Smile at the Cellar Door

A recent blog post by wine critic, Steve Heimoff, leads me to this thought:

if you are lucky enough to live in or near wine country, get to know the wines and the people behind those wines. Letting a a numerical score (which implies an objectivity that doesn't exist) substitute for relationships seems like a recipe for a stunted, reductive experience.

Remember wine is all about relationships, the relationship of the grower with the vines, the winemaker with fruit, the Tasting Room team with its customers, and the customer to the experience. No purported exactitude can ever take the place of a smile at the cellar door.

Evolution's the Thing

Back when my dad started selling wine, there were only a handful of premium wineries in California, and the only model for world-class Cabernet was the wine from Bordeaux. Those wines were significantly lower in alcohol and less fruit-filled than their California counterparts. They were also very tannic, nearly undrinkable wines when they were young.

The concept of laying Cabernet down before you drank it and for ascribing inherent quality to a wine that can (or needs to) age before it is drunk is directly related to the Bordeaux experience. California wineries trying to make exceptional Cabernet emulated Bordeaux even when the viticultural conditions in their home state blessed them with a completely different kind of wine.

To my mind, the biggest, brawniest Cab in the room is not the prettiest pig at the Fair. Often, these huge monsters are so out of balance that by the time the tannins have softened with age, the piddling fruit that had started the journey was long gone when the wine was finally opened.

I love big, BALANCED wines. Cabernet is a grape that has tannin, and even more tannin is imparted to the wine when it is aged in newer barrels. Cabernet shouldn't apologize for having structure, but it also shouldn't haughtily beat its chest for having way more tannin than the rest of its constituent parts can elegantly support.

All wines will age. Tannins will soften out. Some wines will, no doubt, age better than others. What is important is not the wine's ability to age, it is the wine's ability to evolve into something worth waiting for. Great wines give you something substantially new each time you drink them...some new palette of secondary aromas, the dramatic debut of a heretofore shy mix of flavors, the effortless marriage of fruit, wood, and structure.

Great wines are like great books. No matter how long or short, each time you open them they always have something new to teach.

Silver Lining

When business is off for one part of an industry, the negative ramifications are usually felt up and down the chain. Sales for high-end wines have been hit the hardest in the current economic downturn. The total volume of wine is right where it was in 2008, but price points tend to drop as disposable income diminishes.

Where the silver lining lies is in new opportunities for purchasing fruit. La Rochelle Winery will be getting a couple of tons of Pinot Noir from a new site in the Santa Lucia Highland called Soberanes Vineyard. This site was planted and is being farmed by the same people behind Garys', Pisoni, and Rosella's vineyards...three of the best sites in the world.

On the Chardonnay front, Merrillie will now be getting fruit from Rosella's Vineyard (pictured right) one of the top Chardonnay sites in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Coupled with the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard fruit from which we made wine for the first time in 2009, Merrillie is poised to begin her new life as a Chardonnay-only brand in 2011 with a stable of some of the top Chardonnay vineyards in the state.

Steven Kent's First Malbec to Debut

Members of our Future Release Program have come to love the Bordeaux-variety blends we make exclusively for them. Until now, we have not had a Malbec to share. With our February release, however, the last of the five classic varieties will make its debut.

Aromatic notes of dried cherry, brambly berry, and spice join seamlessly with a viscous mid-palate and substantial finishing tannin to create a supremely interesting and delicious wine. 86% Malbec and 14% Cabernet Franc, this wine will be at its peak from 2011-2015. Fewer than 200 cases were produced.

2010: Looking Forward

As 2010 dawns, a new year of wonderful wines await. But first a few words about 2009:

The last couple of years, especially 2009, have been difficult for many people. On behalf of all of us at Steven Kent Winery, I just want to thank everyone for their very generous support. We are honored by your continued commitment to our mission to create world-class wines from the Livermore Valley.

2010 will see:

• Not only our first Malbec (a blend for members of the Future Release Program in February; and a 100% Small Lot Offering in May) but also our ninth vintage of Sangiovese for Collector's Circle members in March.

• The Premier Cabernet Collection returns with two spectacular wines: 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - Ghielmetti Vineyard, Clone 4 in March and Clone 30 in September. Fewer than 100 cases of each of these wines (our highest quality Cabernets) were produced.

• Radius, a blend that has morphed from predominantly Barbera to a mix of Bordeaux varieties, will be a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend starting with its fifth incarnation. 

• Our Second Open House event will take place on May 15th and will feature the release of our Small Lot Offering Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec among others. 

• There are a number of Wine Dinners on the calendar as well. We'll let you know, soon, when the first dinner is scheduled.

We look forward to sharing these wonderful wines and occasions with you in the coming year. Cheers to a great 2010!

07 Cabs Finally Arrive!

2007 is one of those vintages that we will be talking about 20 years from now. It is opulent, complex, and age-worthy. And I have been waiting for 2 years to share it!

The first of the vintage to be available is also one of our best: the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - Ghielmetti Vineyard, Clone 4 is the first of our two Premier Cabernet Collection wines to debut.

The Premier Cabernet Collection is comprised of the best expressions of 100% Cabernet that the Steven Kent Winery produces. In this vintage only 8 barrels out a total of 127 (6.3%) were deemed of great enough quality to earn the Premier Cabernet Collection classification.

Just 4 barrels each (roughly 90 cases of each wine, packaged in 3-packs) were produced. Based upon the response to the 2006 vintage, these wines will not last long. Click Here to Order this Wine before it's gone!

Cabernet Sauvignon - Ghielmetti Vineyard, Clone 4 Notes:

This powerhouse wine emphasizes aromatic notes of semi-sweet chocolate, graphite, mocha, cassis, and black cherry liqueur. On entry, rich and viscous flavors of dark fruit, licorice, and cocoa unfurl slowly (much more organoleptic complexity and clarity of structure come through after several hours of decanting) leading to a broadening of tannins through the mid-palate. On the finish, the full tannic scope of the wine comes through as the flavors show lengthy persistence. The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Clone 4 is less herbaceous than it was in 2006, trading in a subtle exotic wood for more power and age-worthiness. This Cabernet will benefit from several years of bottle age, beginning to show all of its grandeur in 2014. With care, this wine should age effortlessly through 2020.

This is no time for tasting. I will be drinking my wine tonight.

This is no time for tasting. I will be drinking my wine tonight.

There are times when the shadows are long and soft in the evening, and the city is laid out before you so clearly each building shines, and the trees sough as if the ocean breezes are caught up in their crowns, and the day leading up to this, broke so green it hurt your eyes, and the grapes hang, dew-covered and rampant as the rows proceed to the horizon; and you realize you are in Northern California, in wine country, and it is a balm. And you don't think cases to be sold, or distributor problems in the mid-west or the effects of recession or over-supply...you think how perfect this Cabernet tastes, how its fruit and tannin and texture and finish are each perfect, and their aggregation is perfect, and the wine (it doesn't matter which one, really...just that you are drinking it now, in this perfect spot, in this perfect time) is perfect.

That's what today felt like. And that's why I drink tonight. I drink (an act of feeling, no thinking tonight) to that ineffable perfection that was the Livermore Valley today...to the fruit coming in that will be wine in two years, to the caring touch of our winemaking team, to all of you for whom Steven Kent and La Rochelle are a part of your wine drinking life.

This is no time for tasting. I will be drinking my wine tonight.