Historic Vineyard Society Vineyard Tour & Dinner IV

Last Saturday the Historic Vineyard Society held its 4th Vineyard Tour and Dinner, this year with a tour of Napa Valley historic vineyards and dinner at Mondavi Winery.

The vineyards visited were:

• To Kalon “I Block” - a Sauvignon Blanc block dating to 1945
• Hayne - a mixed black vineyard with vines over 100 years old
• Library - a mixed black vineyard planted between 1880 and 1920
• Old Kraft - a mixed black vineyard planted in the 1890s

The weather was the best ever for this HVS event, with a minor threat of rain but ultimately comfortable temperatures and cooling breezes.

M. Dildine was kind enough to arrange for us Berserkers to share the same bus, and the tour went off with out a hitch, except that while Mike was trying to route the last stragglers to the buses, they left without him We missed you Mike!

Our bus’ first stop was To Kalon I Block, presented by Daniel Bosch and aided by David Gates. Someone could probably help me with names, since I was taking pictures I missed large portions of the presentations:

Tegan Passalacqua and Otty Hayne presented at Hayne Vineyard:

Mike Officer presented at Library Vineyard. Yes that is the St. Helena public library. This vineyard is a paradox, in that the old plantings probably only still exist because the land is owned by the city, but since they only sign leases to Turley one year at a time, there is lots of risk in investing in the vineyard, so it has until recently had to live with lots of missing vine locations. However, Larry Turley has decided to renovate it anyway, and new St. George rootstock is marked by redwood stakes:

Bob Biale and Bill Pease presented the Old Kraft vineyard, another vineyard which was badly in need of renovation, and has been brought back to life with improved drainage and replants at missing vine locations to match the historic varietal mix in the vineyard:

We returned to Mondavi for a cocktail reception where Carlisle Derivative and Mondavi Reserve Chard was poured. I didn’t get a bottle shot of The Derivative but I think it was probably 2013, and IMO the best yet as Mike O continues to fine tune the elevage. Afterwards we retired to the gorgeous dining room at Mondavi.

Joel Peterson contributed two Jerobaums of 1992 Dickerson Vineyard Zin, definitely one of the “wow” wines of the night. Probably one of the best aged zins I’ve ever had, in that it maintained a certain freshness to complement its tertiary development.

Mondavi poured its I Block Sauvignon Blanc, another “wow” wine (as in, wow people pay $90 for SB!? Kidding!) Easily the best SB I’ve ever tried. Tons of concentration and depth without being heavy.

Other wines at our table from the vineyards we visited:

The Carlisle Hayne was awesome, perfect blend of fruit, pepper, and brambly spice. The Library PS had a really interesting nose, but palate was completely shut down. The Old Kraft was really good as well, but here’s where my memory starts to get fuzzy.

Morgan and Chris brought both the “Under the Wire” sparklers, as well as a barrel sample of 2013 Bedrock Gamble Vineyard, a mixed black vineyard I think near To Kalon, with a crazy mix which I hope Morgan drops by to explain. This had so much going on - great mix of blue and red fruits, citrus, spices, mouth watering acidity and a very fine-grained tannic finish. I’ll buy all of this I can, and I guess it’s limited. The sparklers ranged from interesting on the Brosseau - loads of mineral and yeast, very crisp and light. The Bedrock Zin sparkler was mind-blowing, fresh roses and strawberries with some bread dough, and an incredibly light texture. I cursed Chris for the work he’s doing to overcome my attempted wine buying freeze.

Other goodies:

Pretty much impossible for me to call a WOTN - how does one compare 1992 Dickerson to 2012 Carlisle Hayne to 2012 Under the Wire sparkling Zin? But I think those were the three.

…and thanks to the HVS!

Larry, great shots, as always! And yes, thank goodness we had such great weather- we always seem to find the hottest day of the year for the event somehow.

I-Block Sauvignon Blanc, which is a national treasure, was presented by longtime Mondavi viticulturalist (since 1985 I believe) Daniel Bosch. The 2011 wine from the vines poured at the vineyard is one of the best Sauvignon Blancs I have tasted from California. Not only are the vines old and provide minute quantities of dense fruit, Mondavi has poured years of research into developing it into an amazing wine. They even have worked with a couple of coopers to develop specifically lightly toasted barrels to bring out the aromatics while not glazing over the fruit with woody character.

Library, as you mentioned, is a pretty unique vineyard. Also, given its amazing diversity (22 varieties) including some of the only existing Green Hungarian left in California (Putzcheere) it seems a fitting metaphor that it belongs to the library. Seeing it taken out would be a bit like having the library itself only catalogue books on finance.

Hayne and Old Kraft are both amazing vineyards and show the greatness of both Zinfandel and Petite Sirah in St. Helena. Also, standing in Turley’s section of Hayne Pets and looking across to the gleaming posts and steel wires of the newly installed Beckstoffer Cabernet vineyard, where more old Petite Sirah also planted by Ottie Hayne in 1952 once stood, is a good reminder of why the Historic Vineyard Society was created. Like taking out an old house with character and putting up a McMansion.

Mondavi did a wonderful job with the dinner and thought the crowd did a great job of withstanding my father’s Sven and Ollie jokes.

As for the blend on the 2013 Oakville Farmhouse Heritage Wine/ Gamble. This vineyard is located at the foot of Harlan along Oakville Grade, catty-corner to the To-Kalon research station. Its 2.5 acres possesses the oldest vines left in Oakville, and perhaps even more amazingly, the last bit of old Crabb’s Black Burgundy in Napa. H.W. Crabb, the legendary original owner of To-Kalon experimented with many varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, but named only one after himself. It turns out that Crabb’s Black Burgundy is actually Mondeuse, which is from the Savoie and related to Syrah (paging Carol Meredith). The entire vineyard itself is a field-blend (quel surprise!) of 22.5% Negrette, 14.5% Petite Sirah, 13.2% Zinfandel, 8.9% Colombard, 6.4% Mondeuse/Crabb’s Black Burgundy, 6.3% Carignan, 4% Chenin Blanc, 1.2% Muscadelle, 1.2% Cabernet and then scant amounts of Valdigue, Labrusca, Ruby Cab, Malvasia, Chasselas, Semillon, and Muscat Hamburg. One of my absolute favorite wines of 2013 and a vineyard Bedrock Wine Co. proudly farms for the owners.

Awesome thank you Morgan! Love the library metaphor I’m so up to my neck in getting pictures together I’m decidedly short on words, and couldn’t contribute 1% of what you did anyway.

It was a great event and we had a blast at dinner. The food was fantastic and there would be no way to put a value on the wines poured. We can’t wait for the next event!

Thanks for doing this Larry. I’ve been worn out and just don’t have the energy to put a report together. Now I don’t have to! the fellow at Old Kraft was Bill Pease I think.

Morgan, that Gamble was my #2 red of the night behind the '92 Dickerson. Just incredible structure and really shows it’s place in Oakville. Sensational wine that I’ll also be all in on assuming I have any money to spend. Another stellar HVS event. Next year think about RRV. Lots of old Dago Blended vineyards.

To Kalon

Hayne

Library

Old Kraft

Dinner

That salad was a work of art and the Pork Loin was the best tasting I have ever eaten.

Yup…totally agree, Morgan. Fantastic pics there, Larry.

Mondavi did a wonderful job with the dinner and thought the crowd did a great job of withstanding my father’s Sven and Ollie jokes.

Hmmm…I thought KentRosenblum was the great teller of Sven & Ollie jokes. They are all real groaners. I expected better from your Dad.

As for the blend on the 2013 Oakville Farmhouse Heritage Wine/ Gamble. This vineyard is located at the foot of Harlan along Oakville Grade, catty-corner to the To-Kalon research station. Its 2.5 acres possesses the oldest vines left in Oakville, and perhaps even more amazingly, the last bit of old Crabb’s Black Burgundy in Napa. H.W. Crabb, the legendary original owner of To-Kalon experimented with many varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, but named only one after himself. > It turns out that Crabb’s Black Burgundy is actually Mondeuse, which is from the Savoie and related to Syrah (paging Carol Meredith)> . The entire vineyard itself is a field-blend (quel surprise!) of 22.5% Negrette, 14.5% Petite Sirah, 13.2% Zinfandel, 8.9% Colombard, 6.4% Mondeuse/Crabb’s Black Burgundy, 6.3% Carignan, 4% Chenin Blanc, 1.2% Muscadelle, 1.2% Cabernet and then scant amounts of Valdigue, Labrusca, Ruby Cab, Malvasia, Chasselas, Semillon, and Muscat Hamburg. One of my absolute favorite wines of 2013 and a vineyard Bedrock Wine Co. proudly farms for the owners.

Not Carole…but we have appeared together on “Dancing With Stars”.

As SteveLagier calls it, Mondeuse (Noir) is the bastard uncle of Syrah. Syrah is a cross between MondeuseBlanche and Deureza.
Do you know if anyone takes that Mondeuse/Crabb’s from Kraft or does it go into a Biale blend??

As an aside, MattRorick has taken cuttings of the GreenHungarian from Library and got some planted by a friend over in the SuisunVlly. Someday, once again, we’ll have
great GreenHungarian from that God-forsaken grape.
Tom

Thanks Tom!

I think I remember Bob Biale saying that the blocks that don’t make the SVD Old Kraft are used in the Black Chicken, but could be wrong, as I say I was on the periphery of the event to take pics and my hearing is notoriously bad.

Brian and Morgan - I updated my posts to credit Daniel Bosch and Bill Pease. Thanks!

Library Green Hungarian

I can’t wait to try this. I will need to get out Wine Grapes to learn about some of these grapes. Spending time at Gamble in a few weeks. Never knew they had a mixed blacks vineyard.

Thanks for the reminder on that Tom. And no Crabb’s at Old Kraft, some Petite Sirah and a lone Syrah vine there.

And yes, Tegan has also planted Green Hungarian at Kirschenmann so clearly a real renaissance is taking place

Well, actually Morgan, those old GreenHungarians that GusSebastiani used to make back in the '70’s were kinda tasty in an old-timey
sort of way. The Weibels…those were pretty blah. Well before your time, though.
In fact, the whites you & Mike make sorta have some of that old-timey character that takes me back to Gus’s GH.

It’ll be interesting to see what Matt & Tegan can make from GH. Pick at 25Brix, barrel-ferment, age in new Fr.oak w/
lees stirring, full M-L, put up in heavy btls…yummmmmm. Might convince some folks that GH is not a God-forsaken grape!!
Tom

Larry - though I don’t pretend to have made it through all these notes and photos, I can say one thing: These are just lovely! The clarity of the photos, along with the framing of the moments, is just boggling.

Thanks Merrill!

Larry, from one photographer to another - THANK YOU! Thanks for capturing this event with such wonderful images. Awesome that you are able to share these with those of us that can’t make it to such an amazing event.

Craig, thanks so much. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to participate in my own way, in this movement that’s so dear to my heart. Maybe next year you can make it up?