Tasting Notes: Family Winemakers Event
by Robert Rich, January 2004
Arbios Cellars561 Mission Blvd.
Santa Rosa
CA 95409
Phone: 707-539-5641
Email:
bill@arbioscellars.com, susan@arbioscellars.com
Bill and Susan Arbios
have run their small winery for two decades, making small batches
of honest Sonoma Cabernet. He seems to aim for good structure
and balance in a clean and uncomplicated style. With grapes coming
from the Alexander Valley, his wines typically show fairly high
acidity and tannin, big in the nose and light on the palate.
His Praxis sub-label makes very good affordable table wines selling
mostly to restaurants or direct from the winery.
Arbios 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley ($38)
Nose of light cherry, dry grass and delicate caramel oak slowly
opening into leathershop and cigar box earthy tones. The palate
seems a bit thin at first, with bright acidity and lingering
clean dry tannins, hints of tea, leather and cedar in an open
body of red cherry fruit. Very clean and light overall, mostly
delivering in the nose.
Arbios 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley ($38)
Active and complex fragrances, richly nuanced with cassis, clay
dust, butterscotch, iodine, graphite, chocolate, toasted stems
(briar), menthol (balsam or pine?), capsicum. Very clean and
bright palate with dusty tannins, plummy fruit and graphite in
the finish. Shows a lot of finesse.
Praxis 2000 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands ($15)
Fragrances of a classic light pinot, grassy and dry, crisp cherry,
a touch of barnyard and dusty clay. Palate is light and not lingering,
with clean acidity, leathery tart cherry fruit, well controlled
light oak with a bit of toastiness. Very food-friendly. (13.5%
alc.)
Praxis 2002 Viognier Lodi ($15)
Deeply layered and complex nose, slightly woody, with nutmeg,
clamshells, a hint of caramel, honeycomb wax, and malolactic
popcorn. Rich and buttery mouthfeel, with smooth fruit oils that
imply sweetness, but finishing with dryer woodiness, lingering
notes of smoke and pineapple. This wine paired very well with
tofu in spicy black bean sauce, and I think it would taste perfect
with oysters. (14.5% alc.)
Praxis 2002 Merlot Dry Creek Valley ($15)
A small batch of grapes came available for sale in Dry Creek,
and Arbios made a beautiful balanced Merlot with them. Deep ripe
fragrances of cassis and black cherry fruit, not brambly like
many Merlots from Dry Creek, with nuances of liquorice, chocolate,
and tobacco. Palate shows oily soft tannins that linger on the
tongue, medium acidity, round ripe fruit and lasting fatty oak
sweetness.
Chatom Vineyards
1961 Highway 4
Douglas Flat, CA 95229
Phone: 209-736-6500
E-mail: info@chatomvineyards.com
Owner Gay Callan first planted chardonnay and chenin blanc
in Calaveras County back in 1981. Her vineyards have since grown
to 65 acres and 14 varietals. Chatom's previous winemaker, Scott
Klann, made soft and easy drinking wines with low acidity. New
winemaker Mari Wells has only released one of her first vintages
at the time of this writing (December '03), the 2002 Chardonnay.
I'm looking forward to taste what she brings to these warm summer
grapes. Overall, the quality of these wines continues to impress
me at their very affordable price range. I think Chatom makes
some of the better value Gold Country wines.
2000 Sangiovese Gitano ($12)
Nose of dry leather and tart cherry fruit, iron minerality, burnt
toast. It seems the dry oak smells dominate the thin fruit. Clean
and acidic in the mouth, a bit watery, plum fruit with a sweet
oak finish. (14.1% alc.)
2000 Zinfandel Calaveras County ($16)
A lush and very soft pillow of flavor, reminding me of hot cocoa
and berry cobbler. The warm nose doesn't explode out of the glass,
but gently exudes cocoa powder, ripe plums, blackberries and
strawberries, clay dust, some briar but not much pepper or spice,
a hint of VA and taffy from the oak. Soft chocolate in the mouth,
very ripe and low acidity, deep and earthy, with characteristic
ripe Zin pepperiness hiding until the finish. (14.2% alc.)
2000 Cabernet Sauvignon Calaveras County ($18)
Nose of brambly blackberries, milk chocolate and vanilla, coffee,
coconut, thyme, cedarwood; opening up with a dusting of gravel
and a drop of iodine. Palate of blackberries, lichi tea, rose
syrup, chocolate tannins and graphite. A surprisingly complex
and generous cabernet at this price point.
2001 Merlot Calaveras County ($24)
A plush and velvety merlot, smooth in the mouth. The nose shows
very little of the brambly side of this grape, instead showing
deep sweet blackberry and cherry, dark chocolate, tobacco smoke
and mint. Very full mouth-feel, low acidity, soft tannin, viscous
black cherry lingering into cocoa. Drink this wine young and
enjoy the huge deep fruit. (14.5% alc)
2002 Chardonnay Calaveras County ($14)
A very generous nose full of strong ripe fruit, with green apples,
pears, brown sugar and a hint of paint-like terpines (from the
fruit.) Warm and dark on the palate, evoking Christmas spices,
with pear and Meyer lemon flavors, finishing in a light oily
tartness without too much oak. (14.5% alc.)
Del Bondio
1289 Bella Oaks Lane, Napa, CA 94558
Phone: 888-223-DELB
Email: delb@napanet.net
The Del Bondio family has grown fruit in Oakville and Rutherford since 1910, when prunes dominated the Napa valley. Replanting to vineyards 40 years ago, they began selling grapes to surrounding wineries, recently Frogs Leap and Downing Family. The new generation began a label in 1997, with father Rich Poncia and son Shawn Sellers at the helm, winemaker Randy Mason consulting.
I met Poncia on a recent rainy November morning at the construction site of his new winery building. In coveralls and boots, more farmer than entrepreneur, Poncia looked a bit like Jerry Garcia. Del Bondio's vineyard has organic certification. Their compost operations convert grape wastes into natural fertilizer. Around the vineyards, boxes on poles offered homes for owls, hawks and bats to rid pests without poisons.
2001 Syrah Oakville Napa Valley ($25)
A fascinating contrast between a candy nose and austere tannic
flavors. Perfumes of sugared cherries, coffee, soft caramel oak.
Very acidic dry palate with rose oil, black coffee, and strong
lingering tannins. Tough and bright, would pair perfectly with
fatty meat like leg of lamb. 1000 cases made.
1999 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Napa Valley ($38)
A Rutherford cab that shows clean varietal flavor without the
typical heavy oak treatment so common in this region. Nose with
pepper, brambly cherries, earth and musk wrapped in delicate
sweet oak. Very clean and cedary on the palate, a bit thin and
bright, with red cherry fruit. The finish lasts longer than the
thin center-palate would imply, with a hint of tobacco and subdued
oak character. A clear honest Napa cab. 2400 cases made. (The
1998 and 2000 Cabernets have a similar profile but thinner palate.
So far I think the 1999 is the best of these three vintages for
Del Bondio.)
Dutch Bill Creek
P.O. Box 238
Occidental, CA 95465
Phone: 877-874-3852
www.dbcwinery.com
Husband and wife team of Charles and Deborah Heintz started by farming grapes in Occidental near the Russian River. They began making their own wine in 1997, and have just released an exceptional first pinot noir. When I met them toward the end of the Family Winemekers tasting, my mouth was rather numb from a day's worth of tannin, but their 2002 pinot noir had such a huge round mouth-feel that it clearly stood out among the best I had tasted recently.
2001 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Heintz Ranch ($30)
Complex nose of butter, apples, apricots, candied pineapple,
bubblegum, taffy, chalk, lemon custard. Coats the mouth with
buttery softness, showing full malolactic, with a hint of nutmeg
oak in a long lingering finish. Good acidic backbone keeps the
palate open rather than cloying, helping it pair with food despite
the soft texture and oak. 452 cases made. (14.2% alc.)
2002 Pinot Noir Sonoma County Heintz Ranch ($40)
Warm candied black cherry fragrances deepened by smells of earthy
humus, hayloft, vanilla créme brulée, violets and
tropical fruit (papaya?). As the wine opens in the glass the
bouquet turns darker, more barnyard and damp earth mixed with
the black cherries, but not particularly bretty. Round and oily
in the mouth, one of those rare pinot noirs that delivers a larger
mouth-feel than its nose, with floral perfumes rising to the
back of the palate, lingering notes of peach nectar. Soft and
sensual, velvety and smooth. 473 cases made. (15.5% alc.)
Elan Vineyards
4500 Atlas Peak Rd., Napa, CA 94558
Phone: 707-252-3339
Website: www.elanvineyards.com
Email: elanwine@aol.com
Patrick Elliott-Smith lived in France during his teens, where he tasted some of the great Bordeaux from his grandfather's cellar. He and his brother came to California in the early '70s, bought property on the slopes of Atlas Peak and began farming.
After procuring property near the summit in 1979, he lived in a teepee while clearing brush and planting Cabernet vines. He sold his grapes to Caymus, who used them to add structure to their Special Select, a wine which now sells for well over $100.
Elliott-Smith started Elan in 1992, making fewer than 1000 cases annually from his own Cabernet grapes. He built a house of rammed earth where the teepee once stood, vineyards surrounding it, cellar beneath. Patrick's wife Linda helps run the business, their two children help charm the guests.
1992 Elan Cabernet Sauvignon (Atlas Peak, Napa)
Amazingly clean and youthful after 10 years in the bottle. Complex
smells of fireplace ash, pepper and cloves from integrated oak,
raspberry fruit that opens into the rusty blueberry quality of
the younger Elan vintages; but overall more grapey, less herbal
than the younger wines. The palate softens into chocolate and
graphite minerality as it breathes. Quite delicate and lovely,
showing amazing ageworthiness for these grapes.
1995 Elan Cabernet Sauvignon (Atlas Peak, Napa) ($50 library)
It seems that Elan almost inverts the usual vintage profiles,
austere in ripe years and softer during tough years. This '95
shows much more fruit than the '97, surprising considering the
vintages. Maybe it's the altitude? This is huge, tough and lovely.
More caramel, chocolate and blueberries in the nose, less tar
and rust than '97, much more generous. A bit of iodine on the
palate, with the blueberry fruit receding behind herbal lime
citrus acidity, but softer in the finish with orange oil, fully
integrated oak and a hint of dusty tar.
1997 Elan Cabernet Sauvignon (Atlas Peak, Napa) ($50 library)
An austere wine, full of dusty herbal complexity. Challenging
aromas of Herbs de Provence, sage, graphite, rust, fishtank,
dusty roadside tar after an early rain. The usually predominant
Elan steely blueberry fruit actually hides in the background
behind all this herbaceousness until it hits the palate. There
it is: blueberries and raw meat with sweet oak and a twist in
the direction of tart cherries as it fades alongside cocoa tannins.
1999 Elan Cabernet Sauvignon (Atlas Peak, Napa) ($45)
A huge complex nose with blueberry fruit, cola, cocoa, iron rust
minerality, mint leaves, hints of anise, cedar, sage and tar.
Huge and oily in the mouth, lingering with big chocolatey dark
fruit, a touch of black liquorice and deep lasting tannins. One
of Elan's more gentle years, showing lovely deep fruit. Not anything
like a simple fruity Napa cab, but more serious and likely to
live long in the cellar.
2000 Elan Cabernet Sauvignon (Atlas Peak, Napa) ($45)
A crusty big cab. Might have a similar profile to the 1995 (chocolate,
ripe blueberry, rust) but harder, more metallic, hints of coffee,
higher tannin, more austere. Two years of 70% new French oak
didn't overpower this giant wine, whose mountain austerity harkens
clearly to a big tough Bordeaux - but fully ripe. Makes the 1999
seem soft by comparison. Set this one down for at least 5-10
years.
Lava Cap Winery
Placerville, CA
website: www.lavacap.com
email: lavacap@calweb.com
This winery surprises me with its consistently excellent wines. Their prices are higher than most El Dorado vineyards, but I rate their wines a value considering the quality.
David Jones helped found Family Winemakers in 1992, and served as president for two years. A Stanford graduate and USGS geologist in Menlo Park, Jones taught Geology at UC Berkeley from 1985-96. In 1981 his family bought property above Placerville and planted vines.
They have one of the highest elevation vineyards in El Dorado county, with cool air, strong sunlight, and decomposed granite soil that permeates most of their wines with a characteristic dusty granite fragrance that I am quite fond of. David's son Tom Jones makes the wines, aiming for rich accessible flavors with soft tannins, good balance and a sense of place.
(Tasted December 2002 unless otherwise noted.)
*2001 Fumé Blanc (sauvignon blanc) ($12)
Here's a big surprise from gold country wineries. I never realized
a sauvignon blanc grape could generate enough sugars to get a
wine this high in alcohol (15.4%). The flavors are very complex,
as rich in its own way as a big red wine. Nose isn't hot, considering
the high percentage. Very mineral, granite dust or flint. Huge
fruit palate with lemon/citrus, sweet pink grapefruit (not bitter),
a bit tropical, orange blossoms or orange oil. Finish with a
clover honey aftertaste. A very unusual wine, and a new favorite
choice for a white wine. Not "light" by any means.
2001 Chardonnay reserve ($16.50)
Pleasantly not over-oaked. Despite 100% malolactic, the buttery
qualities do not overpower the fruit. Pineapple overtones, and
vineyard characteristic granite dust nose. A well balanced fruity/mineral
chard.
2000 Semillon ($18)
Floral nose with sweet overtones, clover honey, with salty limestone
mineral qualities instead of the granite that permeates the other
wines. A slightly rubbery smell reminds me of Monbazillac or
Riesling, but the winery owner David Jones says they don't get
botritis (the "noble rot") in these vineyards. Hmmm.
Soft vanilla and buttery finish. Slightly sweet and lingering.
2001 Viognier ($?)
Pre-release sample. Exotic tropical nose of apricots, pineapple,
peach pits (almondy), not mineral. Palate with hints of lichi
and buttery vanillins. Very sensuous and fragrant.
*2000 Barbera reserve ($25)
Hugely mineral nose that jumps out of the glass like a dusty
breeze in the sierra high country. A strong sense of place. Vinillins
linger under the dust. Palate with soft tannins, big ripe fruit,
medium acidity. Finish with dark cherries, caramel, acidity,
some oak characteristics.
2000 Sangiovese ($?)
Lower acidity than the Barbera, more limestone and less granite
mineral characteristics. Cinnamon nose, soft caramel finish.
Part mourvedre in the blend lends some spicy weight.
2000 Merlot reserve ($20)
Very ripe fruity nose with cinamon and vanilla, ripe blackberries.
Flavors are simple and very fruit-forward, lush, with lots of
oak on the finish.
1999 Merlot Stromberg ($30)
A hint of oxidation on the nose (acetaldehyde, but not a serious
problem, results in port-like quality.) More complex and balanced
than the reserve, the fruit balances better with tannin and acid
structure. Lingering tannin, with hints of chocolate and humus.
2000 Cabernet Sauvignon reserve ($20)
Table-ready flavors, very ripe and smooth, light to medium tannin
and a chocolatey finish.
*2000 Cabernet Sauvignon Stromberg ($?)
Much more mineral nose than the reserve, higher acid and liquorice-like
tannins (lingering oily mouth feel, like a young Bordeaux.) Finish
with caramel vanilla, a hint of anise?
2000 Cabernet Franc ($35)
Vanillins overtake the floral nose that would be more typical
of this varietal. Buttery palate, with good acidity. Light flavors
with a hint of bitter cherries.
2000 Syrah reserve ($20)
Without the granite nose, more smooth, earthy, spicy cinamon
toast, slightly herbaceous in the mouth. 15.1% alc.
*1999 Syrah reserve ($40)
Very active nose, with a hint of terpines, violet perfume (almost
soapy), without the granite dust tones, exotic floral hints of
gardenias or orchids. Palate is huge, explosive fruit and sensuous
supple ripeness, with vanilla, smoke and bright cherry tones.
15.4% alc.
*2000 Zinfandel reserve ($25)
Dusty granite nose, with ripe strawberries, raspberries, chocolate,
black pepper, oregano. Residual sweet flavors of cardomom and
anise. A very interesting, big unique zinfandel. 15.3% alc.
*2000 Petite Syrah ($30)
Dusty granite nose, soft cherries, blueberries and raspberries,
lots of tannins and ripe fruit. Huge in the mouth, very ripe
and slightly sweet (.4% residual sugar. 15.3% alc.
*2000 Mourvedre ($20)
Fragrances of chocolate, toasted christmas spices, ripe cherries.
A touch oxidized and portlike, but these oxidized smells faded
the next day after tasting again from the opened bottle. Lingering
soft tannins. A fair amount of residual sugars (.4%) lends to
the port analogy. 15.1% alc.
2001 Cabernet Blanc dessert wine ($15)
A cabernet sauvignon grape grown in a colder area that didn't
quite achieve ripeness, so the vintner chose to stop fermentation
before complete dryness, leaving more residual sugars (6.5%).
Nose of strawberries, mint and cinamon, like hard candies, with
additional minerals and floral tones. Palate with high glycerin,
making lingering soft mouth-feel of strawberries. 12.7% alc.
*2001 Muscat Canelli ($15)
Mineral floral nose with a sexy elusive fruit palate, smells
of tropical fruits and pears. The mouth-feel is oily and exotic.
*2001 Barbera Reserve (tasted 12/03)
With grapes from Amador county, this barbera has an immensely
complex nose, starting with a healthy dose of mineral dust and
oak spice. After sitting open for a few hours, amazing things
happen. Nose of spicy caramel oak, ripe briary cherries and plums,
peach blossoms, caraway seeds, musk perfume, light cigar tobacco
(Galloise cigarettes.) The palate shows characteristic high acidity
and low tannin, with huge mouth-coating spicy cherry, plum and
berry liquer, dry cedar, glycerin, and a slightly splintery cigar
box finish. (15.3% alc.)
2001 Merlot Reserve El Dorado (tasted 12/03)
Deep cherry fruit and caramel oak nose, with dusty gravel, peppery
spices, chocolate mint and gardenia blossoms. Flavors well balanced
between minty cherry fruit, chewy chocolate tannins, and tobacco-caramel
oak.
Pax Wine Cellars
Phone: 707-591-0782
Email: mail@paxwines.com
Pax Mahle makes only Syrah. The 2000 vintage marked his first releases, and judging from the crowd around his booth at the Family Winemakers Tasting, I'll guess I'm not the only person who thinks he's starting with a bang. Pax has a goal to express the pure flavors of cooler climate syrah vineyards in Northern California, steering towards organic practices and traditional winemaking methods. His Syrahs show inky dark extraction, huge fruit and deep tannins, artfully combining the soft and hard sides of this giant grape.
2002 Syrah Sonoma Hillside ($25)
Pax's entry level Syrah, with a blend of three hillside vinyeards,
aiming at the reference point of a ripe Crozes-Hermitage. This
wine shows a fruit-forward blackberry nose with violets, liquorice
and smoke, slightly grassy or minty, with mineral earthiness.
Tannic but very rich on the palate, dark ripe fruit. An amazing
wine for "low end". 507 cases (14.9% alc.)
2002 Syrah Castelli-Knight Ranch ($45)
A massive wine by anyone's standards, almost over the top. Huge
alcohol and high pH (4.0) it shows what happens when extremely
ripe grapes extract to their full extent. Nose of blueberries,
raw meat (rust), schezuan peppercorns, star anise and black pepper.
Tastes sweet and plummy in the mouth despite full dryness. The
tannins take over after a few sips and completely coat the tongue.
253 cases (16.9% alc.)
2002 Syrah Walker Vine Hill ($50)
Notes from quick taste at Family Winemakers: Softer than the
Castelli-Knight, with a bit more finesse, more fruity, lush and
floral. Tannins in control, less spicy, but the nose shows beautiful
perfumes of rose petals and violets, in the mouth the fruit dominates
with deceptive sweetness. Long and lingering palate, soft and
huge. 184 cases (15.2% alc.)
Pride Mountain Vineyards
and Robert Foley
4026 Spring Mountain Road, St. Helena CA 94574
Phone: 707-963-4949
Email: contactus@pridewines.com
Winemaker Bob Foley is a master at balance, making giant wines that show good fruit, acidity, tannin, and spicy complexity. When he bottles his own label, the balance point sits at the extreme of saturated flavors: crazy big wines. It helps that his grapes come from one of the best high-elevation growing regions in California, above the Napa Valley on Spring Mountain.
These wines are expensive, and they get high points in the wine press. They deserve the accolades, but I wish the prices could come down a bit so I could buy more! Foley releases only two wines on his own label, Charbono and Claret. The Charbono is a fruit-driven spicy wine with smokey flavors. His gigantic Claret uses the same grapes as the Pride Reserve Cabernet (around $150/bottle), blended to his own tastes and sold at "only" $100.
2001 Pride Merlot ($48)
Intense nose of chocolate, cassis, black cherries, caramel oak,
a hint of brambles and clove, some dark floral overtones (violets).
Giant fruit on the palate, black cherry with coffee, velvety
large tannins. The tannins and fruit linger for a very long time.
5382 cases (14.1% alc.)
2001 Robert Foley Claret ($100)
This wine makes everything else seem small, fat and ripe but
wearing velvet gloves. Big everything: tannin, oak, fruit, nose,
palate, finish, etc. Deep sweet black cherry nose surrounded
by caramel taffy oak, chocolate mint, almonds, cinnamon and winter
spices. I pictured zabaglione for some reason: marsala in sweet
heavy cream with ripe berries. The flavors conquered the mouth
with monstrous sweet black fruit, bitter chocolate, splinters
and rock hard tannins (seemingly integrated due to overwhelming
fruit and oak), almost impenetrably deep with an endless finish
(still lingering 5 minutes after.) After five hours in the glass,
it opened into coconut, dark chocolate, blackberries and liquorice.
The next day (in the same glass) it tasted like black cherries,
caramel oak, milk chocolate and wet leaves. A crazy megawine.
2002 Pride Chardonnay ($35)
A sweet nose of caramel apples, butter and a hint of citrus.
Full ripeness, soft malolactic flavors of butterscotch and toasted
pineapple, lingering oak sweetness but with enough acidity to
keep it from getting cloying. 1484 cases (14.3% alc.)
2002 Pride Viognier ($40)
Floral and fleshy-fruit perfumes show great depth and subtlety.
Tropical flowers, peaches or apricots, not much oak at all (a
refreshing change that will make this pair well with food.) Crisp
yet lingering in the mouth, a viscous mouth feel, with a sense
of sweetness despite full dryness and high acidity. Not a trace
of bitterness in the long smokey finish. Clean, complex and lovely.
1867 cases (13.9% alc.)
2002 Robert Foley Vineyards Charbono, Napa Valley ($35)
Nose of young unintegrated oak, toasted caramel, hints of cherry,
dark earthy chocolate, some VA, low-frequency notes. Flavors
reminiscent of barbecue, lots of acidity, lots of fruit extraction,
medium low tannin. A slightly quirky wine whose spicy smokiness
would pair perfectly with barbecued ribs.
