1989 Cabernet Sauvignon: 1 for Sonoma, 1 for Napa

The other night we were making a steak dinner so we decided to try a bottle of A. Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon 1989 from the Indiana basement collection. Under the capsule the top of the bottle and cork were moldy, and the fill was low in the bottle, suggesting some leakage. We didn't have high hopes for the wine. The cork crumbled and we had to push it in to get to the wine, which we then decanted. We tried it, and it was pretty oxidized with little fruit left. We figured it was gone and reached for another bottle from the collection. It happened to be Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 1989. This was pure coincidence - we were just reaching for another old bottle and it happened to be this. The cork was in better shape and came out in one piece, unless you count the many tartrate crystals attached to the end. We decanted it and tried it, and while strongly vegetal, it seemed to have more structure, acidity, and tannin, and we deemed it the winner. We left the other, not ready to dump it yet while we sipped the Diamond Creek. As we went about making dinner, about a half hour later Jeremy said, try the Rafanelli. I did, and just from the smell I could tell it had improved. Fruity and spicy, with each sip it kept getting better. We went back to the Diamond Creek - not as vegetal, with hints of dried fruit starting to emerge. We were intrigued. Both were getting better. We took a glass of each to the table to enjoy with dinner. Rafanelli was fruity, spicy and smooth, while Diamond Creek was bold, structured, and interesting with secondary fruit. When we finished eating, the Diamond Creek was pretty much at the end of its life, with the fleeting fruit now gone. The Rafanelli had kept opening up, and I quickly whipped up a batch of cookies to pair with it for dessert. Unfortunately, that 20 minutes was enough to turn this wine back on its side, as the fruit started to fade and it was time to say goodnight. 2 bottles, 2 roller-coaster rides, 2 Cabs: 1 point for Sonoma, 1 point for Napa.

An interesting and fun exercise in old wine and time.

Frances and Newton

Last week I finally made it to Frances, a popular restaurant that I've been hearing about for a year where you can never get in. It received 1 Michelin star in 2011 and is classic Californian, with a daily changing menu inspired by local ingredients and a casual setting. The reservation list is full for months, but they have a "bar" area in front with about 8 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis. I've tried to go in the past but with wait times over an hour I usually am too hungry to wait. This week though, to celebrate a special occasion on Wednesday, we tried again after calling and hearing that the wait for the bar wasn't too long. We got there and were first in line for 2 seats at the bar, a 30 minute wait. As we perused the wine menu, Jeremy had a thought that we should've brought a bottle from home. Corkage fee was only $15, and with a half hour to kill, why not go home and get a special bottle? So he went while I waited for the table. He got back 2 minutes after I was seated and presented a bottle of 1991 Newton Merlot - a bottle from his father's cellar. We had the 1990 a few weeks ago and it was really interesting, so I was excited to try this slightly younger vintage. The waiter decanted it for us, showed us the cork, which he managed to keep 75% in tact, and previewed by saying that while pouring it into the decanter it smelled amazing. We encouraged him to grab a glass and share some with us.

Amazing it was - rich and deep, with earthiness, leather, warm spice, and a bit of complicated fruit - not quite dried but still lively and bright. It went great with our meals (I had the Quail and Kale and Jeremy had beef) as well as the dessert - a decadent chocolate cake with bing cherries baked in and caramel sauce on top.

Frances and Newton - a match made in heaven!

Sonoma Slumber

We've had a couple more notable wines from the Indiana basement collection - these two both from Sonoma County.

Kalin Cellars 1993 Chardonnay, Sonoma County, CA

You could tell right away from the color that it would be oxidized, but it was interesting and pleasant nonetheless. Sherry nose with nutty, caramel, fig notes. Some residual oak on the palate, which led me to believe this was a super oaky wine in its youth - typical of '90s style California Chardonnay. It still had a nice acidity which is probably what helped it stay so long. We had it with sushi and it paired pretty well.

Hacienda 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County, CA

This was the first wine from the basement collection whose cork came out in 1 piece! And, this wine was a beauty, once it opened up. Still a lot of fruit and complexity, silky tannin, nice acidity. 

Currently when I think of Sonoma County I think of Pinot from the Russian River Valley or Zin from Ridge, but there are a lot more treasures to be found up north in Sonoma, a diverse wine region as wide as it is long, with many different microclimates and a lot of variety. 

Why We Love(d) the 90's

A few weeks ago I visited Indiana with my boyfriend and we raided his dad's wine cellar. His dad had managed to get himself on a bunch of coveted wine lists in the 80s and 90s and still has a lot to show for it. Now a diabetic, he doesn't drink wine as much as he used to, so he said we could put together a couple cases and bring them back to California with us. I've been lucky enough to sample some of these cellar treasures, including Ridge from the 80s and Leonetti from the 90s. It is always a gamble with older wines - you never know how they will keep. This basement wine cellar that we raided is not actually a wine cellar at all - it's a boiler room. So every time we open one of these bottles, the cork crumbles, we dismantle it in pieces, push in what we can't get out, and usually end up decanting and sometimes passing the wine through a coffee filter (into a coffee pot if we've run out of decanters). The wine may be oxidized, it may have lost all its fruit. Or it may be amazing, complex, funky, silky, and downright delicious. Here are a few winners from the latest collection:

 Leonetti Cellars 1992 Select Walla Walla Valley, Washington

The components of this wine are unknown, but I suspected it was a Merlot/Cab Sauv blend. It was gorgeous, fruity, spicy and chewy, with no oxidation and a beautiful richness.

Newton 1990 Merlot Napa Valley, California

This wine wasn't as clean as the previous but still had a lot of fruit and spice to go with the funk.

Chateau Phelan Segur 1990 Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux, France

This 1990 Bordeaux, which is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, still had a lot of fruit, plus richness and complexity that is so typically Bordeaux. I've learned through my tasting and study that really good Bordeaux needs at least 10 years to be drinkable, at least to my liking (the tannin needs time to calm down) and this was a perfect example. Blackberry, leather, barnyard, and dried fruit mingled with a surprising acidity (that calmed down after being open for a day) and tannin that suggested we could have waited a bit longer to open it, but not too much longer. 

A. Rafanelli 1991 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California

I tried this wine after it being open for a day, and it was pretty oxidized, but it still had a bit of fruit and spice and was drinkable. Jeremy said it was much better the first day.

Both of these last two bottles had been leaking, which was why we decided to open them. You can see how the bottle tops are kind of moldy and icky. 

All of these wines threw a lot of sediment, as can be expected in older wines, and the 1990 Bordeaux also left tartrate crystals behind, which is from the acidity precipitating out. 

We were just saying that we should probably get some cheap Tuesday night wine to drink so we are not opening interesting and potentially amazing 20-year old bottles on a whim, but really, we are opening the bottles from Indiana assuming they are bad from the storage conditions, but hoping they will surprise us. So far so good! Thanks again, Jeff.

Giving thanks to Leonetti

This Thanksgiving I got to try 2 bottles of 1996 Leonetti Cellars Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon. The corks were difficult to extract, so both bottles were decanted. The first was actually decanted with a significant amount of cork pieces, so we then filtered it through coffee filters (yes, it's the one in the coffee pot). The second bottle was a little easier to open so we decanted it without any floaters. I was so curious to try both wines and see if there was a difference, and there was! The non-filtered version was much brighter and fruitier. The filtered one lacked that vibrancy. I tried the filtered one first, and don't get me wrong, it was delicious. But then when I tried the non-filtered one it tasted even better. When I was working at Wiemer, Fred the winemaker taught me that everything you do to a wine robs it of some character - every racking, every filtering. This could have been one such example of the truth in his words. (But in a finished wine like this, there is always the chance of bottle variation, especially in wines that have aged.)

I like how Leonetti's labels say "Appellation American." Happy Thanksgiving!

Pre-Thanksgiving dinner

Last night at my boyfriend's parents' house we had a decadent pre-Thanksgiving dinner, featuring rack of veal and 2 cellar treasures. Both wines were twenty years old and the corks were a bit soft. So, after they crumbled under the corkscrew we ran the wines through a coffee filter and into a decanter (and vase, as the case was for the second bottle!). I don't know if there is a gizmo out there to filter out disintegrated cork but if not maybe this is an invention waiting to happen. The filtering and decanting exercise was actually great for aerating the wines. Older wines tend to need a little time to open up so this was perfect.

The 1990 Ridge Monte Bello from California was a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. It was expressive and fruity with a little spice and really smooth oak. The 1989 Lynch-Bages from Bordeaux was more complex and richer, with deeper tobacco and coffee nuances layered over the dark fruit.

Both wines went great with the rack of veal.

Happy pre-Thanksgiving!

Cellar Treasures

I thought I didn't like Cabernet Sauvignon until I had a 22-year old one from Caymus Vineyards in Califonia that was as smooth as silk. I thought Merlot was a simple, fruity, easy-drinking wine for burgers until I had an old one from Washington that was so complex I thought it was Bordeaux. I thought Bordeaux blends had no comparison until I had the 1989 Ridge Monte Bello from California (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot).

So, I guess what I've learned is that for me, Cabernet Sauvignon should be at least legal before I drink it; well-made wines may be even more rewarding/exciting/complex if you wait a decade or two to drink them; and finally, try anything, because you never know what you may like (or love!).