegance of my favorite Zinfandels, this wine delivered aptly for its price.

Ridge Winery, March 3rd, 2012

Winery - 7 / Wines - 8
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Mountain-top winery with panoramic views of Silicon Valley.  Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
www.ridgewine.com

High atop the mountains above Cupertino sits Ridge Winery’s Monte Bello tasting room.  Although an arduous drive up Monte Bello Road (behind Stevens Creek Reservoir), the vistas from atop the mountain make the drive all worthwhile.  For those of us who appreciate the twists and turns of a mountain road, the drive is half the fun.  For your passengers, the valley views that lurk beyond each turn are breathtaking.  Allow about 20 minutes to drive up the mountain carefully.

This particular trip is one I look forward to all year long, as it is the Ridge Wine Club member’s first opportunity to preview the results of the last harvest (2011 in this case).  It is also an opportunity to learn more about the wine.  They ferment each of the four grape varietals in separate barrels and preview each from barrel.  I have the unique opportunity to taste each of these grapes independently (Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon).  After tasting the individual components, I get to taste the prototype first assemblage, where the wine maker pulls together his best idea of the 2011 Ridge Monte Bello based upon how the grapes taste now.  This will evolve over the subsequent months until the final blend is formulated.  Finally, I get the opportunity to taste the released product, the 2009 Ridge Monte Bello (which I will pick up as well).

The tasting event is held in the old winery barn.  This barn sets the stage for an old-world winery experience (in stark contrast to the contemporary design of their Lytton Springs tasting room).  Although no longer used for wine production, the barn serves as the home for many of the winery’s special events.  The walls are still lined in old fence board.  The floor is a thick plank wood.  There is a large window at the far end of the room exposing the spectacular view of the southern rim of the Santa Clara Valley below.  Outside are gardens, picnic tables, and a short trail out to a point with a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay.  On a clear day, it is possible to make out the outline of San Francisco’s Financial District to the north.  Sweeping to the south are Mountain View, Sunnyvale, downtown San Jose, and the entrance to Coyote Valley.  I was fortunate that the day before had been windy and swept the air clean.  The main tasting room lies directly across from the picnic tables.  The room is done in neutral tones so as not to detract from the sweeping views from the tasting room.  (It shares the same view as the barn.)

The tasting flight began with the 2010 Estate Chardonnay, which is more of a Burgundian style (more mineral, less exotic fruit flavors).  This was followed by the four component wines, then the prototype blend.  Of these, the Cabernet Sauvignon was probably the most drinkable, the Merlot the most tannic, and the Petite Verdot was by far the most interesting (especially its nose).  All of the wine is unusually low in alcohol content, which seems to be a characteristic of the vintage (from what I have read).  Next came the 2009 Ridge Monte Bello, which has started to shut down, but still suggests its richness.  (This tasted great out of the barrel two years ago.)  Down in the main tasting room they were previewing the new 2009 Estate Merlot, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, and Estate Cabernet Franc (I skipped this one).  Finally, I wrapped up my tasting with the 2006 Monte Bello, which is delivering a wonderful richness today.  Ridge allowed more of the vintage to express itself in this wine, so expect spiced red fruits along with steely, dark notes.

Tasting all of this wine required a two-hour visit to the winery to allow my system to process it before heading back down the mountain.  This is an important step because while the road down is certainly safe to navigate, it is also quite unforgiving of the slightest mistake.

Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 7 and the wines offered as an 8.  This has been consistent as long as I have been visiting Ridge’s Monte Bello tasting room.

March 8th, 2012 – Wine: 2007 J. Lohr Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon

After tasting this at the winery (here in San Jose) I decided to get a case.  I have opened three bottles of this wine since.  I decanted this third bottle for about an hour.  The nose is classic 2007, with prominent notes of blueberry.  The palette echoes the nose, throwing in some blackberry and light minerals.  The mid-palette is deceptively smooth, and one might think that this wine is approaching its peak, but the finish is intense.  I think I’ll give this another year to develop more balance before I start opening more bottles.

March 5th, 2012 – Wine: 2005 Provenance Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

I bought a case and a half of this wine in half bottles, and have been enjoying opening a bottle every three months or so.  When this wine was young, I liked it better than the 2002 vintage.  (I have since flipped back to the 2002.)  In 2010, this wine went into a mineral funk with its fruit shutdown.  Last summer, the wine emerged from its funk and is now quite lovely.  There is a prominent nose, silky texture, and good balance between the fruit and minerals.  A good value.

March 3rd, 2012 – Wine: 2004 St. Clement Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

Cherry pie in a glass?  Not quite, but there is a mix of dark cherry fruit, baking spices, minerals, and leather among the wonderful layers of complexity that make up this wine.  The nose is delightful, and the wine delivers with authority and balance.  There is a richness below it all that temps me to forego my better judgment and drink it all too quickly.  This Rutherford Cabernet is a fantastic wine, especially as expressed in this vintage.

Etude Winery, March 2nd, 2012

Winery - 7 / Wines - 8
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Tall, airy tasting room with back-lit bottle wall.  Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
www.etudewines.com

The first time I visited Etude Winery, they offered only a lecture-style tasting experience in a light-deprived conference room.  Today, they offer a handsome, airy tasting bar with tall ceilings and big windows up high flooding the tasting room with natural light.  Behind the tasting counter, wines offered for sale are neatly stacked against a backlit wall providing for a fascinating visual display.

Getting to Etude Winery involves a slight deviation off the main road.  Traveling on highway 121 west from the main Napa highway south of town takes you through the Carneros district.  One of the first left turns is Cuttings Wharf Road.  Etude Winery is about ½ mile down Cuttings Wharf Road.  There is a gated driveway that admits guests during normal business hours, after which the gate remains closed. 

The wines poured included a Pinot Blanc, a Chardonnay, a number of Pinot Noirs, and a few styles of Cabernet Sauvignon.  I tasted the Carneros and Heirloom Pinot Noirs, the Napa Valley Cabernet, and the St. Helena Cabernet.  All of the wines feature good fruit and impeccable balance.  The Heirloom is a richer style of Pinot Noir that never surrenders its elegance.  This was my favorite wine of the day.  On previous trips, I had the good fortune to taste the Rutherford Cabernet, which is my favorite of the wines produced at Etude.

Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 7 and the wines offered as a 8.

March 1, 2012 – Wine: 2006 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains

This wine is what some would call the second wine of Ridge.  Namely, the juice that does not make the cut for their flagship wine but still produces a remarkable wine is blended into a more affordable offering.  I shared a half-bottle with several coworkers at a restaurant, so there was no opportunity to decant.  This wine started off with a beautifully fragrant nose, but the palette was locked down a little.  A little butter on bread solved that problem, but I cannot accurately describe the wine because of the food’s interference and because of my smaller than usual share of the bottle.  Still, I enjoyed it and look forward to opening the next one.

February 28, 2012 – Wine: Elegance in a bottle, 2007 Blend & 2006 Zin

My coworkers wanted to return to the same restaurant.  This time I opened two examples of an elegant wine, including a Zinfandel and a Bordeaux-style blend.

2007 Provenance Winemaker’s Reserve Blend

This wine starts with classic 2007 fruit flavors, most prominently blueberry, followed by black raspberry and a subtle mineral backbone.  The wine glides across the palette with very little edginess (or bite).  Drinking this wine was a unique experience as the intensity varied during the evening.  One moment the wine was soft and reserved, the next moment a little intensity revealed, then back into its shell.  There is still structure remaining, so I suspect this wine is shutting down (as many cabernets do about a year or two after release).  When I tasted this last July, the wine delivered more intensity consistently.

2006 Ridge Paso Robles Zinfandel

I remember thinking this was going to be a lovely Zinfandel when I first tasted this at the winery.  This wine has developed in just the way that I like a Zinfandel to develop.  The nose is good, and the palette features red cherries, leather, and minerals, with a black pepper note.  The body of the wine is very elegant, gracing your tongue as it glides backwards, leaving a notable finish.  Tonight, this wine was my favorite, but again it was a close match.

The 2006 vintage in Napa Valley

I have read numerous vintage reports about the 2006 growing season in Napa Valley.  The talk focuses on the abundance of water in the winter or on the extended hang time for ripening.  Folks seem to gloss over the conditions during July.  Toward the middle of July, the northern part of California experienced many days of temperatures at or near 100 degrees (F), culminating in a long weekend of temperatures above 110 degrees.  (I remember vividly because some wine I ordered was left on my front porch just after I left town for the weekend, and I returned to baked wine.)  Most growers will suggest that the heat occurred prior to the critical flavor-development period of grape development, but my experience tasting suggests otherwise.  Most of the wines produced feature a steely and/or charcoal flavor component that underlies the fruit flavors and resonates on the finish.  (I have sucked on enough ice cream spoons to know the taste of steel.)  A few wine makers deftly worked around these issues, including the folks at Provenance and St. Clement.

These wines are developing a silky texture now (somewhat ahead of schedule) with a bit of richness to them, but the structure and tannins are starting to wane.  This is suggesting that these wines may be fast approaching their peak tasting experience, so folks who manage a collection should bear this in mind.  It might be fun to do some extended aging with this vintage, but I am finding these wines most enjoyable now.