Tasting Round-Up
What a great week!
May
This is one of those weeks where you have to pinch yourself when you work here. We tasted an Italian superstar, one of the smalled and most exclusive wines produced in California, and a favorite producer of ours (Parador). What a fantastic way to make a living. 🙂
2013 Oakville Winegrowers ‘Oakville Cuvee’
Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley
Wine Spectrum 95+: For the serious collector, this is a rare gift to be treasured for years to come. On first pour, you see a beautiful dark purple color that gives you a glimpse of the pleasures to follow. Aromas of dark cherry, spices and a hint of chocolate dance from your glass. As you taste it you get a hint of what is to come. Although young, this wine shows wonderfully. Plum, cherry, and blackberries dominate your taste buds with a hint of chocolate on the long finish. This wine was built to last and finishes with smooth yet bold tannins. The winemaker for this special Cuvee rotates every three years and the 2013 vintage was made by Kristof Anderson of Gargiulo Vineyards.
Consider these cult cab productions:
– Screaming Eagle: approx 6000 bottles/year – Harlan: approx 1800 cases/year – Scarecrow: approx 7200 bottles/year
Only 100 Magnums and 50 Double Magnums are bottled of this ultra-exclusive, ultra-rare wine and each is numbered and etched in gold. We come across more than a few special wines, but this could be the creme de la creme. It is the perfect addition to any collector’s cellar.
Each year, acclaimed vintners of the Oakville Winegrowers Association contribute small lots of their prestigious Cabernet Sauvignon to create a unique wine that reflects the essence of the Oakville appellation. The vintners have blended a spectacular cuvee that celebrates the majesty of these vineyards. For the serious collector, this is a rare gift to be treasured for years to come.
2012 Oasi degli Angeli ‘Kurni’
Montepulciano | IGT Marche, Italy
Wine Spectrum 95+: Vinous 92 points: Very deep ruby. High-pitched aromas of ripe black fruits and sweet spices, lifted by violet and complemented by notes of loam, sweet pipe tobacco, and cola. At once dense and juicy in the mouth, with a sappy, spicy quality buffering its savory black cherry, meat, and tar flavors. A real fruit bomb, complex and energetic, with ultra-smooth tannins giving it a velvety mouthfeel. Offers serious palate presence and size. Finishes sappy and long, but with considerable residual sweetness.
100% Montepulciano. Montepulciano is capable of producing a reliable quantity of mature, deeply colored grapes that result in wines with a healthy level of alcohol and extract. The variety has a large quantity of anthocyanins (the substances that give color to red wine). The 2012 vintage was aged in 60% vertical barriques and 40% stainless steel. Unfined and unfiltered. We recommend decanting this beauty before serving.
The Marche region in central Italy stretches all the way from the Apennines to the fashionable coastal resorts of the Adriatic. High up in Cupra Marittima lies the tiny Oasi degli Angeli estate which is owned and run by Marco Casolanetti and Eleonora Rossi, assisted by consultant oenologist Giovanni Basso. Oasi degli Angeli dates back three generations when the great-grandfather of Eleonora created a small farm in the Marche dedicated to the growing of grapes, olives, fruit trees, and vegetables. In the middle of the 1990’s Eleonora and Marco, her companion in life and a winemaker decided to dedicate the farm to the cultivation of wine grapes and to make an agriturismo (a small guest house in the countryside) out of the family estate. They decided to call their wine Kurni, the nickname of the family of Eleonora.
2013 Gandona Estate
Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley
Wine Spectrum 95+, Robert Parker 94: The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, which comes from their 18-plant of vineyard acres (the total estate possesses 116), is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 22 months in 95% new French oak. The production is less than 500 cases. In contrast to several other Pritchard Hill-styled wines, this one shows significantlymore loamy, earthy notes, white chocolate, burning embers and volcanic origins, with a hint of asphalt and smoked meats as well as creme de cassis and blackberries. The wine is a medium to full-bodied, ripe, luscious and rather earthy, masculine and exuberant Cabernet Sauvignon to drink now and over the next 20 years. Winemaker: Philippe Melka Viticulturalist: Jim Barbour
Antonio Galloni 93: Another rich, visceral wine, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon delivers superb intensity and volume in an up-front, flashy style. Inky blue and purplish fruit, spice, new French oak and sweet spices are some of the signatures. Ripeness is pushed forward in a hedonistic, super-concentrated wine endowed with character and real personality.
2014 TOR ‘Cuvee Susan’ Reserve
Chardonnay | Napa Valley
Robert Parker 96: For the first time ever, Tor Kenward made a Chardonnay Reserve Cuvée Susan in 2014. This was a selection of the best barrels from all his different lots. The 2014 Chardonnay Reserve Cuvée Susan wine displays plenty of orange blossom, pineapple, caramelized citrus, lemon oil, and subtle oak. It is full-bodied, rich, and potentially very complex and long-lived.
Wine Spectrum 95: Tor’s tasting notes: This is the first Reserve Chardonnay from TOR, so you know we are crazy about it. This is a best barrel blend of Torchiana, Durell and Hyde. As such, it shows the oily richness from Durell, the vibrant acidity of the Hyde and the intense mid-palate weight of the Torchiana. Without question a candidate for the best Chardonnay we have ever made. A true benchmark California Chardonnay.
2008 Parador ‘Reserva’
Red Blend | Napa Valley
Wine Spectrum 95: Reserva cuvees are barrel-selected and aged at least an additional year in barrel – Total barrel aging is a minimum 3 years prior to bottling. The wine is then aged in bottle, totaling a minimum of 8 years of aging from the time of harvest. This deeply colored wine has many layers. It gives off notes of maraschino cherry, cedar, and violet on the nose with savory dark fruits and spices following on the palate. A beautiful wine that is still unique in Napa Valley after all these years. A long, satisfying finish compliment this wine and make you appreciate all the time and effort that goes into each of the TINY 100 cases production. 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Tempranillo.
Influenced by Pesquera and Vega Sicilia’s Unico, the great Tempranillos of Spain and blends of Europe, Parador was founded by Steve Ventrello in 1998, and is focused on Tempranillo (sourced directly from the Ribera del Duero and Rioja), Cabernet Sauvignon and blends of both. Parador wines have evolved from the early blends which included Sangiovese, striving for the balanced flavors of the old world utilizing world-class fruit grown in the Napa Valley.
2014 TOR ‘Torchiana’ Beresini Vineyard
Chardonnay | Napa Valley
Robert Parker 94: The 2014 Chardonnay Torchiana Beresini Vineyard again shows the caramelized citrus, crushed rock, and liquid minerality that makes this such an intriguing wine. It is full-bodied, dense, and a top-notch success in this vintage. Drink it over the next 5-6 years.
Wine Spectrum 95! A homage to Tor’s mother, ’Torchiana’ is her maiden name. The wine comes from a single three-acre Chardonnay vineyard Larry Hyde introduced Tor to in 2008. It belonged to one of his oldest friends in the Napa Valley, Steve Beresini, and was planted three decades ago with cuttings Larry gave Steve. Today the vineyard produces a minuscule crop, usually between one to two tons per acre, with clusters half the normal size.
Tor’s tasting notes: Now in our sixth vintage with the Beresini vineyard, I think I understand what this vineyard provides every year. The Torchiana is an amazing mix of bright acids and minerality (same soils as the Hyde and Hyde vineyard bud wood) but with a more intense, dense, rich, mid-palate. This has the great tropical flavors – as well as a floral note to it – but there is always a depth and richness to this wine that is so rare to find.
2015 Parador ‘Stagecoach Vineyard’
Rosé of Tempranillo | Napa Valley
Wine Spectrum 94: A saignee method Rosé, fermented in two neutral French oak puncheon barrels and ages for six months prior to bottling on St. Patricks Day and is the only Tempranillo Rosé produced in Napa Valley. The fruit for this salmon colored beauty comes from the famed Stagecoach Vineyard where Tempranillo was planted specifically for Parador. This remarkable rose gives off gorgeous floral notes that lean towards lavender and other purple flowers. Sweet plum, strawberry, and a stony minerality come through when tasting it. The oak barrels give the wine a complexity and texture not normally seen in a Rosé fermented in steel. This Rosé will pair well with a multitude of foods. Only 68 cases produced.
Influenced by Pesquera and Vega Sicilia’s Unico, the great Tempranillos of Spain and blends of Europe, Parador was founded by Steve Ventrello in 1998, and is focused on Tempranillo (sourced directly from the Ribera del Duero and Rioja), Cabernet Sauvignon and blends of both. Parador wines have evolved from the early blends which included Sangiovese, striving for the balanced flavors of the old world utilizing world-class fruit grown in the Napa Valley.
2013 Wolf’s Head
Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley
Wine Spectrum 94: This brand new release from Wolf’s Head comes from the talented hand of Cameron Woodbridge (winemaker for Stormy Weather). Violets and cherries dominate the nose with dark cherry, blackberry and a kiss of oak showing up on your first taste. The finish is long with good fruit characteristics, spice, and a hint of cedar. It has a really well-balanced tannin structure that lends itself to go with a good meal. A softer wine than the ’12, this wine will be much more approachable early than the previous vintage. was. At less than 500 cases produced, we are not sure how long it will last.
