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Nappa Valley Wines
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The Napa Valley is one of the world’s most recognizable and quality producing wine regions. It sits only 60 miles north of San Francisco and is about 27 miles long. At its narrowest part, it is only one mile wide.
Napa Valley is considered to be one of the elite wine appellations in California. Even though it is small in size, it has a high number of sub-appellations that produce incredible wines.
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MERITAGE© WINES
Before 1989, American winemakers were required to put at least 75% of a particular grape in the wine in order for it to be named after that variety. It was a law that hindered the art of winemaking. Therefore, in 1989, a new category was introduced to the wine world, thus lifting the law and giving winemakers the flexibility they desired in balancing wines.
Meritage® was the term that would be used to describe red and white wines made in America from a blend of classic Bordeaux wine grape varieties. This new category allowed winemakers to develop superior wines using different percentages of secondary grapes. Today’s red wine varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. White wine varieties include Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillion.
2000 Pine Ridge Andrus Reserve
Pine Ridge Winery was founded in 1978 by the Andrus family and is situated in the heart of Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District. Their combination of “old world charm” and modern and innovative viticulture winemaking practices has resulted in one of the finest California wineries that produce consistent, critically acclaimed wines.
You will enjoy Pine Ridge Andrus Reserve’s full body with flavors of cranberry, coffee, cocoa, black cherry and plum. It has a smooth and silky finish that will only get better with age and gain a more intense character after a few years of cellaring.
$50
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2000 Frog’s Leap Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon
The winery was originally opened in 1884 under the name Adamson Winery. It was renovated and reopened in 1994 to become what is now known as the Frog’s Leap Winery.
The blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in the 2000 vintage is well balanced. The taste hints of plum, black cherries, black berries and herbs. The nose is equally impressive and the wine will amaze you with its smoothness and richness. This wine is ready to drink now and will only get better with a few years of aging.
$75
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2001 Flora Springs Trilogy
The Flora Springs Winery is named after the mother of the family (Flora) who owns the winery and the water source on the property (Springs), which has never run dry – even in years of drought. This is a great vintage and Trilogy represents it well with a nice blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec. It is an elegant wine with a ton of fruit, licorice, and herb flavors that will only continue to develop as it matures over the next five years. With its nice balance and finish, Trilogy is a fantastic accompaniment to your favorite steak – straight from the summertime grill.
$23
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2002 Voss Sauvignon Blanc
The Voss vineyard, owned by the Australian Voss family, is nestled between the towns of St. Helena and Oakville in the Rutherford Region of the Napa Valley.
The 2002 Sauvignon Blanc is a great value. It is a rich blend of flavors that taste of oak, sweet melons, kiwi, lime, and herbs. This fresh wine is ready to drink now, but it is recommended to let it settle for a few years to enhance the ripe finish.
$15
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2000 Joseph Phelps Syrah
The winery was founded in 1972 and is located in Spring Valley on a 600-acre ranch near St. Helena. Upon opening, owner Joe Phelps began searching for Syrah budwood: a varietal grape that is grafted onto the rootstock and is the part of the vine that produces the fruit. It took a year for Phelps to finally discover a small Syrah vineyard – less than a mile away from his own winery! In 1974, for his own property, Phelps purchased 10 tons of Syrah grapes, as well as Syrah budwood from the Christian Brothers’ vineyard. Today, there are over 7,000 acres of Syrah planted in California, which produce over 100,000 cases of wine annually.
The 2000 Syrah is packed with so much flavor that it bursts in your mouth. It is nicely balanced and has a peppery, floral nose. This wine also has a concentrated taste of plum and black cherry, which leads to a very pleasant and rich lingering finish. Intense and erupting with flavor, this is a great valued wine.
$18
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2001 Beringer Nightingale (375 milliliters)
Named after its creator, Nightingale has a quite a history. Myron Nightingale, a master winemaker from the Beringer Vineyards, sought to produce a world-class dessert wine in California that resembled the European classics made from botrytised Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. It was in the 1950’s when Nightingale became obsessed with studying botrytis and made countless attempts to mimic the outdoor process at Beringer.
A botrytised wine is one that has been affected by botrytis cineria or noble rot, which is a mold that attacks the grapes only under ideal conditions. This occurs late in the growing season when the days are warm, the nights are cool and the mornings are foggy with heavy dew. When noble rot attacks, the grapes begin to shrivel and leave behind a more concentrated natural sugar with a reduced level of acidity.
What made Myron Nightingale famous was that he figured out a technique to not only recreate the process, but perfect it as well. He brought the process indoors to the winery where he could control and maintain the ideal conditions needed for noble rot to occur. Mother Nature was no longer a determining factor.
Today they continue the Nightingale tradition at Beringer. During the fall of most years they pick perfectly ripe Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, lay them out in a single layer on trays, spray them with spores of botrytis cinerea, then wrap them with a tarp to seal in the moisture.
The cellar is kept at 100 percent humidity for a period of time, then the tarps are removed and the humidity is dropped in half for another two weeks. During this time, the grapes lose moisture and gain concentrated sugar content.
Each variety is then pressed separately and placed in its own oak barrel to age and ferment for up to two years. The wines are then blended at an optimal ratio of 65% Sémillion to 35% Sauvignon Blanc.
Beringer only produces an estimated 400 cases annually. The 2001 is gently sweet with a touch of oak and the perfect accompaniment to a light summer dessert. Nightingale - fittingly named after the man who had a dream and made it come true, as the tradition is still alive today.
$32
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