Domaine Serene lives up to high expectations...

I think a birthday--especially one that ends in a zero--is a great reason to open wines that you are holding onto for a special occasion. This past weekend, I celebrated my 30th birthday with friends and here are the wines we celebrated with:

• 2003 J Vintage Brut, Late Disgorged, Russian River Valley ($90/bottle)
• 2008 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir ($65/bottle)
• 2007 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Franc($65/bottle)
• 2006 Merryvale Profile ($175/bottle)

 

It would be a shame to not open bubbles on one's birthday, and the 2003 J Vintage Brut from the Russian River Valley was an incredible wine to start the evening with. This sparkler, a blend of 49% Pinot Noir, 49% Chardonnay, and 2% Pinot Meunier, was dry and crisp with lively acidity. Toasted almond, pear, baked bread flavors with a citrus finish--very tasty! Although we enjoyed this bottle at my house prior to going to dinner, it would have been an inspired match to the seared ahi crudo and raw oysters that we ordered as our first course.

Of the red wines that we opened to pair with dinner at Picco Restaurant, the 2008 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley was everyone’s favorite! When I blogged about the Domaine Serene Yamhill Cuvée a few months back, I was very impressed with the wine and didn't think it could get any better than that. But the Evenstad Reserve, rated 94 points in Wine Enthusiast and 93 points in Wine Spectator, was a spectacular wine that is deserving of very high marks. It opened up beautifully with an elegant perfume and silky texture. In the glass, it was concentrated and powerful without sacrificing finesse. The palate offered effusive black cherry, ripe raspberry, sweet plum, and hints of licorice, herbs, and spice.  This wine was amazing on it’s own, but it paired perfectly with the Sonoma duck breast and leg confit.

The 2007 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cab Franc was good, but I think it should have been decanted. It was still youthful with chewy tannins and a core of black fruit. It was a terrific complement to the Kobe Beef-style sliders with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and blue cheese.

I was particularly excited about the Merryvale Profile. I conferred with a friend who works at the Merryvale Tasting Room in St. Helena and he said the 2006 vintage was drinking nicely. But as I found with a lot of the older vintages I tasted last month, the once-powerful 2006 Profile had mellowed considerably. It was almost too drinkable, if that makes sense. The tannins were soft and the fruit flavors were nuanced. I got more spice on the palate than anything else. I was expecting an extremely complex wine, but the cellaring seemed to have drawn out its complexities; for a 94-point wine according to Wine Enthusiast, [sadly] it didn’t wow me. 

By midnight, there wasn’t a single drop of wine left in any of the 14 wine glasses on our table. I had such a wonderful time and I'd say that the wines were enjoyed by all!

[This wines from J Winery and Domaine Serene were received as a sample from the winery; please click on the individual wines for links to the website for purchasing info.]

Main Street Wine Bar...coming soon!

Over a month ago, I was hired as a freelance marketing consultant and social media manager at a little wine shop in Tiburon [Marin County, Ca]. They also needed someone to work in the shop two days a week, so you can find me there, mulling over the many Italian wines and posting images of their labels to Facebook, on Sundays and Mondays.

The previous owner had traveled all over Italy and trained as a sommelier at A16 in San Francisco; she called the shop, Prima Palate, and sold only Italian wines.

When Nancy Larson purchased the shop earlier this year (including all of the wine inventory), she decided to diversify and re-brand. The name of the shop is changing to Main Street Wine Bar and Bottle Shop; the new signs should be up next week! We're still hammering out the design of the new website, but in the mean time, please follow on Facebook and Twitter.

Other improvements include adding more seating, outdoor heat lamps, an espresso machine, and new wines. The selection is still predominantly Italian, but we’re making room for more California and French producers. And in the mean time, it has provided me with the opportunity to taste many new wines.

The Magnificat Pinot Nero ($18/bottle) is a terrific Spumante Brut from the Lombardia region. It’s light and lean with a whisper of pear and orange creamsicle on the palate as well as faint yeasty notes. Finishes clean with lingering flavors of tropical fruit.

I am also a big fan of the Ca’Vittoria Brut Rosé ($17/bottle). It’s made with Prosecco grapes and a small amount of Raboso, a native red Veneto varietal that contributes both color and aroma. Bone-dry but very full in the mouth, this sparkler shows good, lively acidity and a broad sweep of strawberry and citrus fruit.

We carry the 2011 Enkidu Chardonnay, Tin Cross Vineyard, which I blogged about after attending the Family Winemakers of Californiaevent. It’s $30/bottle with good acidity, pleasant fruit components, and no malolactic fermentation [my style of Chardonnay!]. As is the 2011 Foxen Chardonnay, Bien Nacido Vineyard from Santa Barbara ($34/bottle). As the owner/winemaker of Foxen told me, this wine is “Burgundian in style with California sunshine blended in.” Delicious!

The 2010 Winzerkeller Andau Blaufrankisch is an Austrian red that is quite tasty ($17/bottle). This elegant, juicy wine offers impressions of lavender, tobacco, pepper, plum, red cherry, cedar, toffee, and cassis. It’s similar to Sonoma Pinot Noir in weight.

I’ve also enjoyed a few of the Italian reds. The 2011 Alois Lageder Kalterersee Shiava from Alto Adige ($23/bottle) has the weight of a Chardonnay and similar food-pairing flexibility (pastas, risotto, chicken). It’s matured in large Slovenion oak casks but not for more than a few months. Transparent in the glass, it is light-bodied and fresh. Aromas of red currant, cherry, and violets are complemented by attractive nuances of red fruit and a slightly spicy finish.

The 2009 Pietradolce Archineri from Etna Rosso (Sicily; $26/bottle) is available by the glass right now. It’s complex but balanced; the perfume of this wine smells like sweet blackberry, plum, tar and spice. The palate delivers a wonderful harmony of bright raspberry and Bing cherry flavors, dried herbs, violet, and acidity.

I am also excited about the wines we carry from Fisher Vineyards (Napa) and the wines delivered this week—including Saintsbury Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and the Chappellet 2010 Cervantes Mountain Cuvee (red blend). 

The shop is open every day with special Happy Hour pricing on Fridays and Saturdays from 4-7 pm and on Sunday from 3-5 pm. Come say hello and stay for a glass of vino!

From "ABC" to Chappellet Chardonnay

About two years ago, the Chappellet Chardonnay was the wine that converted me to a Chardonnay drinker (albeit a particular one). Until then, I had been adamant about proclaiming my drinking habits as "ABC" (anything but Chardonnay).

When I started working at Chappellet Vineyards in 2010, I quickly became a fan of every single wine we poured (including the Napa Valley Chardonnay). This wine has quite a following; over the course of my employment there, many customers told me that they had been enjoying the Chappellet Chardonnay for thirty years. Indeed, the first vintage was 1979, ten years after the Chappellet Family produced their first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon.

And I imagine that thirty years from now, I will probably still be drinking this particular Chardonnay (and the rest of the Chappellet wines).

Chappellet’s wines are incredibly consistent. The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon always gets 90+ point scores and the Mountain Cuvée Bordeaux-style red blend is always delicious. The wines are so good every vintage because they have been made by the same winemaker, Philip Titus (for almost 25 years), and because the grapes are sourced from the same vineyards year after year. 

So what makes the Chappellet Chardonnay so special?

The fruit is grown in the cool southern part of Napa Valley, specifically the Coombsville area. The wine is made in the Burgundian style, meaning that most of the French barrels used are 3-5 years old. The resulting wine exudes tropical fruit and just a kiss of oak.

The 2010 Chappellet Napa Valley Chardonnay smells like toasted coconut, nutmeg, honey and orange blossom. The palate is at first reminiscent of burnt crème brûlée. Flavors of sweet oak, vanilla, and baking spice roll over the tongue with a creamy texture and good acidity. As the wine warms up, the oaky quality dissipates and flavors of caramelized pineapple and hazelnut prevail.

It’s a wonderful wine to savor on it’s own while lounging on the deck after a long day. It would also pair perfectly with risotto, pasta carbonara, and roast chicken with mashed potatoes.

This bottle was received from the winery for review purposes, but it’s available for purchase from the website (or at Kermit Lynch for $28.99). You can read about their other fantastic vineyard tour here and make an appointment and/or purchase on their website.

A beautiful day at Chappellet

When I took a tour of Chappellet Winery on Pritchard Hill back in March of 2009, I fell in love--with the property and its breathtaking views, my enthusiastic tour guide Candice, and of course, the amazing wines. To this day, it has been one of the most memorable wine tours I have ever had because it's an experience, not just a wine tasting. Most tours begin with a conservative splash of something white and then you walk around the winery with an empty glass. At Chappellet, you begin with a glass of Chardonnay inside the 41-year-old winery before heading out into the vineyards, a few more bottles of wine in tow.

As part of the tour, you walk through the crushpad, where there is a lot of action this time of year. And in the vineyard, you are encouraged to sample grapes off the vine. On the tour I took last year, Candice spoke passionately about the family history while she poured us the 2006 Merlot; she talked about the terroir as we tasted the 2006 Mountain Cuvee; she went into detail about the organic farming techniques while she poured us the 2006 Malbec; she told us about the grafting process as we sipped the 2006 Las Piedras Bordeaux-style blend; and the winemaking process was discussed at length, accompanied by the 2006 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wines I tasted then have since sold out with the help of some very significant scores from James Laube at Wine Spectator. The 2006 and 2007 vintages of the Signature Cab both received 94 points, and the high-end Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon was awarded 96 points for the 2007, 2006 and 2005 vintages. You'll never find scores in the Spectator for the Malbec, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Syrah, Las Piedras, or Cab Franc; just enough of these wines are made to go out to wine club members and are not nationally distributed.

Now I lead most of the tours at Chappellet, and it's just as fun to give the tour as it is to experience it as a consumer. Of the wines that I pour each day, my favorite is the 2007 Pritchard Hill Cab Franc.

Blended with 11% Malbec and 10% Cab, this is a Cab Franc that is juicy and lush with terrific structure. The powerful aromas of cherry, cola, and violet leap from the glass and open up to a full body of ripe raspberry and cocoa flavors intertwined with delicate spice notes. Velvety tannins give way to a finish that is long and smooth.

I tell my customers how versatile this wine is, but I like it so much, I am happy to drink it regardless of what I may (or may not) be eating. I hope you'll come visit us at Chappellet and taste this wine for yourself before it sells out!