The Wine's the Thing
Mitch Kornfeld
7/12

The Napa Valley Comes to Town, Part I

The good old Napa Valley Vintners Association took their show on the road again, this time stopping at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and D. C. There were sixty wineries and most of them brought three wines each. That's 180 wines. I did my best and managed to taste thirty-six wines during the allotted two-and-a-half hours. That's nearly one every four minutes. Considering that I had to taste and evaluate each wine, write a review of each one, take frequent food breaks, talk to and question the servers, all while dodging the not inconsiderable crowds, I thought that averaging nearly one wine in four minutes was a rather good effort. I also think that rate helps to explain the sometimes short reviews.

I remember stopping at the table of Rombauer Vineyards and looking at their literature. The descriptions of their wines were three or four lines long with at least a dozen adjectives describing each one. I mentioned that to the server, Rombauer's National Sales Director, Alan Cannon, and asked him how they came up with so much to say. He told me that they taste and write about each wine over a twenty-four hour period. The wine stays opened for a day and every few hours they re-taste and as the wine opens up, changes, and evolves in the glass they write their reactions. The next thing they know a day has gone by and they have eighteen adjectives.

When you go to a tasting or a winery and you find that you've only written a few words about each wine, don't worry about it. As long as you've written something you will remember the wine. As long as you remember them you are on your way to putting them into an intellectual framework, and the next thing you know you're getting to be a wine knowledgeable person. It's really not too hard.

I have an impulse to start right in and review the wines, but I have to say something about the Napa Valley, not that it really needs an introduction. I imagine that there are very few fans of wine in this country who do not know that it's America's leading wine producing region and is indeed its finest. Napa is a beautiful place to visit and can be found only about an hour's drive from San Francisco. It's hard to travel in the Napa valley for five minutes without coming to a winery. Sometimes they are next door or across the road from each other. About the only bad thing I can say about Napa Valley is that it's a victim of its own success and should be avoided on weekends during the summer because it is so crowded.

The tasting was held in the banquet hall of Cipriani Restaurant, a former bank built circa 1910-1920, and located on East 42nd Street opposite Grand Central Station. It was a lovely and ornate setting. An excellent choice. The Napa Valley Vintners Association doesn't mess around. Everything was done professionally with no fuss and no bother. I got in for the afternoon session gratis with no delay. In the evening it was $125 for the public but had a tax-deductible tie-in. The wines were so good it was a kid in a candy store situation. I barely knew where to turn first. Before I forget let me recommend the Napa Valley Vintners Association website. It's as professional as a website gets and lists all 182 member wineries. Naturally, there are links to all the wineries that have websites, which is about seventy percent. That means you have access to information on at least 1,000 wines, among other things. (That's how I got most of the prices. At the next N.V.V.A. tasting I'll ask each winery rep if they have a website so I can save time, and look up the prices, thus saving time to taste more wines.)

I am going to review the wines in the exact order that I tasted them, so when I get into the thirties you can start taking the reviews with a grain of salt if you so desire. The reviews tend to be short as I was trying to get in as many wines as I could, and for a few I even throw in ratings on the 100-point numerical scale. The winery tasting tables were laid out alphabetically but the entrance was at the letter "S," so I started with Silverado Vineyards. Come to think of it things were laid out alphabetically at the previous tasting I attended and I started that one at Schneider Vineyards, so at least I'm consistent. This week I'll focus just on the white and sparkling wines. Next week I'll get straight into the twenty-three reds and a Port.

Winery 1. Wine 1. Silverado Vineyards 1999 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($14): 95% Sauvignon Blanc and 5% Semillon, the traditional Bordeaux blending companion to Sauvignon Blanc. Has good fresh fruit but it's a bit on the thin side. 84 or 85 Points.

Wine 2. Silverado Vineyards 1999 Napa Valley Chardonnay ($19): Subtle and elegant. Lingers. More in the French style than is usual in California. 100% barrel fermented and 55% went through malolactic fermentation. (Malolactic reduces the acidity in a wine and adds a creamy-buttery taste. It's one way of making a wine more complex.) This Chardonnay has a long finish.

Winery 2. Wine 3. Turnbull Wine Cellars 1999 Oakville Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley ($16): It's 92% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Viognier, 2% Malvasia, 1% Semillon. Shows the taste of grassy Sauvignon Blanc in the aftertaste. Shows some length but not much in the middle. 85 Pts.

Winery 3. Wine 4. Villa Mount Eden 1998 Chardonnay, Bien Nacido Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County ($19): This is a 100% barrel fermented, 100% malolactic fermented Chardonnay with 13.5% alcohol. It's gold in color and is very rich. It displays tropical fruit flavors and reminds me of Palmer Vineyards Reserve Chardonnay (See "Windows on Long Island"), but it is fruitier and richer than the current Palmer' 98. This is a full-blown California-style Chardonnay. It's fruity, flavorful (goes towards butter, vanilla, coconut, and pineapple) rich, and delicious. If you've ever wanted to try a full-throttle California-style Chardonnay this is a good place to start. As these things go it's even an excellent value.

Winery 4. Wine 5. Bighorn Cellars 1997 Chardonnay, Cuvée Jeuness, Napa, Carneros, (They have no website and I forgot to ask the price): Has depth and complexity with Chardonnay fruit. On the French style side. Very Good 87-88 Pts.

Wine 6. Bighorn Cellars 1998 Chardonnay, Napa, Carneros: This wine is from the same vineyard as the '97 but they decided to drop the fanciful name. The Carneros region is in the southwestern part of Napa County (and in the southeastern part of Sonoma) and is counter-intuitively cooler than the northern part of the Napa Valley. This is because Carneros is near an arm of San Francisco Bay, which exerts a cooling influence. As you travel north you are going further inland and the cooling influence decreases. This is why you see quite a bit of Chardonnay from Carneros. Pinot Noir is popular there too. This Bighorn '98 chard is not as deep as the ' 97 and really suffers in comparison. Though 1998 was a pretty good year, 1997 was a great one, really about as good as they ever get, and for this wine the difference was obvious. 83-84 Pts.

Winery 5. Wine 7. Cain Vineyard & Winery, 1999 Cain Musque, Monterey County, Ventana Vineyards: When Cain first starting making this wine they called it Sauvignon Blanc Musque. The name comes from a clone of Sauvignon Blanc that has a musky taste. They ferment it using the indigenous wild yeasts. Here are the notes: Really interesting nose. Musky indeed. Spicy and penetrating, slightly veggie and interesting. The same in the taste. Medium body. Should be something with food.

Winery 6. Wine 8. Duckhorn Vineyards 1999 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($20): This wine has 20% Semillon, the traditional Bordeaux companion to Sauvignon Blanc, for added body and complexity. It came in at 13.7% alcohol, and was aged in 100% French oak. 64% was fermented in stainless steel and 36% was barrel fermented. My notes say: The best Sauvignon Blanc so far--"What they're supposed to taste like." Rich, creamy, and delicate too. Lovely. 88- 90 Pts.

Margaret Duckhorn, who along with her husband Dan is one of the owners of the winery, was doing the serving. She was very nice and I enjoyed talking to someone whose name was on the label. A little while later I got to talk to Dennis Fire of Fife Vineyards. If you're looking for the straight story you can't do any better than this. So there's another reason to go to a wine tasting, as if I have to sell anyone on the idea.

Winery 7. Wine 9. Domaine Chandon, Chandon Etoile ($30): This non-vintage sparkler was aged on the yeast about five years (that's good). It's mostly a 1995, an excellent year. The percentages of the grapes used depends on the vintage. Usually Etoile contains 50% to 70% Chardonnay. This, the current bottling, contains 52%. The Chardonnay comes from the Mt. Veeder area (western Napa or eastern Sonoma depending on your point of view), which means they were grown on hillsides, which means better drainage, which means lower yields, which means more concentrated and flavorful grapes. Of the remaining 48%, 43% is Pinot Noir, 3% is Pinot Meunier, (there are your three Champagne varieties), and 2% is Pinot Blanc; 61% of the grapes are from Napa and 39% are from Sonoma. Well friends, after all of that you'd think I'd have a lot to say about the wine. I don't, but that's not because it was a bad wine. The truth of the matter is I was so busy copying the percentages and telling the server how much I liked visiting the winery (don't miss the tour) and how much I liked their restaurant (don't miss the restaurant), I didn't write down anything about the wine. I know it must have been good because in my notes on their next wine I wrote "more yeasty complexity," which means the Etoile must have had some yeasty complexity otherwise for the next wine I would have just written "has yeasty complexity." What can I say? I promise to invest in a bottle and give you an update in the future. Besides, how did the song go? Don't be sad 'cause thirty-five out of thirty-six ain't bad? 

Wine 10. Domaine Chandon Reserve ($25): Has four to five years of aging on the yeast and could legally be a 1995. It's 70% Pinot Noir with the remaining 30% coming from Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. The color is yellow going toward gold, it has more yeasty complexity, lots of bubbles, lots of body, and the Wine Spectator gave it a 92, as Domaine Chandon made sure to point out. It's an excellent California sparkler.

Wine 11. Domaine Chandon Blanc de Noirs 398: The"98" in the 398 means that most of the wine was from the 1998 vintage. Their non-vintage Blanc de Noirs and non-vintage Brut make up the bulk of their production, and just as their parent company in Champagne does (some guys with Moet in the name), these sparklers are made from many different vintages. When they get a batch that shows particular promise, and is not from a vineyard that would normally go into the Etoile or the Reserve, but would go into the non-vintage Blanc de Noirs, they rescue it from the jocularly referred to vinous equivalent of purgatory, getting dumped into the non-vintage, and give it a designation. That is what we have here. It's 89% Pinot Noir, 9% Pinot Meunier, and 2% Chardonnay. It's tasty, rich, and lingers in the aftertaste. One very nice sparkler.

I did have one more white wine, a Chardonnay, but it was about wine number 30. I'm going to stay in order and say a little something about it then. Next week I'll go right into the red wines and sum up some tasting. Hoping to see you then.

© Mitch Kornfeld 2001 All rights reserved

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mitchk@unionsquarejournal.com


Previously by Mitch Kornfeld...

Windows on Long Island (06/13/01)

Bully for Your (05/30/01)

Big Euro Tasting, Part III -- Remembrance of Bouquets Past (05/17/01)

Big Euro Tasting, Part II -- Greater Burgundy (05/09/01)

Grand European Tasting (05/01/01)

King Cab, Part V -- Spain, Chile, Argentina, Australia (04/18/01)

King Cab, Part IV -- Italy (04/04/01)

King Cab, Part III -- California (03/21/01)

King Cab, Part II -- Bordeaux (03/07/01)

King Cab, Part I -- Some Basics (02/27/01)

For a Big Red, Think Petite (02/18/02)

Tannic Monsters from the ID (02/08/01)

New York Wine and Restaurant Deals (01/30/01)

Dad's Cardinal Zins and Other Clichés (01/20/01)

Some Basics for a Winter's Eve (01/12/01)

And if They're Spanish That's Fine (01/05/01)

Hello Carbon Dioxide (12/29/00)

Wines for Christmas (12/22/00)

Nouveau Beaujolais, Etc. (11/24/00)

Going to a Tasting 101 (12/01/00)