Quick note on Premiere Napa Valley

The weather in Napa last week was almost perfect and the results from the 17th annual Premiere Napa Valley wine auction fell just shy of last year's record. Sixty seven bidders spent almost three hours purchasing 211 different lots of wine for a total of $3.04 million. The most expensive lot was a 120-bottle lot collaboration from Bevan Cellars and Chateau Boswell Winery that brought in $75,000. Shafer Vineyards' 2011 Sunspot Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon was the highest per bottle price with just 60 bottles selling for $50,000.

My trip was jammed packed with tastings. Friday started with a blind Vintage Perspective Tasting of 2008, 2009, and 2010 cabernets (I skipped the chardonnay portion). My quick takeaway from that tasting was that 2008 is in a good place right now. Almost across the board, 2008 yielded fantastic wines. Wines from the 2009 vintage were a bit lighter and more floral, but with rougher tannins and shorter finishes than 2008. The 2010 wines were spotty, with many showing green aromas and flavors. I had private appointments with Lou Kapcsándy and Stephane Derenoncourt as well as attended preview receptions at Ovid (Pritchard Hill Wineries), Shafer Vineyards, Far Niente (Oakville Winegrowers Association), Silverado Vineyards (Family Owned Wineries) and Corison Winery. Friday finally ended with a Vegas meets Disney World meets Napa party at Raymond Vineyards, palate fatigue and a black mouth.

Saturday was the main event. The barrel tasting portion of the auction showcased lots mostly from the 2011 vintage. I found the vintage to be quite varied in quality. Many of the Premiere wines were under ripe, some were overly massive, but just a few were really spectacular. Granted, the wines were not finished products, but with wines that will retail for $100 to $1,000 per bottle I wanted to be wowed at every turn and I was not. My favorites wines of the week included BRAND PNV Lot 162, Continuum PNV Lot 199, Corison PNV Lot 118, Derenoncourt 2009 Red Hills Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Inherit the Sheep 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, Kapcsándy PNV Lot167, O'Shaughnessy PNV Lot 116, Oakville East Exposure PNV Lot 148 and Revana PNV Lot 92. I also enjoyed meeting Alder Yarrow, Roy Piper, Doug Wilder and Adam Lechmere for the first time.

On another, and hopefully a final note on this subject, I was congratulated by more than a handful of writers, winery owners and other industry members for my post from two weeks ago. I had no idea that so many people would would actually care (and support me) that I called out Steve Heimoff for censoring his website. I was hoping to meet Steve, but the opportunity never appeared. It is too bad more of those people don't feel comfortable speaking out publicly, but I guess that is the problem with such an insular industry.

Going back to Cali (off to PNV)

When the wine hits ya lips just spits ya
Tannins so hard, that ya tongue can't lick ya
Either Parker's 90+ or against ya
Highway 29, back through that maze I go ya
Heading to the wine mecca
Wineries wit the fruit tight, pour that bottle right
Spell my name right, K-Y (oh that sounds bad...), L-E
Snow on my driveway, Headin out on the highway
Gettin wine from some winemaker you know
See it's all about the cabernet, nobody do it better
Going back to Cali, strictly for the weather

I'm going going, back back, to Cali Cali
Checking out Premiere Napa Valley
I'm going going, back back, to Cali Cali
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I'm going going, back back, to Cali Cali
I'm going going, back back, to Cali Cali

Steve Heimoff doesn't like me...

Last week, Steve Heimoff wrote a book review of two new books. In the review, he accused Jancis Robinson and Linda Murphy of receiving money for placing labels in their soon-to-be-released American Wine. He also gets in a bit of name-calling as he says Robinson's name is "over-exposed," but that is not my fight to fight. Though I do not agree with is opinion of the content of the book, he is more than welcome to it. However, Heimoff seems content to only make mention the California regions he surrounds himself with, and I have to wonder (I’m just raising the question, not making any allegations) if Heimoff actually read the whole book. It is pretty sleezy to review a book without actually reading it.

Franc, Colorado's Cabernet...

In Europe, wines are named from the regions they come. Bordeaux is known for its cabernet sauvignon and merlot-based wines. Burgundy is synonymous with pinot noir or chardonnay. The Rhône valley is most often thought of as syrah territory. In Italy, Tuscany is known for its sangiovese and Piemonte for nebbiolo. I could keep going on. In New World wine regions, varietal labeling is commonplace. However, many wine regions still have grape varieties in which they specialize. Napa Valley has cabernet sauvignon, the Willamette Valley equates to Pinot Noir and the Barossa Valley is known for shiraz (aka syrah). Even an up and coming region like the Finger Lakes in New York is known for its riesling. Does Colorado have a signature variety?

Taking local to a whole new level

Colorado wineries are small. Even the big ones are small. The biggest wineries in the state produce about 20,000 cases annually. In fact, the entire state produces about 115,000 cases each year (much of it from Colorado-grown grapes). One winery takes the small and local approach to a whole new level. Settembre Cellars is perhaps the smallest winery in the state. Blake and Tracy Eliasson founded the tiny endeavor in their Boulder home in 2007. They made wines in lots as small as 4 and 5 cases. Today, their biggest lot is still a miniscule 84.2 cases and they have just recently crossed the 500 case annual production threshold.

Before they were stars, part 6 (as if Two Shepherds needs more praise)

Ok, so I may be a bit late in writing this given the recent attention William Allen and his Two Shepherds label has received recently. I had planned on writing this immediately after visiting with Allen last November (and before Meg Houston Maker's praise and being named one of the Top 10 Hot Brands by Wine Business Monthly). Now I'm not trying to say I discovered Two Shepherds before anyone else, as David White, Fred Swan and Jon Bonné all beat me to the punch, or perhaps shepherded me towards Two Shepherds. Nevertheless, I think I'm still ahead of the curve because Two Shepherds is going to be a star. Not a big star producing tens of thousands of cases, but a star for fans of Rhône varieties.

Allen is doing something that I've tried to urge Colorado wineries to do. He is focusing his efforts by producing only Rhône varieties. Sure, he has thrown a kink in that philosophy with his trousseau gris, but other than that aberration, he uses grenache blanc, viognier, marsanne, roussane, syrah, mourvèdre and grenache to make inspired wines. Not only is he making Rhône varieties, but he is making them from the Russian River Valley (the grenache blanc comes from the Saarloos Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley). The Russian River Valley isn't exactly known for its Rhône varieties. Pinot noir, chardonnay and zindfandel, yeah, sure. Syrah, maybe. The other Rhône varieties, not exactly. Allen decided to stake his claim in the wine world by using grapes originally from a Mediterranean climate, but sourcing them from a cool climate. Oh, and he uses all neutral oak. No new oak to be found. He makes wines that show their sense of place and not a barrel's.

The false consensus effect in wine (diversity is the spice of wine...)

Something bothered me yesterday on another blog. Describing an interesting, critical alternative to the 100-pt system put forth by a group identifying themselves as "In the Pursuit of Balance" (IPOB), W. Blake Gray quoted Raj Parr, wine director for Michael Mina's restaurant empire. Parr is perhaps best known for his stance on not selling pinot noir or chardonnay that have more than 14% alcohol at his RN74 wine bar in San Francisco. Parr is also the co-founder of IPOB. He started IPOB to promote dialogue around the meaning and relevance of balance in California pinot noir and chardonnay. That in and of itself does not bother me. I actually support that goal.

But Gray quoted Parr saying, "Hopefully one day we won't have a tasting because everyone's going to be thinking the same way ... we do want to talk about how we can get better. Hopefully there will be more awareness that there is something else out there, that it's not just fruits" (emphasis added). I am all for trying to make better wine and having an open dialogue about how to do so. However, the idea that better means everyone thinking the same way bothers me.