October 2020

A LOOK DOWN THE RHONE ROAD: ST. COSME CDR 2019

We’ll try an keep it simple. We could launch a rather extensive rant on our long history with Domaine Saint Cosme. We have been selling it for going on three decades and have watched passionate owner Louis Barruol go through ups and downs, style changes, and the expansion of his program to other projects. He is one of the dependable labels we always look forward to checking up on, and have made some sensational finds over the years among his value offerings in particular.

Our purpose here is twofold. First, we want to talk about his beautifully textured, pure, ample, imminently tasty Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone 2019. Now his Cotes du Rhone, as we have mentioned the many other times we have featured it, is a little bit of a different bird. Unlike the majority of wines that bear this appellation, which are mostly Grenache, Louis’ Cotes du Rhone is all or nearly all old vine Syrah (Barruol states the average age of the vines on the property are 60 years old).

The 2019 is gorgeous and already an attractive drink. Lots of layered, plush fruit, spice and pepper, and, as Louis himself describes, “Blackberry, smoked bacon, charcoal, blueberry, rose.” We expected a lot given what we had heard about 2019, but the wine exceeded our expectations.

Besides the example this wine itself sets for expectations of 2019 from the southern Rhone, there are the outgoing Barruol’s own words. Of the vintage, within the context of his notes on the 2019 Cotes du Rhone, he said, “Be warned – this is a stellar vintage, the greatest since the extraordinary 2010. Of course, 2016 is great too, and even 2015, which in Saint Cosme was memorable. But there is a freshness, an intensity, an evanescence, something undefinable that is charming and vibrant in the 2019s.

“…The 2019 Côtes du Rhône Saint Cosme is the best since 2010. A wine with a substantial structure, it is also brimming with fruit and shows great concentra-tion, counterbalanced by the finest freshness. In a dry vintage, concentration affects all the component parts of the fruit: not just the sugars, but the acids, water (which does not concentrate but disappears…), tannins, color, aromas… etc… This natural phenomenon produces something we all love: intensity.

“Character and identity are subsequently multiplied tenfold. The fact that nature should be able to offer us these gifts is an absolute joy. These wines are suitable for either drinking or keeping. They will bring us joy and surprises. They will become advocates for what I would call ‘the red wine cause’. We live in an era of white wines, rosés and sometimes even unripe grapes – which is an aberration… 2019 is a gentle reminder from nature and a timely opportunity to set the record straight.”

This Cotes du Rhone, at $14.98, is a delicious wine and an exciting value. And in the bigger picture, it looks like there are more good times down the road in the southern Rhone in 2019. While we didn’t find any scores on this wine, but it’s early in the game for the 2019s. The gigantic barrel scores on their single-vineyard Gigondas bottlings affirms that 2019 should be on people’s radar.

DASHWOOD SAUV. BLANC RIDES AGAIN: WS 90, $10.98

There are wines for all reasons. But that is perhaps one of the hardest things to manage. There are a lot of wines out there that are designed to merely function at a ‘price point’. There’s a not a lot of style or dimension. We aren’t really interested in those. But we are perfectly aware that people don’t necessarily all drink ‘top of the category’ stuff every single day. There is a great need for dependable ‘go-to’ wines for most of the days of the week. The problem is, in these days of ‘sensationalist media’, people don’t necessarily react to things that aren’t referred to as ‘best ever’.

Still, we like to keep everything in perspective. We aren’t going to tell you that this Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc 2019 is the ‘greatest ever’. But we are going to tell you that this is one of the great, dependable, ‘staple’ Sauvignons on the market… sometimes. We have had great runs with Dashwood over the years. They don’t make the ‘cut’ every year, but when they hit it they are one of the best values around. This is one of those times.

The 2019 Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc checks all the boxes for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. You’ve got bright flavors and zing, but also some richness and texture that a lot of examples lack. There’s a citrus backbeat here but also tropical and stone fruit tones that make the first impression. There is a great variation in the personalities of Kiwi Sauvignons on the market, but this one has broad appeal in that it is pretty easy going and doesn’t touch any of the flavor extremes that the genre can have. A lot of credit perhaps belongs to the 2019 vintage, which one of the other Kiwi pieces we researched called a special vintage. But the juice is ample and friendly in a category where some examples can make your eyes water.

It isn’t just us either. Even the ‘tough guy’ Wine Spectator gave this one a 90 point score, no small thing for a low priced Sauvignon Blanc, with comments “Aromatic and distinctive, with a thread of honeysuckle and litsea oil mingling with Meyer lemon, peach and apricot flavors that are generous and intense through the finish, showing a touch of savory sea salt. Drink now.” At $10.98, it will fit into most budgets nicely.

ANOTHER WINNER FROM THIVIN

This respected house was one of our first experiences with the 2019s from Beaujolais and, based on this ‘early return’, it looks to be a sensational harvest for this part of the world. Thivin is one of the iconic estates in Cotes de Brouilly and one with considerable history. It is the oldest estate on Mount Brouilly, circa the 15^th Century, and has been in the hands of the Geoffrey family since 1877. The vines are an average of 50-years-old and this crazy steep vineyard (an average 48% slope) is farmed organically.

As we have stressed in the past, there are front-loaded carbonic Beaujolais and there are estate producers that produce with the utmost care and work more like great Burgundy. Thivin is a poster child of that second group. The wines are always good, and occasionally brilliant examples. They can also be a bit inward on release. That is what was striking here. We don’t recall a deeper, richer, friendlier version of this wine out of the gate. Saturated color, ripe berry and plum on the nose and an expansive, broad, polished feel on the palate, this has fruit and character to burn. They have been on quite a roll, averaging 93 points from Wine Advocate for the last six, very different vintages.

Wine Advocate Burgundy guy William Kelly was on the same page, “Bottled a mere week before I tasted it, Thivin’s 2019 Côte de Brouilly unwinds in the glass with inviting aromas of plums, red berries, warm spices and peonies. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and enveloping, it’s bright and precise, with fine depth at the core and real energy, concluding with a long, gently tannic finish. A touch finer-boned and more dynamic than the gourmand, demonstrative 2018, this is showing very well…93+.”

It is showing well, indeed, yet history tells us that this wil age and develop for a decade at least, maybe longer, if you can keep your hands off it. At $26.98, it delivers well above its class and reaffirms our point that Beaujolais is still the source for some of the best value reds on the planet. It’s hard to say this is their best ever because they have had an impressive string of sensational efforts. But this Thivin Cote de Brouilly 2019 is definitely the sexiest.

FALL, FIRE, and IMPRESSSIVE 2018 NICKEL & NICKEL

Tis the season for Cabernet. As an overview, we have to look at the current plight of the Napa Valley. We haven’t hidden our distaste for the high-handed marketing and undermining of the retail trade for the last three decades or so. But the current ‘rock and a hard place’ that the region in general is facing is historically significant. You have the pandemic that wiped out most of the restaurant business as current ‘on-sale’ customers have been operating at diminished capacity or have been closed. Then you have the current wildfires, right during harvest, that threaten to greatly diminish, and in many cases wipe out the 2020 harvest. Who knows what kind of ‘marketing’ decisions Napa vintners will be made regarding the ‘current birds in hand,’ the generally very good 2017, 2018, and 2019 vintages moving forward.

The 2017s have been solid, though not on par with 2014 and 2016. There have been a few cases where edgy tannins have gotten in the way. Thus far the 2018s reflect well on the vintage as the wines have been plush, engaging and packed with fruit. The quantities for the 2018 harvest were also good. We’re hearing great things about 2019 as well. With the general business climate less than ideal, and great, fairly abundant vintages in the pipeline, it promised to be wild times for both consumers and us. But the fires may, and likely will change the dynamic. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, let’s look at that crowd-pleasing, well endowed 2018 Cabernets. Anybody who got a hold of the luscious Thread Feather Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 2018 knows exactly what we mean, and the coming Chappellet Cabernet Signature 2018 was one of the most compelling examples we have had in that series. Today we’re going to give you a little heads up on the best lineup we can recall tasting from Nickel & Nickel.

Some of the vineyards in this current single-vineyard focused lineup may be unfamiliar as there have been changes in sourcing through the years. But as a group, they were pretty flashy. As usual we pick a few favorites out of the gate, but we reserve the right to expand our offerings and work up an email down the road. In the meantime, these were our favorites in a really good lineup…

Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon John C. Sullenger Vineyard Oakville 2018 ($89.98)-The home vineyard of Nickel & Nickel, Sullenger Vineyard is situated behind the winery in the heart of Oakville and is named for John C. Sullenger, who settled the farmstead in the 1880’s. The vineyard’s 30 acres of clay loam soil are planted exclusively to Cabernet Sauvignon, with 2 rootstocks and a few different clones which each add a unique element to the resulting wine. This is one of the bottlings that has made the selection virtually every vintage. Bigger middle than most, with the classic black fruit of Oakville and cool earth and spice notes, this isn’t necessarily the ‘biggest’ Sullinger we have had, but it is one of the prettiest out of the gate we can recall. The fact that it didn’t dominate the tasting this time is more of a statement about the lineup than suggestive of any shortfalls in this bottling.

Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon State Ranch Vineyard Yountville 2018 ($89.98)– State Ranch is located northeast of the town of Yountville. The 23-acre vineyard is divided into two parcels by State Lane Road and consists of both older and younger vines. Many excellent wines are produced from this area, in part due to the rocky, loam soil which has excellent drainage throughout the year. The vines, as well as the clusters, are moderate in size and the vineyard gets full sun throughout the day. As the young vines mature, we will be harvesting many different clones to make the final wine. Nickel & Nickel selects fruit from 14.5 acres of the vineyard. Also known as State Lane Vineyard, this is the same site used by Kapcsandy and others for their compelling 100-point wines.

Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon DeCarle Vineyard Rutherford 2018 ($89.98)–DeCarle Vineyard is a newcomer to the lineup and planted on the west side of Rutherford, in the dusty soils for which the area is known. This Cabernet Sauvignon offers a silky palate that complements the wine’s juicy berry and black cherry flavors and finishes with a subtle minerality. This was earlier in the tasting lineup but impressed with its display of bright, slippery red fruits and light on its feet demeanor. A very pretty Cab with a more Bordeaux demeanor by comparison to the others.

Nickel and Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon Quarry Vineyard Rutherford 2018 ($89.98)–Quarry is one of the longer term team members. The 25-acre Quarry Vineyard climbs the slopes above the Silverado Trail on the east side of Rutherford. The name comes from the old quarry that was the source of a white rock used in the ghost winery that still stands beside the vineyard. Three distinct hillside blocks, each experiencing its own unique soil and exposure, are harvested from this vineyard. The white, rocky loam soils are well drained, and the vines are of moderate vigor. Cluster and berry size varies from block to block, but all are small to moderate. This vineyard has full exposure to the afternoon sun. Polished and pedigreed, expressive and integrated, this is a complete but, again, not necessarily ‘big’ Cab.

Nickel and Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon Bear Track Vineyard Napa Valley 2018 ($89.98)– The Bear Track Vineyard showed well on a couple of occasions, and is perhaps the most impressive of the newcomers in that it has the requisite size to please most Cabernet drinkers. The vineyard is planted in three terraced blocks on the eastern hillsides of Napa Valley, just outside of the Howell Mountain AVA. The cool climate and iron-rich, volcanic ash soils result in small, tight clusters of concentrated fruit. Ample hang time before harvest yields a Cabernet Sauvignon with intense, dark fruit flavors and integrated tannins. This one is a bit broader on the palate, and respectably ‘Howelly’ (showing subtle mineral/gravel notes) but not overly so. Lots of black fruits make an impression here.