Friday Snippets

Cloudy Weather at Ghielmetti

The 2010 Harvest is beginning to take on a little shape, finally. Walking through the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blocks this week, the flavors in the SB are really wonderful. Seriously considering picking a couple of tons early in the week (about 22 sugar) and then a couple more about a week to ten day later (depending on weather) to get closer to the sugars we have had in the past (about 24). Check out the video for more observations.

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Our Sales Manager, Gregory Peebles, made his first Southern California tour for Steven Kent and found a very enthusiastic audience. In the next couple of weeks, Southlanders will be able to find the wines at K&L Wine Merchants in Hollywood, the Wine Exchange in Orange, and at Ozumo Restaurant in Santa Monica.

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The latest in our series of Premier Cabernet Collection wines made its debut this past week. The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - Ghielmetti Vineyard, Clone 337 was poured for those who purchased the 2007 Clone 30. This is the first time the 337 has made the top tier in quality. This wine is wonderfully integrated already and boasts notes of black and red cherry, tobacco, black plum and terrific structuring tannin on the lengthy finish. Only 150 three-packs are available in this release...only half as much as the previous year! Click here to order your three-pack before they are gone.

Hen of the Woods - 2007 Petite Sirah - Release Celebration Saturday

One of Livermore Valley's superstar varieties will be on display at Steven Kent Winery on Saturday when we release the newest offering for members of the Collector's Circle wine club...Hen of the Woods...a 2007 100% Petite Sirah from the Ghielmetti Vineyard.

Label photograph by Tracey Hoff

Tracing an origin back to the Rhone Valley, where it was mistaken for a small-berried clone of Syrah (hence the name Petite Sirah), this variety has been grown in the Livermore Valley to great acclaim for decades. I chose the finest 6 barrels from a larger lot of PS for this release.
In the nose, one get abundant notes of characteristic lavender and violet floral essences, licorice and black fruits. Supporting the fruit and flowers is a nice toasty American oak underlayment. The wood is carried into the mouth where it turns from toasty to subtle caramel and cinnamon. As the wine gets some air the varietally correct chalky tannins and undifferentiated black fruit become a silkily structured wine highlighted by blackberry and black cherry flavors.
This wine will age beautifully for the next 5 years and could use another 6-12 months before you start drinking it. Hen of the Woods was made exclusively for members of the Collector's Circle.

What a Day Was #Cabernet Day

Even this Chicken showed up for Cab Day

Celebrated around the world on September 2nd was the first "Cabernet Day." The brainchild of Rick Bakas of St. Supery Winery, Cabernet Day was created to celebrate both the noblest of red grapes and the rapidly growing community of folks who take to the various social media outlets to share their wine experiences.

From what I've heard, Cab Day was the largest on-line tasting ever, with tens of thousands of people all around the world joining in the fun. If you google #Cabernet Day, you get over 1.8 MILLION hits...a pretty good indication of the number of people participating.

At Steven Kent we turned over the Barrel Room to four new extremely-limited Cabernet Releases and welcomed more than 4 times the average number of guests for a Thursday.

What Cabernet Day meant for us was a chance to show off what we think is a gloriously good Cabernet growing area, and the breadth and depth of our offerings was indication that the Livermore Valley is not only capable of making a great Cabernet; it's capable of making many of them.

For those who didn't get a chance to join us, small quantities of the single-vineyard Cabernets are available. Click the Home Ranch, Smith Ranch, Ghielmetti Vineyard, and "Estate Grown" links to be taken to the on-line store to order before the wines are gone.

For video tasting notes click Home Ranch, Smith Ranch, Ghielmetti Vineyard, and "Estate Grown."

Honoring a Great Wine Institution

Multi-generational businesses (especially in wine) are rarer and rarer these days. Rarer still, are businesses in which the people on the selling end are treated with great respect and kindness. Just a couple of reasons why it was such an honor to be invited to Joseph George's 70th anniversary tasting for his best customers at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga yesterday.

Back in 1966, my family started distribution of its wines in California, and Joseph George was our first. Over the years, we've maintained contact with the George family, especially with Bert George (pictured, right) who opened the family wine shop in San Jose in 1997. Bert George is one of those legends in Bay Area wine, and his wine shop is home to the rarest and best wines from California.

Under normal circumstances, getting owners (especially those from Napa) to attend tastings is extremely rare, but on Sunday there were many wine stars present pouring their wines. Though, I didn't get to taste as many wines as I wanted, a couple that stood out for me were the 2006 Lewis Cellars Cabernet and 2006 Portfolio (made by Genevieve Janssens).

We had the great fortune of having tables for La Rochelle and Steven Kent, and we poured, among others, the 2008 Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir and 2007 Clone 4 and Clone 30 Cabs (Gregory Peebles, our Sales Manager pictured, left).

The evening was terrific: a beautiful venue, great wines, and a great family. Here's to another 70 years!

Friday's Snippets

From the department of "be careful what you wish for" came this weather forecast from the center of the Earth:
Monday - 99
Tuesday - 107
Wednesday - 105

Luckily for all of us, and the grapes...it was much cooler later in the week 75 and wind gusts like the remake of Mary Poppins on Friday.

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Check out videos on Block 30 Cabernet here, the variability of Veraison here and Ghielmetti Vineyard here. If I seem out of breath in some of these...I was. It was about 105 degrees, and I'm out of shape! Hopefully the content is interesting.

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Writing the notes right now for Fratello, our annual Tasting Room team blend put together to benefit breast cancer research. This year, we focus attention on men who have the disease...in honor of one of our own recovering team members, Domenic.

This wine is a blend of Barbera, Petit Verdot and Merlot and was put together by members of our Tasting Room team. Fratello will be available starting September 2, 2010. Help us to help breast cancer research...and get a great wine as a thank you.

Did someone say Cab?

Last night at our winemaker's pairing, Chef Neil Marquis dazzled 30 guests with his cuisine which he paired with our La Rochelle 2009 Pinot Gris, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Home Ranch Vineyard, and two soon to be released Single Vineyard Cabernets for Steven Kent; 2007 Smith Ranch and 2007 Ghielmetti Vineyard. The pairing was wonderful and we enjoyed another evening of fine food, wine and friends. Pictures are up on our Facebook page if you're interested!


If you didn't get a chance to sip on these wonderful Cabernets, we invite you to come out to the winery on Thursday, September 2nd from 12-4:30 for #Cabernet Day! This day is devoted to the King of all Grapes and lover's of this varietal will be tweeting and status updating for 24 hours singing it's praises! In honor of the day we're offering a special one day menu in the Barrel Room with the three Cabernets from our pairing as well as another new release for us, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Livermore Valley.


Click Here for the deets


Hope to see you at the winery!
Tracey

Friday's Snippets

Just bottled the 2008 Premier Cabernet Collection - Ghielmetti Vineyard, Clone 337. Due for March 2011 release, this is the first time this clone has ascended to the top of the Cabernet mountain. Beautiful fruit on entry, mid viscosity, and focused tannin on the finish, this wine will be a favorite. Available to order in September, only two barrels this time around. A few three-packs of the spectacular Clone 30 are still available. Reserve one before it's too late!

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Traveled to Atlanta earlier this week to meet with a great retailer in the metro area, Chris Hinton, whose store - Hinton's Wine Shop, is noted for having one of the best selections of high-end wines in the area. Chris and his crew (Keith, Richard, and Cory) liked the wines and will hopefully become a flagship location for Steven Kent in the near future. 

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For those wondering about the lateness of the growing season, given all the rain we had in the winter and spring, and the cool temps so far in summer...ripening is not just about heat, it's also about the amount of solar radiation, or sunshine, the grapes get. Cooler temperatures generally mean less smog hanging around and clear skies means more sunshine. Steve Heimoff notes this in a recent blog post. The cool growing season has many people optimistic, however.