My name is Gianni and i’m 26 yrs old. I’m new to this forum. I’ve “seriously” gotten into wines over the past 6 months and learning as I go. As of now, a lot of my interest is in Napa Valley and there are so many wineries that it’s almost hard to try them all. I would also like to narrow down my focus on some great gems out there.
What are some interesting facts about some wineries you recommend? Almost any convincing reason to try the wine such as a fun fact about the wineries blender, it’s location, it’s ownership, it’s competition winnings, it’s style, etc.
For example, everyone knows Chateau Montelena for the Judgement of Paris (I had a wonderful 2007 a few nights ago). For me, Dominus has that old school BDX style that I often look for in napa wines and I think we can thank Christian Moueix for this.
I would also like if you can pinpoint wineries that source their grapes from outside it’s estate. This is something that I would like to avoid trying at the moment as I would like to spend my coin on estate grown grapes.
EDIT** No Budget. Please feel free to include the Harlans, SEagles, Bryants of the world. I want to know what makes them “first growth”. I personally spend up to $500 CAD a bottle for a real special treat. I tend to spend between $100-$300 CAD for my more frequent purchases.
Welcome!
I am intrigued/puzzled by your insistence on sticking to estate-grown wines.
There are some very, very good winemakers who do not own a lot of vineyards, or any vineyards at all. That doesn’t change the fact that good grapes are good grapes, and good winemakers make good wine.
Really cool post, love the enthusiasm! I was the exact same age when I dove in deep as well!
You will get some really great recos from the Napa crowd folks here. You will see some great threads on established and budding new wineries, like Beta/Jasud. I just posted a TN in Beta.
Thinking beyond Cabs, I would encourage you to explore as well some classic Zins. Two wineries in particular: Ridge and Bedrock. Ridge is an icon with a very unique American oak signature, called the Draper perfume after the guru that was at the helm for like 50 years. Ridge also makes classic Cabs from its Santa Cruz location. Bedrock is a newer winery, came in strong around 2008. The founder, Morgan Twain-Peterson, is the son of another legendary Zin producer, Joel Peterson, who founded Ravenswood and now founded Once and Future. Morgan focuses on preserving and producing elegant wines from California’s historic vineyards, mostly field blends. He makes quite a few cuvées and it’s hard to go wrong. The Oakville Farmhouse bottling is one of the most unique wines made in California, or indeed America. I think it has over 17 different grapes in the blend. Personally, I think Morgan will go down in California history near the equivalent of a Mondavi, for everything that he is doing to preserve these ancient, historic vineyards, and produce a refined, elegant style of Zinfandel that is age worthy.
And most of all, have fun! And start posting. It is a great community here, and we all learn from a heightened level of participation from the board denizens.
Lots of good wines out there. Check winebid before parting with your money. There’s an ocean of Napa from strong vintages selling for way below release price.
List below off the top of my head of estate wineries. Apologies and no disrespect to any omission.
“Stalwarts” with long track record (check winebid):
Togni
Dunn
Mayacamas
Chapellet
Diamond Creek
Lagier Meredith
Eisele
Dalla Valle
Spottswoode
Heitz
I don’t doubt it one bit, and i will eventually venture into wines that source grapes. But, something about investing and operating your own estate is impressive. I also respect vertical integration as it gives you a much tighter relationship to the wine growing process. Lastly, I could understand the higher prices for estate grown prices due to the overhead that comes with it.
These names all sound very familiar to me due to their popularity. But what makes Dunn, a Dunn?
I own two diamond creeks (volcanic and red rock) and one of the things that made me purchase those bottles is for how small their vineyard is! Pretty impressive. 7 acres is pretty small by all standards?
What makes Eisele, Spottswoode and Chapellet so great?
Interesting request, and my #1 choice based on your considerations is Corison (mentioned above), but for that winery you would have to focus on the Kronos or Sunbasket wines, rather than their outstanding Napa Cabernet, as it does include purchased grapes.
That said, I think you may be starting from a false understanding of what really happens with high end purchased grapes these days. It’s not typically some arm’s length “here’s the grapes, where’s my check” relationship. The winery and the grower often work quite closely, to the point of it being a symbiotic relationship. I immediately think of Ramey winery, and their flagship Chardonnay from Hyde Vineyard. It’s purchased grapes (Ramey does have an estate vineyard, but it’s in Sonoma), but it’s about as good a Chardonnay as money can buy.
The idea that “spending your coin” on estate grapes is some kind of differentiator in terms of quality is a false assumption.
That’s a good perspective that I may have ignored. I just feel like you can source some grapes, have someone blend it and then slap a $250 label on it. I may be a bit ignorant here.
I’d like to highlight a wine you can’t get unless you pay the huge aftermarket premium - MacDonald - as the story behind that vineyard is absolutely essential and legendary to Napa Cabernet. Literally OG high-end fruit for all of Napa Cabernet for generations - one of the principal sources of Mondavi’s Reserve for decades, vineyards never left the family, then the young brothers Macdonald decide to convince the Mondavi Mafia (not meant in any disrespect, full respect, actually, as clearly that family is what most of us who like or love Napa Cab (or even California wine at ALL!) owe everything to) to let them make wine with some of the family fruit. Then, if you are lucky enough to taste there, and you see the geography of the vineyard, how it is nestled so perfectly at the base of the mountain, with a stream filled with various rocks and minerals all supplying the immediate surrounding area with grape-growing-goodness…that’s freakin’ stellar. That’s a story
(Apologies if I do not have the story fully correct, I’m sure @Alex_MacDonald can correct me, as I likely took some dramatic license - perhaps my story is better, and one they will want to stick with anyway!)
You can do that, but we can easily provide you with numerous wineries that are much more hands on/committed to quality than that.
The Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a fantastic example. Cathy Corison is about as committed as it gets, and for about $100 you get a great wine despite it not all coming from her estate vineyards. Now for about $200 you can get her estate wines, but as much as I love them I don’t think they represent a doubling of quality. It not that the Kronos and Sunbasket wines aren’t great, it’s that the Napa Cabernet is that good!
For $75 to $150 wines, I would try Di Costanzo and William & Mary. Both are traditional Napa cabs that are well balanced. They don’t try to hide they are from California, but they also favor balance over ripeness.
Thank you very much. This is exactly the type of insights I am looking for. Adding to the list of next purchases!
Speaking of Mondavi, my dad has a 3 yr vertical (86,87 and 88 if im not mistake) of Mondavi Reserve Cabs that i’m itching to try when he is ready to open them.
From Santa Cruz, definitely try Ridge MB and Mount Eden.
From Sonoma, channeling more what Robert said, try Ridge Geyserville.
But, also go outside your comfort zone in two ways. First, try to find wines from some of your favorites with age on them. Compare the same wines young, middle aged and old. Learn what age does for a Cabernet. Once you figure out whether you like wines younger or older, it will really impact you buying habits. If you really mean budget does not matter, don’t go upscale with more expensive producers - go upscale with things like 1978 Diamond Creek, 1984 or 1991 Ridge Monte Bello or, from a winery that you mentioned, 1978 or 1991 Montelena. Mount Eden sells at the winery older vintages like 2007, which is wonderful but still in need of further age.
Second, compare Napa Cabernet with Bordeaux. There have been some really good threads lately on great value Bordeaux. Try wines from vintages like 1982, 1996, 2000 and 2001. Also try younger wines from say 2016.
Two books I would suggest you read. Since you know about the Judgement of Paris, read George Taber’s book on the tasting. It does a wonderful job of teaching about the history of wines in the Napa Valley and in California in general. You will learn, for example, that the guy who made the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay there was Miljenko “Mike” Grgich - Grgich Hills Estate You will also learn that the guy who made the wonderful Sterling Cabs of the early to mid-1970s is Ric Forman, now of Forman Winery.
Then read a wine philosophy book at is all about French wines, but the lessons from the book on how to taste can be applied anywhere - Kermit Lynch’s Adventures Along the Wine Route.