![]() ![]() Williams Selyem Olivet Lane Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016įrom one of the oldest Pinot Noir vineyards in the Russian River Valley, planted in 1975. Savoury and spice notes meld with plum, currants and chocolate. Sonoma Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2016Ī stellar vintage brought pristine fruit sourced from several vineyards on the Sonoma Coast, which experiences maritime influences from the Pacific Ocean. Powerful yet elegant, designed for drinking now but worthy of cellaring for 10 to 15 years. Cliff Lede Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon 2014įrom a leader in sustainable winemaking in the Napa region, this Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic Bordeaux blend with 9% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4% Malbec and 2% Merlot. The wine that bested a line-up of Burgundies and Californians at the historic Judgment at Paris wine tasting in the 1970s, thus solidifying Napa’s reputation for premium Chardonnay. Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Chardonnay 2015 The wine has 14% Malbec and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon contributing to a juicy powerhouse of fresh berries, plum and herbs. This Merlot put Shafer on the map in the early 1980s. Elegantly balanced and expressive of black fruit and dark chocolate, this wine received 100 points from James Suckling. The brainchild of Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild, conceived after the two met in 1970. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Approachable young but certainly age-worthy. Napa Colgin IX Estate Proprietary Red 2014Īn intense and pure wine. Here are some of the stars worth searching out. Contemporary wines from Napa and Sonoma offer something for every wine lover’s palate. These are less flashy and more reverent to the grapes and the terroir in which they are reared. We have Pinot Noir to thank for that, along with a current vogue for so-called “cool climate” wine styles. Those massive “fruit-bomb” wines of Napa and Sonoma have been joined by, shall we say, more finessed styles. ![]() While “soft and easy” stands today as the classic style, California is still evolving. Not so in Bordeaux, where wines from top producers needed to age 10 or 20 years before reaching their peak. The wines were made to drink young, pretty much as soon as they were released. Here, winemakers defined a style-rich, opulent, silky, fruit-forward, oaky and powerful - that went against the Bordeaux model. It’s these wines that solidified Cabernet Sauvignon as the signature grape of California-and of Napa and Sonoma specifically. No surprise, this is the land of the “cult” wines. Of course, when we think of California wine, the first thing that comes to mind is Napa, its most famous wine region. If California were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for wine production, behind France, Spain and Italy. Today, the wines of California are known around the globe for their quality and diversity and the state accounts for 90 percent of the wine made in the United States. If-and that’s a huge ‘if’- you can even get on the list to buy direct from the wineries, for these are not the kinds of wines you find at the average local boutique. That was before the rise of the so-called “cult” wines, coveted bottles from wineries like Heitz, Grace Family Vineyards, Screaming Eagle and Harlan and (just to name a few), that sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars. It’s just that, beyond the in-the-know wine fanatics, few people really knew what was going on in California. That’s not to say that there weren’t any. It’s hard to believe that just a few decades ago, no one spoke about the “legendary” or “iconic” wines of California.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |