One of my favourite venues for wine tastings is the Royal Ontario Museum where the Napa Valley tasting was held in the Bronfman Hall on October 26th. The white walls, light coloured wood floors, large windows and extra high ceiling make this a perfect venue; there is lots of room, it’s easy to see the colour of the wines, and the noise of the crowd tends to get lost so it is relatively easy to speak with the winery people and the agents.
This was a fairly large tasting with 43 wineries participating. Many of the wineries were the iconic wineries whose names rank with the famous names from Bordeaux. At the annual California tasting, it is rare to find wineries like Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Clos Du Val, Spring Mountain or Heitz Wine Cellars. Most of the wines at the tasting are not available at the LCBO but can be ordered at the tasting or from their agents.
I sat down for a few minutes with the catalogue to look at which wineries were represented at the tasting, and selected the 10 wineries that I wanted to try the most, and started with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Why this one? I was in California towards the end of January and I had the opportunity to tour the Stag’s Leap Fay Vineyard. At the end of the tour, I tasted several wines, finishing with the 2005 SLV Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The concentration and depth of flavours in that wine were extraordinary. I was not disappointed in the wines that they had at the tasting although the SLV was not there. I then worked my way through most of my list of ten wineries. I missed some of them when friends pointed out other wines worth trying and I simply ran out of time. So much good wine…
Napa Valley is about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco. It starts at San Pablo Bay and stretches north about 50 kilometres. The valley is about 4 kilometres wide at the bottom and it narrows to about 3/4 of a kilometre at the top. Its volcanic origins can still be seen towards the top of the valley near the town of Calistoga where many hotels and spas offer natural hot spring pools. The Mayacama Mountains separate Napa from the Sonoma valley on the west side while the Palisade Mountains rise to the east. I have no idea on what is on the other side of the Palisades as I always spend my time in this area in Napa and Sonoma.
The Mayacamas protect most of the valley from the cold air that comes from the Pacific Ocean although the bottom of the valley does get cold air washing off San Pablo bay. Given the mountain ranges on each side of the valley, there are a wide variety of soils and micro-climates in Napa. In fact, there are 14 different sub appellations, and each of these sub appellations has a unique combination of soils, geography, geology and weather so that the grapes and wine produced there are presumed to be identifiable to that specific area.
What this means is that there are wines made that are labelled "Napa Valley" and the grapes can come from all over the valley. Then there are wines made that are labelled with their sub appellation, such as Rutherford, Oak Knoll or Stag’s Leap. In general, wine made from grapes that are all from a single sub appellation will be more distinct and some of them will reflect that magical thing the French call "terroir".
To put the Napa Valley in an Ontario perspective, the Napa Valley and the Niagara grape growing regions are about the same physical size. However, Napa has approximately 325 wine producers compared to Niagara which has just over 100. Napa produces about 4% of the wine produced in California while Niagara produces approximately 75% of Canada’s wine. Niagara now has 10 sub appellations defined.
Here's some of what I tried...
2007 Karia Chardonnay, Napa Valley - Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars – 13.6% alcohol by volume (ABV) – Agent: Profile Wine Group
The toasted nuts, butter and lemon on the nose are repeated in the flavours. There was partial malolactic fermentation which reduced the acidity to balance it against the alcohol. The long lemon and lime peel finish had a little heat on the end.
2007 Chardonnay, Napa Valley – Stag’s Leap Winery – 14.2% ABV – Agent: Foster’s Wine Estates Canada
Note of lemon, flowers and toasted oak lead to flavours of lemon, granny smith apple and vanilla. The wine has more acidity that the 2007 Karia Chardonnay and so the citrus and apple notes are more defined, especially on the finish.
2006 Merlot, Napa Valley – Pahlmeyer – 15.2% ABV -
A blend of 89% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon gives this wine flavours of dark plums, chocolate with a hint of black currant in the background. This wine fades to a dark cherry finish. The tannins, acidity and alcohol are so well balanced that you are not aware of the high level of alcohol.
2005 Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon – Spring Mountain District, Spring Mountain Vineyard – 14.7% ABV
The perfumed nose is a giveaway that this wine is not 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. The smell of violets suggests the presence of Cabernet Franc but it does not overpower the black cherry, plums and cassis nose of the Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petite Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc. The flavours diminish to the moderately long dark fruit and chocolate finish.
2007 Pinot Noir, Los Carneros – Clos Du Val - Agent: Free House
This Pinot Noir was a nice from all the big cabernets. The raspberry/strawberry nose lead to raspberry and red plum flavours backed up with notes of vanilla and spice. The medium length raspberry dominated finish showed the smooth tannins and moderate acidity of the wine.
2004 Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville – Heitz Wine Cellars - 14.5%ABV – Agent: Lifford Wine Agency
There is a hint of mint in the background of this wine that is just underneath the black currant and dark plums aromas. The flavours of black currants and dark plums are back up by the vanilla and chocolate notes from the barrel aging. The long dark cherry and chocolate finish shows that the acidity, alcohol and tannin structure of this wine are beautifully balanced.
