Received the highest scores by JL in the latest issue. That’s a new name for me, haven’t heard of this operation before. Laube said the wines were made by Thomas Brown but that contradicts the web site’s info. What do people know about these guys? Looks intriguing.
Shibumi Knoll is owned by Don Ross and sits off the same road that V29’s Aida vineyard is on (east side of 29 between St. Helena and Calistoga). There are two wines produced, a Cabernet from estate fruit and a Chardonnay from the Buena Tierra Vineyard in RRV. The winemaker was the same guy that makes Bennessere (sp?), but he was replaced by TRB last year.
Sarah, thanks for the update. It does appear that TRB is everywhere, looking forward to trying some of his wines. Also, Abreu is the vineyard manager so they have an excellent team in place.
Both the cab and chard are very good. I think the chard is actually the star of the vineyard.
The chard is not from the vineyard. As was mentioned, it is from Buena Tierra in The Russian River.
they also make a pinot, purchased the chards from 05’ and they are very good. Laube gave the 05 or 06 high scores as well for the chard.
They didn’t release a Chardonnay in 06. Quality wasn’t there. For my tastes Shibumi Knoll are among the best Chardonnay I’ve had-from anywhere.
Now that you mention it, I remember that email. Has anyone tasted the cab?
I’ve had the 05 and 06. They were fairly tannic on release. Definitely benefit from a few years in the bottle. A recent 06 I had was excellent. Will be interesting to see how things change with TRB at the helm.
I’ve been a fan of the Chardonnay since the 07 release. I’m more of a white burg fan and haven’t enjoyed many Cali chards but this one really stands out. I had the 2010 with Joann Ross in February in Napa and I think the 2010 is underrated in the recent WS article. Great juice worth checking out.
On the cabernet side, had the 2008 once and I’m excited to see where Thomas can take it. Certainly great fruit on the valley floor by Aida.
The winemaker on those wines was Chris Dearden. He has his own labels called Sleeping Giant and Argus. He makes a Chardonnay and Cab Sauv. under the Sleeping Giant label and a Pinot and Chardonnay under the Argus label. He also makes Cab and Sangio for Chanticleer and Cab, Petite Syrah, Chard, and Zin for V Madrone. Great guy to hang out with when you are in the valley.