AIA VECCHIA: QUIETLY MAKING MAGIC

As one the writeups posted below will mention, this is the 20th Anniversary of this delicious Bolgheri source. It all started with a bang in 1998, kicked of by Hungarian winemaker Tabor Gil who came from nearby Ornellaia to head this new estate. We loved the style of the house from the beginning, with both a very suave top label in Sor Ugo, and a classy and very well priced value bottling Lagone.

As something of a personal interest, we have followed this estate ever since. Admittedly while those earliest efforts were quite seductive, it has been something of a feast or famine kind of label since those early days. One year would be delightful, the next not quite so thrilling. Still, when they were good, they were very good and we always came back to check out the newest edition to see where it landed in the pantheon of this distinctive house. Sadly Tibor Gal’s untimely passing in 2005 ended his development of the project.

The 2016 vintage, created by current winemaker Nicola Scottini, really brought our focus back to this estate although, admittedly, it was a pretty special vintage. We weren’t moved by the 2017s, but the newest versions, from the forward, user-friendly 2018 gave us a golden opportunity to talk about this Tuscan producer again.

The Aia Vecchia Sor Ugo 2018, as blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot that completes malo-lactic in barrel (50% new, 50% once used) where it remains for 18 months, is a lovely effort that really expresses what whole ‘super-Tuscan’ thing is about. Sweet black fruits, some dusty earth tones, smoke and graphite, when these guys are on they can run with the ‘big dogs’ for a fraction of the price.

Antonio Galloni of Vinous tells the story, “The 2018 Sor Ugo is a superb Bolgheri red. Pliant, succulent and so expressive, the 2018 offers plenty of richness, but with terrific energy, too. Black cherry, mocha, spice, licorice and chocolate all build as the 2018 fills out over time. The purity of the flavors is striking…94 points.” It’s everything the review says and, at under $35, it is one of the steals among the whole Bolgheri set.

Even a more remarkable deal is the Aia Vecchia Lagone 2018, their value red. The blend here is 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc. The fruit comes from both within and outside of Bolgheri, but we dare say when this wine is ‘on’ it is one of the classiest ‘little’ wines around. The 2018 is a beauty, sleek and polished, with a round palate of dark red fruits like plum and cherry flecked with notes of spice, wild herbs and meat.

Galloni was very complimentary, particularly for a wine that sells for under $14, “The 2018 Lagone is a gorgeous wine from this estate in its twentieth vintage. Ripe dark cherry, plum, mocha, spice and licorice all meld together in the glass. The 2018 is succulent and racy, with terrific freshness and tons of style. Lagone is not as flamboyant as it was in the early days, but it still offers tons of immediacy and appeal…91 points.”

THREE IN A ROW IN BORDEAUX? OUI!

We’ve just gone through a very complete tasting of the 2020 Bordeaux and we can say with no hesitation that it is another sensational vintage. What defines it in comparison to the prior two vintages is, in a sense, size. The colors are uniformly dark and saturated and a number of the wines, particularly on the Right Bank, have unusually substantial weight and richness. Many of them almost flirt with a California-like ripeness which certainly is not a bad thing.

We aren’t going to get too much into our personal picks but there are some very impressive efforts based on the barrel samples we tasted and a number of them are definitely worthy of consideration for purchases on a pre-arrival basis. There are a few things that might be best-evers when all is said and done. Stay tuned as prices start to surface over the next couple of months beginning in earnest this week.

A big part of the consideration for a futures purchase is, of course, price. It will be interesting from an intellectual standpoint to see how the pricing shakes out. There are two very good vintages already completed and ready to go, so one might presume that such a situation might cause a bit of downward pressure on pricing. To that we must remind you that this is Bordeaux and standard logic does not apply. But there are definitely a number of very impressive wines in 2020, with the Right Bank perhaps the showiest.

It would not be surprising if the Bordelaise used the frost devastation in France to justify higher fares. But Bordeaux, which mainly sits along a series of larger rivers, was not hit particularly hard. In any case, the important message is that 2020 is a fantastic vintage based on what we tasted and Bordeaux aficianados definitely should be paying attention.

Finally, this vintage is somewhat historic. As long as we have been doing this, we don’t ever remember three vintages of this caliber occurring successively. Two, yes, 1961/1962, 1989/1990, 1995/1996, 2005/2006 and, of course, 2009/2010. But three? Not that we can recall.

There could potentially be even four but it is far too early to tell. However understand while that frost in the spring can dramatically reduce crop levels, put a financial strain on producers and gets growers upset, whatever survives can still be successful depending on the rest of the growing season. There just won’t be very much of it.

We can’t stress enough what a special moment it is for Bordeaux right now, maybe by a quirk of fate, maybe just as a function of global warming. But we remember all of the crummy vintages of the ’60s (’63, ’65,’68, ’69), ’70s (‘72,73,74,’77), ’80s (’84, ’87) and ’90s (’91,’93, ’97), and clearly things have changed in the new Millennium. There are three outstanding vintages to consider before. Take a long look at the 2020s. The good times are here…until they aren’t.

PEDRO PARRA: SUPER RARE SUPERSTARS FROM ITATA

As you go down the wine road, you will continue to find stories that are more obscure and more unique.  That doesn’t always mean ‘great’ from a wine perspective, but it certainly can as it did here.  One has to marvel at the story of Pedro Parra, a minuscule producer in an obscure part of southern Chile who has become something of a cult hero based on his terroir-driven work with, of all things, Cinsault.  Truth be told, these are two of the most impressive efforts with Cinsault we have ever run across, though admittedly the book of ‘great Cinsault’ is more of a pamphlet.  His international reputation is pretty amazing as well considering he only makes about 100 cases of the two wines we are featuring today.

It all starts in the certainly-not-mainstream areas of Itata and Bio Bio about 500 kilometers south of Concepcion near the ocean.  Pedro was born in this area and has returned here to live and create some waves in this obscure corner of Chile. One of Parra’s consistent quotes is, “You cannot grow terroir.” Terroir is a facilitator and Pedro, a specialist in the field, is particularly taken with the various forms of granite and schist here.

This is an area ‘lost in time.’  A difficult place to visit for centuries, with no roads, steep slopes, rain, and forest, that constant isolation was responsible for a strong local commitment to viticulture and wine.  It was totally disconnected with the modern wine evolution that happened in Chile over the last 40 years. This isolation is the key factor for this terroir. No Bordeaux varieties invaded and no high yield production with irrigation was installed. That kept the area pure, pristine, and unique. 

The two varieties most widely planted in Itata are Cinsault (45-70-year-old vines) and País (60 to 120-year-old vines).  Pedro’s showcase wines, named for jazz musicians because they are ‘complex and innovative, are single-vineyard Cinsaults. For space reasons, we’ll defer to Wine Advocate reviews from Luis Gutierrez which cover technical notes as well.

The 2018 Pedro Parra y Familia Monk is “…another single-vineyard Cinsault, the 2018 Monk is also named after a jazz musician, Thelonius Monk…All of these wines had a native fermentation with some 30% full clusters, and in this case, the élevage was in 1,500-liter oak vats for just under one year. To me, this is the most complete of the three single-vineyard bottlings, and in a way, I see some similitude with the Imaginador bottling. It’s also the most elegant and mineral as well as serious, balanced, terribly precise and long. 1,170 bottles were filled in March 2019…94+ points.”

Pedro Parra considers John Coltrane an innovator and creative jazz musician, after whom he named the 2018 Pedro Parra y Familia Trane, a single-vineyard Cinsault from a plot of highly decomposed granite soils. It fermented in concrete with indigenous yeasts and some 30% full clusters and matured in 1,500-liter oak vats for 11 months. It’s extremely chalky and perhaps a little rounder and gentler compared with its siblings. It has a little more concentration and clout, but at the same time, it doesn’t reach the elegance of the other two. There are some similitudes here, because they all come from granite soils that mark all of the wines very much. 1,188 (bottles) were filled in March 2019…93 points.”

Conceptually these are a bit of a walk on the wild side.  But they are delicious, distinctive, extremely rare one-of-kind efforts that merit attention. We’ve certainly never seen Cinsault with this kind of flair. Geek alert.

A JUICY VALUE FROM DOWN UNDER

The wine world seems to still be trying to leave Australia for dead on the big stage, but Oz keeps rolling out hits that fly in the face of the standard rumors about the balance, performance and aging potential that seem to effectively counter them.  As people who were in at the beginning of the great Australian invasion at the turn of the century, we are still among those that think the category holds too much promise to ignore.  Here we are with ‘public enemy number one’, the category most pointed to in facilitating the decline in Australian wine’s fall from grace, Barossa Shiraz and, to that, we say ‘nonsense’.

We’ll give you a short analysis of the main reasons we think Australian wines fell from grace in the marketplace.  First was the breakdown of the classic ‘big Shiraz’ wines but, as we have said, a lot of the blame there has to fall on growers with old vines that decided they needed to have their own labels.  We have proven on many occasions that ‘the players’ have excellent balance and age just fine (like the older Greenock Creeks we offered recently).  Then there was a period where everything that came in seemed to be another leafy, undernourished red that was supposed to show restraint and be food friendly.  The problem was that they weren’t very engaging in the first place.

We are doing our best to ‘make Australians great again’ in the minds of consumers because we believe in the wines and have long time relationships with a number of labels.  Today’s offer is one of those.  The Kalleskes have been working their Greenock farm for longer than anyone we know in California, some 150 years or seven generations.  They farm sustainably and not only organically but biodynamically.  They were certified back in 1998, long before it was the topic it is today.  Winemaker Troy Kalleske has been at the winemaking helm of his family’s winery for almost two decades .  It was Troy and his brother Tony that created the Kalleske label back in 2002.  They’ve had plenty of time to figure things out.

That same Troy Kalleske makes the Nietschke wines.   Johann Nietschke and Johann Kalleske both arrived in Barossa to established vineyards in 1838.  Somewhere around 1968 the families came together with the marriage of John Kalleske and Lorraine Nietschke, hence the connection here.  A number of years after the establishment of Kalleske Wines, Troy wanted to showcase some of the dedicated high-quality growers from across the Barossa Valley so the Nietschke Shiraz was born, named in honor of his mother Lorraine.

The winery calls the Nietschke Jack Shiraz 2017 (named for ‘great uncle’ Jack) a ‘modern Shiraz with a twist’. There’s a little something extra with a dash of Petite Sirah (5%) blended in for added complexity. All grapes are from the Barossa Valley including the renowned Greenock sub-region where vines are low-yielding and are grown in shallow, sandy loam soil over deep red clay, providing ideal conditions for these varieties.  The juice spent a year in a combination of French and American hogsheads (300L barrels), some new and once used.  It was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

We know a lot of you will think this an ‘unwieldy red’ when you see Barossa Shiraz.  That is the conditioned response that the media has encouraged.  Not true. Sure, this wine has some muscle and a ton of dark red fruits.  But the weight and richness here present themselves with polish and balance.  The Petite Sirah adds a little black pepper to the mix and threads of darker fruits.  Full throttle, yes.  But under control and packed with character.   Nice notes from James Suckling, “Blackberry crumble, elderberry pie, vanilla and baking spices. Full body, some nice juicy tannins and a chewy finish. .. 91 Points.” All that and a sub-$20 price tag.

LAFAGE NARASSA 18: LAFAGE DELIVERS AGAIN

As many times as we have promoted wines from the portfolio of Jean-Marc Lafage, it would be hard to imagine that we haven’t covered every conceivable aspect of the winery’s background.  To give you a short synopsis we will pull a few lines from the Wine Advocate, longtime cheerleader for Lafage through multiple writers over the years, and his remarkable value portfolio.  From current Advocate Rhone editor Joe Czerwinski, “The dynamic Jean Marc Lafage has rapidly expanded his holdings and production in the past decade, since he began working with American importer Eric Solomon. There’s a huge, state-of-the-art winery and a seemingly endless number of cuvées to taste through… Even if I’m slightly less enthusiastic than the previous WA reviewer about some of the entry-level wines, there are still many screaming values in the lineup…”

Like the man said, there are seemingly endless bottlings to evaluate, but we always make it a point to check out anything from Jean Marc because his ‘hit rate’ over the last decade or so has been amazing, and the ‘value factor’ virtually unmatched.  The hits just keep on coming.   Today’s subject is one of the more recent additions to the extensive Lafage lineup, kicking off in 2014.  We sold a good bit of that 2014 Domaine Lafage Narassa in a very short time back in November of 2016, no surprise, really, given the review (Wine Advocate 93) and the price ($15.98).  We had another good run with the 2017 last year, a Jeb Dunnuck 94.

We tasted the newest edition, now called Famille Lafage Cotes Catalanes Narassa 2018, recently and felt that Jean Marc was ‘in the money’ once again.  Since that 2014 opening salvo, every wine scored over 91 points and sold for under $20.  Broad and ample in the mouth, the 2018 had plenty of round fruit, supple, laid-back tannins, well integrated acidity and a subtle streak of minerality courtesy of the black schist soils around the Roussillon town of Maury.  The grapes are sourced from 60+-year-old vines, the old vines sitting in unique, aforementioned black schist soils in a fairly remote area in southern France.  This distinct, somewhat ‘wild’ area is an important key to the special character of the wines from this region. 

We aren’t surprised that Jeb Dunnuck was on board once again.  How can you not cheer for a producer that is making wines that are both ample and nuanced for this kind of price!  Jeb’s take on the 2018 Narassa, “ Almost all Grenache yet with 8% Syrah, the deep purple 2018 Narassa gives up a gorgeous bouquet of blueberries, kirsch liqueur, smoked game, violets, and lavender. It’s rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, and has a great finish…93 points.”

If a player is on a hot streak, you want to get the ball in their hands.  Lafage definitely is in the ‘zone’ and has been for a while.   We have sold a lot of Lafage over the years, and for good reason.  But each of the bottlings we have offered, while generally uniform in the sense that they perform well above their stations and provide superb value, are each of distinctive personality as well. 

These days many value wines are not ‘created in the vineyard’.  The winemaking ‘formula’ overrides everything else.  That is the beauty of Lafage.  The wines not only deliver quality and value, but retain the character and purity of their region as well.  One of importer Eric Solomon’s credos is ‘place over process’.  None of his expansive legion of wineries is any better an example of that than Lafage.  Once again, as always, it’s a lot of wine for the fare ($19.98).

BRIEFS

  • Even though we are big fans of the 2019 Beaujolais, we haven’t done a lot of offers. The reason is simple. The boats of course, and a lot of our favorites are from smaller producers that don’t necessarily have a lot of any one bottling that we could get behind in an email. Given the current shipping logjams, things are arriving haphazardly as well. That doesn’t say anything about the quality. The 2019s are right behind the 2015s in our mind, perhaps a little lighter on their feet but gushing with cool, sweet, plush fruit and tender personalities. They are absolutely engaging At the moment we have a number of selections from house favorite Daniel Bouland and we’d suggest you give this proven Beaujolais star a good looking over while they are here. Great notes from Wine Advocate’s William Kelly.
  • We’ve been following Domaine Olivier Hillaire since he purchased a part of the Domaine de Relagnes estate back in 2006 which included 3 ha. of Chateauneuf and 5 ha of Cotes du Rhone. The estate makes dense, rich, mouth-filling reds and typically gets good reviews, yet for some reason typically doesn’t evoke the same kind of enthusiasm from consumers. The 2019 Hillaire Cotes du Rhone Vieilles Vignes is a knockout. A blend of mainly Grenache (60%) with some Syrah (40%), it explodes in the mouth with authoritative dark cherry and plum fruit, some spice notes, and underpinnings of subtle earthy minerality. We have been impressed with a very high percentage of the 2019s Cotes du Rhones we have tasted thus far, but this one seems to have another gear and surprising length. It’s silly good for this kind of price.
  • Boats have continued to be a problem as ports are jammed, shipments are backed up, and in some cases it has even been difficult to find a container to put the wines in because of over-the-top demand for shipping. In any case one important boat got in…the one carrying a load of top flight 2016 Brunellos. We’ll try and keep it concise for now, but these words from Antonio Galloni make the salient point about the vintage, “But now the big question is: Do the 2016s live up to our expectations? Oh, yes; they certainly do…Is There Really Any Such Thing as a Perfect Vintage? Many producers throughout Montalcino would say that there is, and the example that they would give you would be the 2016 vintage. To quote Francesco Ripaccioli of Canalicchio di Sopra in the northern eastern part of Montalcino, ‘…if we could control the climate of a vintage artificially, I believe that I would program it to be just like the year 2016.’…I heard many quotes like this one during the course of my conversations with producers. ” Consider this an ‘early bird alert’. There will be much written about the vintage, and we’ll no doubt send offers on items where quantities support it. But there are things that may not last that long so do yourself a favor and have a look. This is a great vintage. Shop the 2016 Brunellos.
  • We met Gianni Venica Sr. many years ago and, through him, we came to understand the passion and dedication it takes to make brilliant ‘naked’ wines. With top notch Italian whites, they truly are made in the vineyard to show the purity and style of the fruit and the site. If you don’t do everything right, there are no quick winemaking fixes that wouldn’t stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. Wee have been following this producer, now in the hands of Gianni Jr., for decades and would like to point to his newest effort, the Venica & Venica Pinot Grigio Jesera 2019, is stunning. Exotic fruit, crisp acids, surprising substance, and engaging tactile quality, this is Pinot Grigio at another level. This year they employed some extended skin contact, called ramato, which adds to the ‘dazzle’. You’ll note the color is slightly pink as a result (Pinot Grigio has pink skin). A ’92’ from Vinous, this one is special.

BONPAS COTES DU RHONE: ANOTHER FINE 2019

It has been pretty sensational times for the Rhone Valley. A string of successful vintages since 2015 including epic harvests in the North (2015) and South (2016), with plenty of goodies to be had (be it more selectively) in the other vintages. The word on 2019 in the North is very positive, perhaps on par 2015, though three haven’t been a lot of wines to look at just yet. As to the South, while we aren’t going to tell that 2019 is quite at the supreme level of 2016, it is outstanding and certainly one of the sexiest vintages out of the gate we can recall.

We spoke of the vintage a little bit in the piece we did on longtime favorite Chateau St. Cosme a while ago. That luscious mouthful however is Syrah-centric. This Bonpas Cotes du Rhone Reserve de Bonpas 2019 makes an elegant statement about the quality, substance, and unbridled juiciness we can expect from Grenache in this engaging vintage.

Part of the expansive collection of J.C. Boisset that includes several Californi and French properties as well as one in England and India as well as the iconoc Oakville Grocery, Bonpas is the ‘gateway to the southern Rhone’, a fortress built in 1318 on the road between Avignon (the Papal seat at the time) and Rome. The soils on the state are covered with galets, the round stones associated with the vineyard lands in the region.

As you might have guessed, the lead character here is Grenache from 40-year-old vines, with dollops of Syrah and Mourvedre rounding out the blend. The wine only sees large oak vats to mere aid on the aeration of the wine but not impart any oak notes that might interfere with the purity and authenticity of the fruit.

The Bonpas Cotes du Rhone Reserve de Bonpas 2019 is a crowd-pleaser in every way. Tender and supple for its young age, it’s a plush, forward display of ripe cherry and plum with a subtle underpinning of spice and light-handed minerality and earth notes. The fruit wins the day and the texture will have broad appeal. This is a juicy, versatile red that performs admirably for its modest fare ($12.98) and is another sensational ‘teaser’ for what we expect to be a very hedonistic vintage.

A WORD ON BARGAIN CHAMPAGNE

Of all the categories, Champagne (actually sparkling wine in general) is the most difficult to promote on a consistent basis.  First off, it is the most ‘brand oriented’ because people feel the need to have the recipient of a gift or the guest know the status of the item.  So the marketing is done with that is mind. High profile, non-vintage Champagnes are particularly poor sources of value because the big houses have an orientation to build their prestige via higher pricing (warranted or not) in conjunction with a more significant promotional infrastructure (boots on the ground, tchotchkes, etc.). 

Also, because they are non-vintage, the opportunity to talk about this or that bubbly is reduced.  Most are blended to achieve a consistent profile via the use of a series of reserve cuvees that can be varied to hit a particular style.  This gives the consumer more confidence of course, but offers little in the way of ‘news’ as nothing visibly changes year to year since there are no vintages.  It also can be confusing with respect to reviews since there is no vintage.  If a Champagne got a 93-point review in 2011, is that review good forever?  Of course not, but some people treat it that way. 

Some writers try to eliminate the confusion by publishing the disgorgement date they reviewed.  Often by the time the review hits the market, usually several months later, that date is no longer available or not in a particular market.  So that additional information doesn’t necessarily help most would-be buyers as trying to find that specific bottling is suddenly a source of angst. 

There’s plenty of angst in the world already, and Champagne is supposed to be fun.  As people who don’t need a holiday, celebration, or any other excuse to pop a bottle of bubbles, and enjoy it in a wide variety of situations like, say, Wednesday night, we’re solely in it for the juice and always on the lookout for bargains in the category.  We have talked about Monthuys Brut Reserve before.  But it has been a while and we recently tasted it and decided it was time to talk about it again.  After all, tasty, legit Champagne for under $25 is always newsworthy whether the vintage changes or not.

Monthuys has been around a long time by our standards.  The Baron family itself has been managing vineyards in Champagne since the 17th Century. They began as grape growers, and transitioned to Champagne producers in 1966 when Gabriel Baron decided to vinify his fruit by himself. The bottles were initially only sold to private customers and local restaurants. The estate developed into 20 hectares of vines nestled in the village of Charly-Sur-Marne, on the west side of Marne Valley.

The cuvee of 60% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot Noir is selected from the best plots in the region, chalk and clay soils from along the Marne River, and the finished wine is given additional time in the bottle.  There’s not a lot of techno-geek fodder as the cellar work is pretty straight forward and they riddle by gyro-pallet.  That may not be ‘romantic’ to some but this one delivers plenty for the fare and that ultimately Is the point. 

We found it a very pleasing mouthful of apple, peach and pear with a certain ‘biscuit’ aspect to the nose and hints of honey and toast as it finishes. Clean lines, fresh flavors, and a certain roundness in the mouth without being sweet, it hits all of the notes.  It’s tasty, real Champagne without the pretense or the price tag ($24.98).  Obviously, something like this is worth mentioning again and again.

A LATE ARRIVING 2016: LE FONTI CHIANTI CLASSICO

We have often said that we are going to pursue the 2016 Tuscans until we can’t find them any more. Le Fonti is a brand new face for us…on this side of the ocean. We had a positive impression of the house based on tasting the wine at Consorzio tastings at Vinitaly, probably one of the more difficult places to precisely assess as wine. Why is it tough to get a bead on a wine at a wine show? Simply, it’s the volume. You taste so many wines so quickly to make the best of your limited time there that it’s not always easy to recall the nuances and minutia.

In any case, we liked the Le Fonti Chianti Classico 2016 (the first time we have seen it here) one on one on this side of the ocean as well. Located between Siena and Florence, the winery sits in the heart of Chianti country in Panzano. At this site, nearly 1500 feet above sea level, this 15 hectare estate consists of 9 hectares of vineyards and the rest olive trees. The current owners, the Schimtt-Vitali family, took over the estate in 1994 and have replanted the vineyards since that time with the appropriate clones and rootstock. The vineyard and olive grove are all certified organic and they take meticulous care of their holdings.

The vines are planted to 85% Sangiovese and the rest more international varietals, Cabernet and Merlot. Manuel harvest is the practice here and bleed off 10-15% of the juice to make a rose, concentrating the remaining must. The final wine, predominantly Sangiovese with a small percentage of Cabernet and Merlot are put into French oak for 12 months and another 6 months in bottle before release

This version definitely shows a more modern bent stylistically, with a nice pop of dark cherry fruit right up from and som authority to the midpalate. Plenty of fresh fruit here with the more classic notes of earth and spice, but a rounder, fresher disposition in the glass and an outgoing immediacy to the style. It has all of the ‘pop’ of the 2016s, the lifted fruit and well infused, ripe tannins, but a distinct juicy, some might say ‘modern component that will appeal to a broader audience.

Enthusiastic comments from Vinous’ Antonio Galloni tell a similarstory, “Le Fonti’s 2016 Chianti Classico is fresh, aromatically expressive and a plain delight to taste. This is an especially mid-weight, gracious style that is typical of this sector of Panzano. Spice, licorice, leather, dried herb and menthol add shades of nuance to a Chianti Classico that speaks to finesse, nuance and the natural freshness of Sangiovese in this vintage more than anything else…92 points.”

Another exciting arrival from a very special vintage, enjoy and accumulate them while you can.

A NEW ‘OLD FRIEND’ IN NAPA

One thing we have been repeatedly reminded of over the years is that things can change. The most recent demonstration occurred recently with a Napa Valley winery called Amici. This was a winery that we had tasted on few occasions over the years and came to the conclusion that the label was largely forgettable. Yet across a board the in Amici lineup we were presented recently, virtually every offering impressed. So did the prices.

Amici started back in 1991 as a project among friends (amici is ‘friends’ in Italian). Clearly things have changed quite a bit since our earlier encounters. Starting as a virtual winery (a label that owned no vineyards or building as so many are these days), over time owner John Harris has forged long standing relationships with some serious fruit sources. They now make a number of single vineyard wines from some very recognizable vineyard sources and we have to presume that at some so of that juice trickles down into this Amici Cabernet Napa Valley 2018.

The current winemaking team of Anthony Biagi and Jesse Fox likely had a lot to do with the current high level of performance here. Biagi has an impressive resume including Cade, Hourglass, Odette, Plumpjack and Senegal, and joined Amici/Olema in 2015. Fox started at the French Laundry as a Cordon-Bleu trained chef but the wine bug bit him hard. He did some winemaking work internationally then spent a decade with Harlan, The Napa Valley Reserve and Ram’s Gate. He came to Amici/Olema in 2016 and teams with Biagi on both the Amici and their value oriented Olena projects. Certainly, the jump in quality we see here has a bit to do with them.

A blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc that sees 18 months in 75% new French oak, there the promise of some pretty serious fruit in this wine. There is also a serious lineup of reviews which are all made more significant by this wine’s very modest tab (by Napa Standards). We’ll get to that in a minute.

It all started with a barrel review from Jeb Dunnuck, “…this is a vintage loved by winemaker Tony Biagi…Starting with the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, it could end up being one of the values of the year if it shows this well from bottle, displaying classic cassis, tobacco, and crushed rock-like minerality. With medium to full-bodied richness and depth, ripe, polished tannins, and great purity of fruit, it’s tastes like it cost three times the price…93-95.”

Given the other reviews, it apparently did get into the bottle in fine shape, as the across the board kudos would attest (James Suckling 93, Vinous 92, Wine Advocate 92). From Suckling, “A cooler style of Napa cab with blackcurrants, hot stones and violets that follow through to a full-bodied palate with creamy, polished tannins that integrate nicely on the palate and provide a delicious combination of fruit and character…”

From Wine Advocate, ““The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color. It opens with expressive notes of warm cassis, black cherries, blackberries and fragrant earth with hints of bay leaves and black truffles. Medium to full-bodied, it delivers mouth-coating cassis flavors with compelling herbal sparks, framed by a lively backbone and wonderfully velvety tannins, finishing long.”

From Vinous Media, “The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) is fabulous. Rich, plummy and forward, the Amici Napa Valley Cabernet makes a terrific introduction to the vintage. Even better, it is incredibly fairly priced. Succulent dark cherry, plum, mocha, spice and licorice are kicked up in this fleshy, open-knit Cabernet Sauvignon.”

Given all of that, one would not expect to pay less than $50, yet that is the reality. The Amici Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2018 is one of the true sleeper Cabernet deals from this part of the world.