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MORE CALIFORNIA CABERNETS
- RIDGE VINEYARDS & WINERY
2007 Monte Bello (Santa Cruz Mountains) Cab, etc. $119.99
2005 Monte Bello (Santa Cruz Mountains) Cab, etc. $129.99
2005 Monte Bello (Santa Cruz Mountains) Cab, etc. Magnum: Sale $269.99
2004 Monte Bello (Santa Cruz Mountains) Cab, etc. $129.99
2004 Monte Bello (Santa Cruz Mountains) Cab, etc. (375ml) $69.99
2004 Monte Bello (Santa Cruz Mountains) Cab, etc. 3-liter: $549.99
2004 Monte Bello (Santa Cruz Mountains) Cab, etc. Magum: $269.99
2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Cab, etc. $39.99
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 This
vineyard easily merits inclusion on the list of California "Grand Cru"
sites. The track record for Monte Bello is long and reasonably consistent.
The vineyard is atop Monte Bello Ridge. Cabernet from this site is sometimes big and
tannic, but almost always elegant and refined.
The winery was founded by Dave
Bennion and some pals from Stanford Research Institute. They had several other
partners and made wine in a cellar closed in the 1940s. The wines were like Dave:
big, bold, intense and a bit rustic.
Winemaker Paul Draper arrived on the scene in 1970 and those wines of the early part of the decade were huge. They're still young
and backwards. Draper made a sensational wine from a vineyard called Eisele in 1971
and this, too, is a candidate for the Hall of Fame. This wine
really established the Eisele Vineyard as a potentially great site and
Phelps made a few vintages of it in later years.
 The
Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains appellation appears on Cabernets from time to
time. Ridge has segmented their Cabernet vineyards into three dozen
different parcels. The best, most structured and cellar-worthy wines
go into the Monte Bello, while the Santa Cruz label is the
"declassified" wine.
Their 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon and 42%
Merlot. No other Bordeaux varieties are in the mix in this vintage.
This is made of fruit from their Monte
Bello vineyards. The wine is medium-full bodied and has a wonderful
perfume of the Cabernets. Wood is in the background, enhancing the
wine rather than covering it. This is drinkable now, especially with
food. We expect it to develop and soften in the bottle over the next
5-10 years. Good value, too.
The Monte Bello "Cabernet" is routinely a wine we view as a
leading ambassador for California wines. The wine has a great track
record, being worthy of comparison to top Bordeaux. It's typically a
much different animal from its Napa Valley competitors, as it's not a
"fruit bomb" and we're fairly certain they don't blend in the
grape concentrate called "Mega Purple" in hopes of gaining
impressive numerical scores from those who critique California wines.
The 2007 vintage is a good example of wine from this vineyard site. It
is a shade lighter than some of the previous vintages, but the wine still
manages to capture the character of Monte Bello and yet the wine still has
good cellaring potential and is in need of five years and then some to
blossom.
The 2004 is developing handsomely and is a very elegant
"claret". The 2005 is a shade bigger and is also very young,
still. It can be kept, well-stored, for probably another 15-20 years.
- ROMBAUER VINEYARDS
 Rombauer is, these days, famous for its hugely-oaked
Chardonnay (is it a Spatlese or merely a Kabinett level wine?), but they make a nice, medium-full bodied Cabernet.
They used to purchase fruit for this, but these days, it's entirely from
estate grown grapes. They have parcels in Calistoga, St. Helena, Atlas
Peak and Stags Leap.
The 2007 has a bit of Cabernet Franc and a drop of Petit Verdot in
it. No Merlot in 2007...The wine sees a high percentage of new oak, but it's not
especially woody on the nose or palate.
This is not an especially complex bottle of wine, but it is a pleasantly satisfying
Napa red.-
- Currently in stock: 2007 ROMBAUER Napa CABERNET
(List $42) SALE $37.99
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ROUND POND
 Old
MacDonell had a farm, ee-eye-ee-eye-oh.
And the farm is in Napa Valley's town of Rutherford, a prime site for
Cabernet Sauvignon.
The place is named after a childhood camping place in New York near West
Point...Round Pond. MacDonnell named his Rutherford retreat as Round
Pond and today they grow grapes and olives on the property.
The 2008 is a deep, dark, full-bodied red. They fortify the Cabernet
with a bit of Petit Verdot and the wine is very showy. We like the intense dark
berry notes and the moderately oaky character. It's approachable now
and it ought to cellar nicely for another 5-10 years.
The wine had been selling for $60 a bottle, but with the lack of customers
saluting that flag, the price has been reduced to a most attractive $49.99.
Currently in stock: 2008 ROUND POND Napa-Rutherford CABERNET
SAUVIGNON SALE $49.99
SAGE VINEYARDS This
is one of the most exciting new labels we've tasted. And we taste a
lot of wine!
Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Napa are plentiful and usually rather
costly. The average Napa vintner views $50 as their "every day
wine." We tasted some perfectly ordinary wine from a new
"start up" recently and I didn't think the wine was worth $15 for
a bottle. It carried a retail price of $75. "What makes
this wine so costly?" I asked.
The winery rep opened his briefcase and plonked (and that's the correct, if
technical, term) down a map of the "neighborhood."
"Look where we are. See all those famous neighbors? We're
on prime real estate."
I studied the map for a moment and noticed that one of their famous
neighbors offers its Cabernet for ten bucks a bottle less. And the
famous neighbor has been making good Cabernet for more than 3
decades.
So, perhaps we're a bit jaded.
And then Sage Vineyards Cabernet shows up. I don't know how many
points it's received. I don't know who these people are. All I
know is here's a really grand Napa Cabernet which tastes like "Mount
Veeder"-grown Cabernet. It's nicely oaked and a showy bottle of
wine. Delicious now if you pair it with red meat to tame its moderate
tannins. We expect it to age nicely, too, if anyone can resist
drinking it in its youth.
Okay...so we're fans and want to know who are the people behind Sage
Vineyards. It turns out we know the two fellows who handle the winery
for the owners...they're both former Peter Michael Winery staffers and their
own label is called "L'Angevin" (a source for dynamite Chardonnay
and Pinot Noir).
Alan Peirson was instrumental in developing the vineyards and designing the
winery for Peter Michael. He met winemaker Robbie Meyer there when
Meyer came on board as an enologist. The pair then founded the
L'Angevin winery and they're working their usual magic at this new
place. Peirson's also an artist as is one of the principals. On
the other hand, Meyer might also be viewed as an artist, given what's in the
bottle.
The 2004 is the first release of Sage Vineyards Cabernet. The property
encompasses some 21 acres between 1800 and 2000 feet. Volcanic
soils. Sunny days and cool nights. Five Bordeaux
varietals. Nice oak. The wine is dark in color and teeming with
black fruit aromas. Don't miss it!
Currently in stock: 2004 SAGE VINEYARDS "Mount Veeder"
CABERNET SAUVIGNON Sold Out
- SBRAGIA
 The Sbragia name may
be familiar to you if you read any wine publications. Winemaker Ed
Sbragia has been with the Beringer winery for more than 25 years. They
have put his name on a reserve wine or two.
Sbragia's father cultivated plums in Sonoma County in the 1930s and later
planted a vineyard. His efforts at winemaking were not so successful,
apparently. But Ed came on board at Beringer in the 1970s, working
with winemaking legend Myron Nightingale. Sbragia took over the helm
in 1984 and this coincides with Beringer's making tremendous qualitative
strides. The 1984 Reserve Cabernet really established Beringer as,
finally, a source for major league quality wines.
Well, Sbragia's son is now working in the wine business. Adam Sbragia
is employed at Beringer's "Souverain" facility in
Sonoma.
So now there's a "Sbragia Family" winery, featuring a range of
wines.
We included the "heavy hitter" bottling of Sbragia's line-up in
our May 2005 blind-tasting of 2001 Napa Cabernets. The wine was the
group's favorite wine. I also had it ranked first.-
- In October of 2006 we had Sbragia's 2003 "Monte Rosso Vineyard"
wine in a blind-tasting of Cabernets. It was the group's top wine as
it showed sweet oak and a wonderful fruit fragrance and flavor. I
knocked it a bit for its "currently fashionable styling," but
there's no denying the wine is quite good. The nose shows sweet
fragrances and the wine is full and deep on the palate. It will
probably cellar well for 5-10+ years, but it's most showy now.
The Monte Rosso vineyard was, of course, owned by Louis Martini and it's now
part of the Gallo empire.
The soils are decomposed volcanic red rock, a wonderful environment for
Cabernet Sauvignon.
The current release is from the 2005 vintage and it's equally marvelous and
showy. The wine is big, robust, nicely oaked and shows plenty of
Cabernet fruit on the nose and palate.
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- Currently in stock: 2005 Sbragia "Sonoma Valley"
Monte Rosso Cabernet Sauvignon $46.99
SEAVEY VINEYARDS
2003 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon $79.99 Bill and Mary Seavey
purchased a few acres in the eastern hills of the Napa Valley in the Conn
Valley area. Here they have about 35 acres of land, with some 20
different sections parceled out to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc,
Merlot and Petit Verdot.
We've seen a couple of vintages of Seavey wines. Cabernet seems to be
what they do best. Their winemaker is Philippe Melka, a fellow who
studied winemaking in Bordeaux. As a result of his French training,
Seavey's Cabernets are given extended skin contact following
fermentation. Aging in French oak is the standard practice here, with
about 30-40% new wood being used each vintage. The wines tend to have
a rather firm structure, probably a combination of the "mountain"
fruit and extended maceration on the skins. I can't say their wines
are the most flashy, heavily-oaked fruit bombs. These are, however,
serious wines and worthy of consideration for cellaring. The 1998
ought to be in fine shape from 2005-2012, or so.
SHOWKET VINEYARDS
2001 "Oakville" Cabernet Sauvignon
$64.99 (last bottles) The
Oakville appellation in Napa is certainly a source of fine Cabernet
Sauvignon fruit.
A nice feature of wine-drinking, as you probably know, is to be able to
taste a wine and sense where it comes from.
We have a couple of really top Cabernets which are fine examples of Oakville
"terroir." Showket's is one of them. (Emilio's
Terrace, from the west side of Oakville, is the other.) This wine
comes from vines on the eastern hills above Oakville and the wine expresses
its rocky terroir quite nicely.
I find notes of black cherry and dark-skinned plums in this 2001
vintage. Oak is certainly noticeable here, but not dominant in the
wine. It's a very pretty wine right now and I suspect it may be
cellared for another 10+ years.
SIGNORELLO VINEYARDS
By special order
 The Signorello family fell in love with the romantic notion of the
bucolic life of a wine-growing family and bought a hundred acres south of Stags Leap near
the Silverado Trail. The family sold their fruit to a number of wineries. I
think Ray Jr. was curious to see if he could produce wine of a higher quality than the
wines being made by his customers. He also was able to explore the world of French
wines and learned what the "target" was.
Tasting his wines over the past decade or so, I'm pretty certain Ray likes to
"taunt" those who purchased fruit by sharing his own efforts and comparing the
results.
Many times the Signorello production, I am sure, exceeded the quality levels
achieved by others.
With some hundred acres, they produce but 6,000 cases of wine annually.
Some fruit is still sold to other wineries, but Signorello produces some
really good wines.
The Cabernet vineyards are relatively young, being planted in 1990. One
parcel is eastern-facing, while the other has a western exposure.
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- SILVER OAK WINE CELLARS
2007 Alexander Valley SALE $59.99
Napa Sold Out
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 Brother Justin Meyer started his
wine career, I believe, at the Christian Brother's facility. He was involved at
Franciscan Vineyards in the early days of that property before striking gold with Silver
Oak.
The recipe has been simple, the winery creating a Cabernet styled along the
lines of the old-time Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernets: lots of American oak and no
Merlot.
We've liked these for a long time, but it took Robert Parker (The Wine
Advocate) until the early 1980s to finally praise these wines. Having been
beatified, the wines had been more difficult to acquire. No
longer the new kid on the block, Silver Oak wines are routinely viewed
derisively by hot-shot sommeliers who have dubbed the wine "Silver
Joke."
Okay...the wine might not be the most complex Cabernet on the planet, but it
is still a rather nice wine with a steak.
A Napa bottling is produced
at the Napa facility and, having bought the old Lyeth winery in Sonoma, their Alexander
Valley wine is vinified in Geyserville. The single vineyard "Bonny's" is
no longer in production at Silver Oak, but the Meyer family still owns the
vineyard and they are offering "Bonny's Vineyard" Cabernet under
their own banner.
If you
like this style of wine, which we do, please have a look at some of my Spanish
selections---these are matured in American oak as well, and many offer as much pleasure as
do the Silver Oak wines. The wines hold up beautifully, but we've found they are fully
developed upon release. While they may soften with time, you won't find subtle
nuances in an aged Silver Oak bottle...what you see is what you get. Delicious with
grilled or roasted red meats.
The 2007 Alexander Valley was the latest release. It is a wonderful,
classic example of Silver Oak Cabernets...lots of woodsy fragrances on the
nose and palate. The tannins are approachable and the wine can easily
be consumed now, in its youth. It ought to last well for another 5-10
years if stored properly. This is particularly satisfying
when paired with a grilled steak.
The Napa Cabernet is a fine example of what Silver Oak Cabernet is all
about. It's a throw-back to the great old bottles of Private Reserve
Cabernet from Beaulieu Vineyard back in the 1960s and 1970s. Those
were wines which showed lots of dark fruit notes and plenty of American oak.
We are currently sold out of Napa Cabernet from Silver Oak.
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- SIQUEIRA WINE COMPANY
 Young
Ryan Pierce is barely out of college and yet he's made a Cabernet which
rivals those of Napa Valley's "old pro's."
His family has a farm supply business in Lodi and dad designed some sort of
trellis for viticultural applications which is popular with grape
growers. Ryan spent a little time at Grgich Hills in Napa and,
apparently, learned how to make good Cabernet in the process. The
family has roots in Portugal and Grandpa Siqueira had invested in vineyard
land in what's now Stags Leap. Sharp fellow. Only a few acres
are planted presently.
We were pleasantly surprised in tasting this wine. It's from the 2002
vintage. You'll find plenty of Cabernet character in the Siqueira wine
and you'll find plenty of "Stags Leap" character in it, too.
Medium-bodied, rather than powerful and robust, it's a delicious and elegant
wine for immediate drinking and short-term cellaring (5-10 years,
approximately).
If you wish to gain a greater understanding between various Napa Valley
terroirs, consider opening a bottle of this and a bottle of the Serdonis
from Howell Mountain...each marvelous displays the particular
characteristics of their vineyard sites.-
- Currently in stock: 2002 SIQUEIRA Stags Leap CABERNET
$39.99
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- SPOTTSWOODE WINERY
2002 $109.99
2000 $79.99 (750ml)
2004 Please inquire
 Spottswoode is a
wonderful 40 acre property in St. Helena at the base of Spring Mountain. The Novak
family runs this great estate, a source of stylish, graceful Cabernet Sauvignon.
Eno-Wizard Tony Soter set up this facility and the wines have been exceptional right from
the start and continue to be very fine.
The consulting winemaker is named
Cakebread. Hmmmm. Maybe the wine should be called "Spottsbread" or
"Cakewoode." The winemaker currently is Jennifer
Williams, who also keeps a watchful eye on the vineyards.
These wines tend to be very satisfying in their youth, a
common trait of most of the Tony Soter wines. He has a really fine touch. The
wines age nicely, too. If you are looking for big, powerful Cabernet, Spottswoode
doesn't make it. If you enjoy something with refinement and elegance, then these
might be just what you're looking for, especially if you like crushed red
velvet.
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- SUMMERS
 The Summers
family has been growing grapes and making wine for a few years now, having
traded in his banking career for one in winemaking.
They're on Tubbs Lane in Calistoga, a neighborhood anchored by a little
winery called Chateau Montelena.
A 2008 "Calistoga Cuvée" is one of the few bargains in Napa
Valley-appellation wine. It's a medium-bodied Cabernet, intended for
immediate drinking, rather than extended cellaring. It's a wine which
is quite drinkable in its youth...very fine.
Currently available:
2008 Summers "Calistoga Cuvée" Cabernet Sauvignon $24.99
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