napa wine

Review | Faust 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

faust wine 2012The Faust wine label is often (and incorrectly) thought of as Quintessa’s second wine, or Quintessa jr.  Although Faust is made at and aged at Quintessa by the same wine maker, Charles Thomas – the fruit is different.  Quintessa is a pure expression of a single estate vineyard in Rutherford.  Faust is sourced primarily from it’s own 110 acre vineyard in the  Coombsville AVA.  Although there is enough fruit from Rutherford, Atlas Peak, Mount Veeder and the Oak Knoll District to be designated “Napa Valley”.

So now that we’ve got that clarification out of the way…hows the wine?  Before I get to that here’s a little more on the production:  The 2012 season in Napa was pretty much ideal according to many.  There was a long harvest season without any major rains during harvest.  This wine underwent “Extensive selective picking” according to the folks at Faust.  Why do they do this?  Optimal grapes usually means optimal wine.  “These grapes were hand picked, double sorted and crushed, then cold soaked and fermented in both French oak and stainless steel tanks.  After extended maceration and malolactic fermentation, the wine was aged for 19 months in 100% french oak, with 30% of the oak being new.” – from the Faust sell sheet.  I’ve read a few sell sheets writing this website for the last 6 years, and I really like that simple succinct description.

The Facts:  80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. 14.% Alc  $50 retail

This wine is intense.  If you like big bold Cabernets that pair well with a big juicy Rib Eye steak this is the wine for you.  Although there are subtle elements to the wine, it is predominantly a powerhouse.  Red plum, black cherry, cassis, cocoa.  Also espresso and an almost cedar like forest like element.  The tasting notes say sandalwood, which I can see as well.  Although the wine can be enjoyed now, it should benefit from a little more time in the bottle, and or some decanting.

Weekly Wine Journal rating 90 points

*wine provided for review

napa valley view

A Visit to Keever Vineyards

A Visit to Keever Vineyards

I was first introduced to Keever Vineyards by a gentleman named Chilli Davis at a wine tasting in Scottsdale, Arizona and was immediately hooked, the wine was incredible.  This past June while visiting Napa for the Taste of Howell Mountain Christine Piccin with Mackenzie Agency (PR) was kind enough to set me up with a private tasting (actually all the Keever tastings are private) on VERY short notice.  Because of intermittent cell service I missed the confirmation of my appointment but Olga Keever was nice enough to leave me a phone message.  I called back and a guy named Bill answered. He said he would wait for me.

Keever Vineyards, adding the personal touch

Keever Vineyards, adding the personal touch

I arrived an hour and a half past the original appointment time and was greeted by Bill.  Bill Keever, owner.  When I walked in the tasting room, which is actually a massive two story architectural marvel I noticed some wines set on the counter.  Then I noticed a big card which read “Welcome Tim!”

Bill took me on an extended tour of the building, the production facilities, the cave, the vineyard and back to the tasting room for more wine.  All along the tour I was able to ask questions and Bill answered freely.

Keever-vineyards-19One of the things I learned is that Bill graduated from Napa Valley high school and ended up becoming the CEO of Vodafone Asia region.  His base of operations for most of his time overseas was Germany and the Netherlands and it was during this time that his exposure to wine occurred in a big way.  They moved back to Napa in 1999 and Bill finally retired in 2003.  Eventually they came across some property right next to the Veterans Hospital right near Yountville.  If you’ve ever driven north on Highway 29 from Napa to St Helena, on the left hand side of the road just as you’re getting into Yountville there’s a big white building on the west side of the road, nestled up against the foothills of the Mayacamas range.  The property was actually a horse training facility complete with a small outdoor arena.  Bill said this was really convenient because all of the surrounding area has massive rocks in and on the ground that need to be removed prior to planting a vineyard.  Luckily this had already been completed and also the land had been leveled out nicely as well.

stunning view from the tasting room

stunning view from the tasting room

The next step in pursuing the dream was to find a wine maker.  Bill enlisted the help of a friend and well known Napa Valley consultant to find a top notch wine maker and eventually Celia Welch agreed to be their wine maker.  For those of you not familiar with Celia Welch she was named Food & Wine Magazine’s winemaker of the year for 2008.  She has been a consulting wine maker rock star for over 25 years.  She stated with Staglin and currently works with Kelly Flemming, Scarecrow, Barbour, Hollywood & Vine and others.   Celia has her own label, Corra wines as well.  Celia helped the Keevers with more than just the wine making, she was instrumental in the layout and design of the facilities as well.  In effect Celia manages them, not the other way around.

Inside the tasting room/house

Inside the tasting room/house

Bill poured me a glass of the Keever Sauvignon Blanc and we took a tour of the production facilities, which is one of the most pristine, clean and organized facilities I’ve ever seen.  It’s as if there has never been any wine made there, spotless.  This, in large part is Celia’s influence.  She is a stickler for sanitary wine making conditions.  This interesting interview from Wines and Vines goes into more depth on that subject: ( winesandvines.com )  The wine production area is gravity fed an interesting and unique feature.  All of the open top stainless steel fermentation tanks are not bolted to the floor.  They are movable.  The fruit comes in on a mezzanine level above the tank room and goes thru the de-stemmer and is sorted and all the good fruit is then dropped through a hole into a waiting tank beneath.  The tanks are switched out by forklift.  Rather than bring the fruit to the tank, they do it the other way around, by bringing the tank to the fruit.

production facilities

production facilities

Room for 100 of your closest friends

Room for 100 of your closest friends

Next, we headed into the wine cave.  Although not the biggest by any means, it extremely clean, and the tunnel itself is actually pretty wide.  In the middle it opens up into a big room where there is enough room for a table and 100 of your closest friends.  There’s even a wine vault at the end, with a little table for two behind the glass wall.

After the cave we walked back around the front of the property and took a look at progress of the grapes.  Bill laughed that his granddaughter loves to eat the little grapes, especially as they become ripe.

The vault

The vault

We ended up back in the tasting house and I sampled through the Keever Vineyards current offerings ( I’ll be posting these reviews in future updates).

If you’re into high quality Napa wines and cabernets in particular you should definitely look into Keever.  If you’re in Napa and want to visit be sure to make arrangements ahead of time as the vineyard is protected by a large gate, so you can’t just show up, all tastings are by appointment only.

Keever Vineyards Website

 

 

Wine Review | Robert Craig 2009 Affinity, Napa Valley

Wine Review | Robert Craig 2009 Affinity, Napa Valley

I’ve had the ’09 vintage of Robert Craig’s “Affinity” before, but it recently caught my attention at my local Costco -priced at under $40! I couldn’t pass it up.

Great napa wine

I have an Affinity for this wine!

The blend on the 2009 Affinity is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 5% Merlot, 2 % Malbec and 1% Cabernet Franc.

Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator had estimated the wines maturity to occur  between 2012-2013 and 2017-2023. While there is quite a bit of difference on the back end of that estimate, they are very close on the start. As I write this post it is about halfway through 2013 and this wine is definitely coming into its own right now.

The nose is quintessential Napa.  espresso, cocoa, with floral hints from the Cabernet Franc .  The palate is rich, dark and robust.  Plum and cherry with a solid backbone of tannins provided by the Petit Verdot.

I sampled this over a 24 hour period.  Enjoying the first half of the bottle with grilled Filet Mignon and baked potato with all the fixings.  On the second night I had it just by itself, before dinner.  The wine definitely opened up by the second night, which is not to say it wasn’t ready to drink on the first night.  On the first night I decanted for 15 minutes only.

Retail price on this wine is about $55.  You can expect to pay $80-$120 at a restaurant.

Weekly Wine Journal rating: 96 points

Robert Craig Winery | Phoenix tasting

This past January I attended a Robert Craig Winery wine tasting held at Garage Wine & Tap in Phoenix, Arizona.  Mr Robert (Bob) Craig was on hand to talk with guests and answer their questions and show case the brand new release of his flagship wine the 2010 Affinity.

a picture of robert craig and weekly wine journal writer Tim Hilcove

Robert Craig & me

If you don’t know Robert Craig, then lets start with a little background:

Robert Craig is responsible for the Mount Veeder and Spring Mountain American Viticultural Areas (A.V.A’s)  He is a Napa pioneer, and started out putting together real estate deals in Napa in the late 1960’s early 70’s. During this time he came across an offer he couldn’t refuse for some potential vineyard land which he later sold to Donald Hess and then stayed on as vineyard manager during the 1980’s.  In 1992 Robert Craig started his own winery and in 2002 he built a state of the art winery and started a small vineyard on  some prime land on the top of Howell Mountain situated right between Black Sears Vineyard and Outpost.  An interesting factoid about Bob is that he was in the Coast Guard in the 1950’s and was stationed off the very southern panhandle of Alaska just a few hours from where I grew up as a kid.   A while back I wrote a 5 part series on Affordable California Cult Wines, Robert Craig was one of them.  Check out that post HERE.

image of Robert Craig wine label

2009 Affinity

SO!  How was the wine you are probably asking.  Very, very good.  I started out with the only white wine made by Robert Craig, the 2010 Durel vineyard Chardonnay.  This is a very nicely balanced Chardonnay, not too much oak, in-fact very little, and not overly buttery.  This is a much more Euro style Chard than a California butter and oak pile-driver.  I mingled with the guests and tried to gauge their “affinity” for the chard and even though most people were there for the reds, they actually were pleasantly surprised by this wine.  I’ve had it before and new to expect good things, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Next up was the ’09 Affinity followed by the brand new 2010 Affinity.

2009 Zinfandel

2009 Zinfandel

Both are stellar, and very approachable right now.  Only minimal decanting might be required and certainly no extra again, although like most fine wines these will improve with age.  I was eager to get into the mountain fruit and so I moved over to an additional tasting station near the back of the restaurant that was serving Robert Craig’s 2009 Black Sears Vineyard Howell mountain Zinfandel, and the ’08 and ’09 Howell Mountain Cabernets.  Robert Parker gave the ’09 Howell mountain cab 96 points.  Most Napa Valley Cabernets scoring 96+ points are in the $300 range. Compare that to Robert Craig’s price tag of $80 and you can easily see why I put him in the Affordable California Cult Wines series.

garage wine and tap interior

Inside the Garage

Near the end of the evening I sat on a bar stool next to Bob and a gentleman approached him and asked a very good question: “How do you make these wines so approachable at such a young age, especially the mountain fruit?”

Bob answered, it’s all about vineyard management.  Picking the fruit at the right time and to a large extent only picking the fruit.  Picking by hand, meticulously sorting out stems and substandard fruit, and also harvesting at the right time.

Currently the 2009 Affinity is at select Costco’s or you can order it online at RobertCraigWine.com

Visit Garage Wine & Tap, it’s a nice venue for tasting wine and its built inside of an old garage in central Phoenix

How one Napa Valley producer has found success by focusing on Quality not Quantity

wine bottleRobert Craig, one of Napa Valley’s most dynamic and hard working winemakers, recently took a small break from his busy schedule to visit the Phoenix area. I was lucky enough to be invited as a guest at a wine maker dinner he was hosting at the outstanding, newly designed restaurant, Bistro Laurent Tourondel (BLT).

BLT has built a reputation for their fabulous cellar, stocked full of top tier Napa Valley and Bordeaux, valued at a cool $100,000.  As quickly as I was let in to their cellar, I was let out… I think the manager was concerned with my wandering, awestruck eyes.  You have to be careful of those blogger types, eh?
dining room

Dining room and wine cellar

Returning to the dining room, Robert Craig entered to a warm round of applause.  Craig took us on a journey of his winery’s history and experiences before delving into an important piece of his wine making philosophy.  He critically referred to the American culture of always looking out for what’s next, always trying to get bigger and bigger and bigger, especially in business.  At this point in his life, which he jokingly refers to as “getting on in years”,  he is not concerned with producing more wine as many of his neighbors are. Instead, his focus is on quality.  It became obvious that his philosophy is taken from many smaller, boutique European producers, as he continually referenced the ideals of these overseas cohorts.

scottsdale BLT

Guests enjoying champagne before dinner

The first course was a country style duck pate with brandied cherries, pistachio and arugula paired with the 2008 Robert Craig “Durrell Vineyard” Chardonnay from Sonoma Valley.  This Chardonnay is the only wine he makes outside of Napa, and the only white wine in his entire portfolio.  Aged in a mix of 10% new French oak, 65% neutral French oak and 25% Stainless steel, it is a wine that is light on oak, focused on fruit purity and a distinct sense of the Durrell Vineyard terroir. Less than 500 total cases were produced.

This was followed by roasted pork belly, ricotta gnudi, root vegetable fricassee and crispy pork skins paired with the 2007 Robert Craig “Affinity”, a Bordeaux styled blend created specifically with “the restaurant experience in mind”, as Craig explained.  The wine should not require additional aging or decanting to be enjoyed.  Each year just under 6,000 cases of Affinity are produce and every year it sells out.  With a 96 point score from Robert Parker, it’s no wonder they have no trouble selling it.  I found the wine to be smooth and supple in the way it just seemed to glide across the palate.  It screams quintessential Napa Valley, with cassis, perfume, violet and a hint of tar.  At $48 retail, this might be the steal of the century.

I just had to take this picture!

The third course was a Grouper stew featuring lobster mushrooms, chirozo and northern beans, a great but non-traditional pairing for the 2006 Robert Craig Mt. Veeder Cabernet.  A big and chewy wine with rich tannins, this is a bigger style than the Affinity, requiring a slight decant for maximum enjoyment.

The main course, a pepper-crusted NY strip with huckleberry braised beef cheek, roasted carrots and fava beans was paired with the 2006 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc.  With a miniscule production of  1,240 cases, this wine is simply stunning.  It is riper than the Mt. Veeder with an even longer finish. This is a serious Napa Cab with a long future ahead of it, meaning that decanting is recommended in the near future.
The fifth and final course was caramelized French butter pears with cambozola ice cream inside of a walnut crisp pastry paired with the 2007 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Zinfandel. This is where the pairings really pushed the envelope.  Cambozola ice cream tastes like ice cream made with brie and blue cheese.  However, it really worked with the sweet pears and the earthy zinfandel.  The fruit comes from the famous Black Sears vineyard on Howell Mountain, the highest vineyard on Howell Mountain. The wine is peppery with a pronounced minerality that I found to be quite interesting. Again, at only 800 cases produced, Craig’s mantra for quality and not quantity becomes evident.
Sitting next to Robert Craig throughout dinner and having deep conversation with him, you get a real feel for the winemaker.  Humble, soft spoken and gentle, but also exceptional.  More producers should take a cue from Craig and focus on their wine, not the numbers.
Edited by Jon Troutman

Women in Wine | Janet Myers | Franciscan Magnificat
wine label

Franciscan Magnificat 2005

The phenomenon of women in wine is not as recent as you might think, nor is it limited to a few famous wine makers such as Heidi Barrett.  While most casual wine drinkers might not have heard of Janet Myers, they most surely will be familiar with Napa Valley producer Franciscan Estates.  Franciscan Estates started back in 1972 but now boasts 240 acres under vine in the prime Oakville District of Napa Valley. Franciscan Estates began its rise to prominence in the mid ’70’s by making wine in small lots and then blending them together to get the desired result.  Franciscan adopted the Bordeaux style of wine making 1985 with the launch of its flagship wine, Magnifcat..   Magnificat is a rich powerful full bodied wine using the traditional Bordeaux varieties of grape. Janet Myer’s joined the team at Franciscan in 2003 but her first job was working harvest at Robert Mondavi when she was still a student at UC Davis.  Is it just me or am I seeing a lot of great wine makers coming out of UC Davis?   Janet has travelled to Italy and Australia to work with leading vinters to improve her skills and  has been director of wine at Franciscan since 2005, the same vintage that I tasted recently at a Women & Wine dinner.
The 2005 Magnificat is a blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Malbec, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc.  I put my nose deep in the glass and took a big “sniffy sniff” and was met with the quintessential Napa nose; Cassis, Vanilla and cedary oak.  The palate was plummy with black cherry and Anise and was a superb match for the New York strip steak grilled medium rare. The alcohol is 14.5% which may be a little higher than the wines of Bordeaux, but I did not find the wine to be overly alcoholic or hot. Production was a little over 24,000 cases so consumer’s shouldn’t have any trouble finding this vintage or more recent vintages. At $50 a bottle this wine is more than I would spend on a daily drinker, but quite reasonable as a monthly treat.

Fleming’s steakhouse “women and wine” wine dinner

Fleming’s prime steakhouse

 

3 wine bottles

featured wines

 

and wine bar is recognizing breast cancer awareness month by hosting a “Women & Wine” dinner  Tuesday October 19th, and on Friday October 22nd.  The event is billed as “the ultimate girls night out” and features wines by Cathy Corison, Kirstin Belair and Janet Myers.  These women are the wine makers at Corison, Honig and Franciscan respectively.

In addition to the premium Napa Valley wines guests will enjoy a 4 course meal created by Fleming’s executive chef Russell Skall.  The price is $95 per person not including tax or gratuity, and reservations are required

Click here for the menu

Click here for Fleming’s locations