A couple of months ago, I had a “significant” birthday and as part of the seemingly non-stop several month celebration, I spent the week of the actual birthday out with good friends in Healdsburg, California. While I am certainly a proponent of drinking good, or even great, wine when ever possible, I am not a “trophy wine” kind of guy. I am a strong believer, though, that good wines should be shared with good friends, whenever possible. So here are a few of the wines we opened during that very fun week.
2018 Burn Cottage Pinot Noir Valli Vineyard, Gibbston, South Island, Otago, New Zealand: Retail $60. 100% Pinot Noir. We were out in Healdsburg for my “significant” birthday week, and good friends brought this over. I am far from an expert in NZ PN (I am nowhere close to even an amateur), but this is pretty close to gangbusters. Medium to dark color in the glass with fairly dark fruit for a PN with some earthy notes and a bit of pine needle. The palate is far richer than I would have predicted with rather intense fruit but also an ample level of acidity in search of balance. I am surprised: I thought this would be a bit austere, but it is the opposite. Big, fruity, fun. Excellent. 92 Points.
2022 Bob Cabral Wines Chardonnay Cuvée Anne Rose, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $100. We were having winemaker friends over for dinner at our little VRBO in Healdsburg, part of my ten day birthday extravaganza in wine country, and they brought this, a “100-point wine” from Bob Cabral (of Williams-Selyem fame). They told me who gave it 100 points, but I honestly don’t remember and I couldn’t find it online. I do know that Suckling gave it a 96, which is a pretty low score for him, soooo… Brilliant yellow in the glass (on its way to golden?) with a fairly subtle nose; hints of tree fruit, some lemon rind, a touch of oak, and some white flower perhaps. Subtle. The palate is also rather subtle, but it is also rather magnificent. Whoa. Right off the bat. OK. This is a magnificent wine. I was all ready to poopoo it, given the whole “Bob Cabral brouhaha” but it certainly lives up to the hype. Whoa. Yeah. Great fruit, tangy acidity, depth for days, a complexity that I have not experienced much (if at all) in Chardonnay in a while, and a finish that is on the verge of astounding. Whoa. Yeah, this is a pretty special bottle of wine that I think Suckling sold a little short. I am not ready to give it 100 points, but whoa. Extraordinary. 98 Points.
2020 Domaine Carneros Ultra Brut, Carneros, CA: Retail $53. 57% Estate Grown Pinot Noir, 43% Estate Grown Chardonnay. It has been a minute since I have tried an Ultra Brut from Domaine Carneros, but I was in Healdsburg for a couple of weeks and I swung by the winery to pick up a few different bottles for my stay. The sugar is quite low (0.4 g/l), as is the pH (3.0), which is surprising since this is pretty fantastic. Bright green apple abounds on the nose with a nice floral component and a yeastiness that is rare outside of Champagne. The palate is tart, even quite tart (as one would expect), but the expressive tree fruit does an admirable job of keeping all that acidity in check. Multiple layers of complexity, a weighty mouthfeel, and near impeccable balance define this beauty, rendering me very pleasantly surprised. Outstanding. 93 Points.
2022 Domaine Carneros Brut Rosé, Carneros, CA: Retail $48. 57% Estate Grown Pinot Noir, 43% Estate Grown Chardonnay. It was my birthday week and we picked up a few bottles of this wine from the winery for a party up in Cloverdale, where there was waaaayy too much wine to drink. First world problems. Medium orange-pink color with plenty of red berry fruit on the nose, just oozing fruit. That continues onto the palate with plenty of strawberry and cherry to lead the fruit salad brigade. Then comes the tartness, whoa. While the bar for sparkling wines rests firmly on the balance between fruit and acidity, this DC Rosé completely knocks that out of the park. Yeah. Yowza. And a Whoa. Outstanding. 93 Points.
2022 Marc Colin et Fils Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Montceau Blanc, Burgundy, France: Retail $85. 100% Chardonnay. I lost a bet. I wagered that my Philadelphia Eagles would beat a winemaker friend of mine’s San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs last year. Well, that did not happen and the cost was simply “Burgundy 1er Cru”. I settled on this. Saint Aubin has a special place in my heart for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it is (was?) considerably more affordable than it’s Montrachet cousins on the other side of the hill, Chassagne and Puligny. Brilliant straw in the glass with a nose that is characterized by its citrus (lemon rind) but perhaps dominated by a nuttiness (hazelnut) that is extremely enticing. White flower, a salinity, and even a spice component round out one of the more complex noses I have witnessed in a while. The palate is pretty darned close to White Burgundy bliss: fruit, acidity, complexity, depth, and an attitude that few Chardonnays can pull off. It’s elegant yet bold, refined yet racy. THIS is why I love white Burgundy. Outstanding. 95 Points.
2015 Château Gloria, Saint Julien, Médoc, Bordeaux, France: Retail $65. Retail $55. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot. We were in Healdsburg for the week, and we headed over the hill to Bouchon in Napa Valley (Yountville, to be precise) for my birthday dinner. The opening bottle of champagne was stellar, but not voluminous enough, so we opted for this left-bank beauty. It was the favorite producer of a dear friend of mine before he passed away, so here we are. Dark in the glass in both color and aromas with mainly cassis, plum, and blackberry, with a bit of forest floor and violet. Lovely. The palate has nice fruit, a balancing acidity and plenty of balance. Look, this is not a rich, beefy, bruiser from California, but it is a lovely, reserved, and slightly earthy beauty from the left bank. Very nice. Excellent. 91 Points.
WINE OF THE WEEK: I really didn’t want to do it. Really. After spending a few words in the intro professing that I was not really into “trophy wines” how could I possibly choose one as my Wine of the Week? Bob Cabral is probably best known for his work at Williams Selyem, one of Sonoma County’s “cult producers”. He was making wine before that for many years, of course, but his wines at Williams Selyem, for many, were “legendary”. In the years since leaving, he has had a few ventures and the 2022 Bob Cabral Wines Chardonnay Cuvée Anne Rose, is truly an exceptional wine. So I had to do it.
What was your Wine of the Week?
