The next in my series about Napa Premiere (you remember, the almost weeklong event where licensed members of the wine trade can buy from prestigious wineries cases of extraordinarily rare wine made specifically for this event) is about the large barrel tasting held at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa.
At this tasting, attended by more than 700 people, barrel samples of the almost 200 wines made for Premiere were poured.
CIA has this massive open space on its second floor. Row after row of premium wines. Names like Mondavi, Pride, Raymond, Blankiet, Silver Oak, Cakebread, Diamond Creek, Morlet, Frank Family, OVID, Cliff Lede, Shafer, Pahlmeyer, Inglenook, and dozens of others.
I spent four hours there, sipping and spitting some amazing wines, including several that were new to me. I’ll tell you about a few of them.
When you think Napa, you likely think cabernet and other potent red wines. In contrast, the first wine I tasted was the 2024 Vineyard 7 & 8 Heritage Chardonnay. As the winery says, “Crafted from Napa Valley’s oldest, highest elevation, original-rooted chardonnay vines.” Pleasant citrus aromas, it’s a smooth, delicious wine. With notes of gravel, blood orange, pear and cream, it has the structure to last eight to 10 years.
Continuing the white wine trend was the 1999 Schramsberg Reserve Late Disgorged. A wine aged for a couple of decades! Jessica Koga, Schramsberg’s winemaker now (but far too young to have been the winemaker in 1999), poured samples. Comprised of 73% pinot noir and 27% chardonnay, this bubbly featured an herbal nose with tiny bubbles. Loved it. Drinking it I got yeasty and baking spice notes along with tastes of grapefruit and orange marmalade.
I then discovered a magnificent red, a 2023 blend of cabernet Franc and merlot. This joint effort of three female-owned wineries, Gallica, Snowden and Trois Noix, demonstrated how artists can collaborate to create such a showpiece. Delightful bouquet of ripe black and red berries. This was one of the finest that day. I got cedar, coffee, and caramel tastes (along with the berries I was also smelling). Mild tannins, it’s a well-balanced, remarkably smooth wine.
Next up is a winery that faced great challenges just to plant some grape vines, to say nothing about actually making some wine. At Hossfeld Vineyards “the soil is completely volcanic with major rock outcroppings of rhyolite and andesite breaching up through the slopes.” Lucia Hossfeld told me they needed to dynamite several areas just to get past the pervasive rock spread throughout the vineyard. The 2023 Coliseum Block, Dev 4, Flagpole Cabernet Sauvignon was redolent with fragrances of nitro glycerin (just kidding). Actually, the wine had cassis and blackberry aromas and delightful tastes of caramel and forest floor. Very tasty.
I also enjoyed the 2023 Guarachi Meadowrock Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Meadowrock sits 1,400 feet above the coastline in the Atlas Peak AVA. Bottled after aging for 24 months in 100% French oak barrels. This thick red with a black pepper and leather nose featured tastes of black fruit picked at the peak of ripeness and licorice. Give it a couple of years and then do a slow decant. Tasty now, but with a promise of future greatness.
Carl Kanowsky is an attorney, a fledgling baker, an enthusiastic cook and an expert wine drinker. He is certified by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust at Level II with distinction.
