The new house white.

I love Sauvignon Blanc (SB).  I think I drink more SB than any other varietal wine.  And especially when the weather is toasty, which it has been this past week.  The right SB can simply hit all the spots.
I had almost exclusively been drinking one particular producer's SB for the past 15 years. (I'm a creature of habit, so sue me.)  Not anymore.  Some relationships just need a clean break.  So, without further adieu, let me introduce my new SB crush: the 2019 Laird Family Estate (Napa Valley).  Love it!
The Laird SB is primarily fermented in stainless steel tanks, with just 15% fermented in neutral oak barrels, so it is clean and crisp.  Floral and citrus aromas on the nose, with some tropical and melon notes on the palate.  Winemaker Brian Mox does a great job with all of Laird's wines.  Vinomaker is partial to Laird's Cold Creek Ranch Chardonnay, whilst I have been a fan of their Cold Creek Ranch Pinot Grigio for years.
New love affairs are so exciting.  I think I can foresee my Laird liaison lasting for quite some time.

Vicennium.

I attended a retirement luncheon today and although it was a happy occasion - the celebration of a job well done for 37 years - it did, however, cause me to pause and reflect on a few things.  Things like, let's see, the passage of time, the comings and goings in life of friends and family, and the fact that nothing stays the same forever.  Including wine.
A score of years has passed between the vintages that produced these two wines: Groth Vineyards & Winery's 1996 and 2016 Chardonnay, Napa Valley AVA.  (Of course, if I had one bottle to represent each year in this particular span of time I'd have 21 bottles of wine.  Two will do.)  Drinking these two wines, side by side, just seemed fitting considering my mood.
The 1996 was still a beautiful wine, golden in colour with a honeyed-apricot jam thing on the nose.  (I'm thinking the 1996 will be good for a couple more years, at least.)  I just wish it had been a tad more crisp.
The 2016, however, was very crisp and vibrant with a lovely apple-limey-pineapple mouth-filling complexity.  Chardonnay is not my favourite wine varietal, but when it is done well it can be quite fascinating.  Although not fascinating enough to get in the way of my navel-gazing.

Wine of the hour.

Every two weeks, the entire staff of TWWIAGE get together to partake in themed blind tastings.  Fundamentally educational, the tastings are often of a comparative nature, i.e., comparing a TWWIAGE wine to that of a peer (of the same vintage, but not necessarily the same AVA).
A recent Sauvignon Blanc (SB) tasting had TWWIAGE's  SB up against eight other producer's wines.
To cut a long story short, my favourite wine of the tasting did turn out to be the TWWIAGE SB (in all honesty I probably have a bit of a house palate), but the best of the rest, in my opinion, was a 2017 Hourglass (Napa Valley AVA).  The Hourglass had a really nice fruity nose, lots of lemon/lime/pineappley-lychee on the palate and wonderful mouthfeel.  However, at $44.00 retail, I am glad that the owner's of TWWIAGE footed the bill, not me!
It is nice to try something different now and then, as I tend to get myself stuck in a vinous-rut sometimes (besides, it is important to my job to be familiar with competitor's wines).  Even so, it can be quite difficult to pull myself out of aforementioned rut, as I just don't have a problem with drinking a wine, that I really enjoy, again and again.

A tale of two bottles.

I was just saying to someone recently that, of late, I rather enjoy it when I open a bottle of wine that I can't drink.  That is, undrinkable for a variety of reasons; cork taint, over the hill, etc. And then it happened the very next night.
The wine on the left, the Henry Earl Estates 2013 Merlot (Red Mountain AVA), was totally oxidised and, yes, undrinkable.  Down the sink it went. I suspect that the wine was in this state when it was bottled, probably having been produced poorly.  (The cork appeared sound, no leakage.) This bottle of Merlot was a gift, which probably contributed to my rapid rejection of this wine.
The wine on the right was a quick replacement - simply, the next bottle at hand - as dinner was being served.  The Goosecross 2014 Amerital (Napa Valley AVA) was tasty, quite moreish and not oxidised.  And, being a blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Sangiovese, it just so happened to be a much better pairing with my Bolognese.
Life is too short to drink oxidised oenos!

Recon Day: 2017.

I am a little late posting about the annual TWWIAGE event, Recon Day, (which was held back on February 8th), due, in part, to the fact that the three wineries visited weren't very interesting to me.  February 8th was an extremely rainy day, which was cast a bit of a grey mood on the proceedings.  But we bravely forged ahead, as the promise of free wine beckoned our motley group, of eight, forth.
First stop was Cakebread Cellars.  This winery is very brown, wood everywhere (I'd paint it all white), so I really didn't like the facility. And I can't say I particularly liked any of the wines I tasted either.  Some light relief was provided, albeit unintentionally, by our host, a man we nicknamed The International Man of Mystery, who regaled us with tales of the many hats he had worn throughout his life.  This gentleman had had so many dissimilar occupations (e.g., selling Picassos and Gauguins), in many different parts of the world, that he'd have to be about 150 years old to have fit everything in. Or had performed every job for, oh, let's say, about 39 seconds each.
Next, we headed over to Goosecross Cellars (GC).  I visited GC (now owned by a Coors Brewing Company heiress) last March, so I think I'd already tasted most of the current releases.   A member of our group had once worked at GC, so the wine-tasting devolved into more of a reunion. In truth, there wasn't a lot of focus on the wines, if any, which was a shame.
Lunch was at Bottega, in Yountville, and was delicious as usual (I had a fabulous duck ravioli). Chef Michael Chiarello, being in residence that day, came over to say a quick hello.  Celebrity chefs: a modern day phenomenon, sigh.
Last stop of the day was at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC).  Made famous by Warren Winiarski (and the Judgement of Paris), but now under the ownership of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Marchesi Antinori, the newish visitors centre at  SLWC is absolutely stunning. And absolutely overwhelming.  (I could have done without the lecture on Copernicus.) However, of all the wines I had tasted today, I liked the wines here best, especially a rather tasty 2010 Cask 23 (at once both smooth and intense).  I was delighted to discover that SLWC produce a dry Sémillon, a varietal that can be difficult to do well.  The Rancho Chimiles, 2015 Sémillon (Napa Valley AVA), was quite appealing, so I bought a few bottles.
All in all, it was a fun day.  If there were any awkward silences - at lunch, or driving to and from wineries - someone would recall an interesting factoid about our Cakebread Man of Mystery and we'd all have a good laugh.  The rain was persistent.

Cult vineyard?

So I have been giving some thought to the whole cult wine phenomenon - just a little, not a lot. (The subject was recently raised, in the comments section of my 'Pluviophile...' post, by New Hampshire Wine-man.)
I have to say, I am more than a little sceptical when it comes to the whole cult wine thing, (I have been accused of being a doubting Thomas in the past).  But I cannot ignore the fact that some people might, and do, pay an ungodly amount of money for a wine that merely has the perception of being extra special, for one reason or another.  To me the whole cult wine faction, amongst the wine buying public, is akin to those folks who have to wear the latest designer labels.
Just last week, at a Napa Valley Vintners event, I was able to taste a Herb Lamb Vineyards, 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley AVA).  The vineyard this wine is produced from, the Herb Lamb Vineyard, is perhaps better known in cult wine-circles as the vineyard from which one of the first cult wines in the Napa Valley hailed; the Colgin Cellars, 'Herb Lamb Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Colgin was a wine with all the hallmarks of cult status; small production, vineyard designation, high critical acclaim and a lofty price point.  But what actually made it a cult wine in the first place?  The proprietor?  The winemaker? The vineyard? The farming practices?  Hmm.
Well, the commonality here, with Colgin and the wine I tasted, is, of course, the Herb Lamb Vineyard itself.  The seven acre vineyard is located in the hills just below the Howell Mountain AVA at some 800 feet in elevation. The soil is rocky and the exposure is northeastern.  Is great terroir, a terroir that produces high quality grapes, the sole factor in determining that a resulting wine will be of cult status?  I think not. To me it is arbitrary and faddish.  There, I said it.
And how was the Herb Lamb Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon?  Smooth, sufficient fruit up front,  soft tannins, a little lacking in the acid department, a brusque finish, just okay.  But then, I'm not really a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon-type Vinogirl.  No, I happen to be in the possession of taste buds of the doubting Thomas-persuasion.

Port out, starboard home.

Two, sort of, related things happened yesterday; my kind neighbour popped over and gifted Vinomaker and I a bottle of Heitz Cellars, Ink Grade Port (Napa Valley AVA), and I read a story about Porto, Portugal, in the Napa Valley Register.  (Oh, and a third unrelated thing, it was also my Vinomum's birthday.)
I have never tried this particular 'port' before, but my neighbour assures me it is delightful.  I can't wait to try it - tomorrow night, perhaps. The wine is a blend of eight, classic Portuguese grape varieties; Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Souzão, Tinta Bairrada, Tinta Madeira, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Cão and Bastardo.  (I think I am going to be particularly enamored by that last grape.  Titter, titter.)
The article in my local newspaper wasn't a typical fluff-piece written with the purpose of luring tourists to Porto.  No, instead the front page story was a report about a junket that three Napa County Supervisors recently took to the aforementioned city.  At a cost of $17,500 to the taxpayers of Napa County, the three supervisors, whilst in Porto, attended a conference called 'Great Wine Capitals' with the intention that they'd experience "a wonderful learning opportunity...to see what the rivals are doing". One Supervisor, Keith Caldwell, seems to not really have enjoyed the trip at all, or at least what he learned there.
In the article, Supervisor Caldwell bemoans the fact that he did not see more of the problems that Porto faces.  "They really went out of their way for us not to see some of the negatives," Caldwell complained.  What? The audacity!  God forbid the officials of that particular municipality, some 5,500 miles away from the Napa Valley, wanting to make a good impression on their visitors.
Caldwell continued, "What I think we could do is have an international dialogue about, 'What are you doing, Porto, to address homelessness?'" Hang on a minute, I have a suggestion.  Er, maybe the Napa County Supervisors could start by donating that $17,500 to a local homeless charity.  But no, it's other people's money.
Bastardo!

The mark of a good wine.

A few nights ago, Vinomaker and I polished off this bottle of Markham Vineyards Petite Sirah. If I hadn't seen Vinomaker pull the cork with my own eyes, I would not have believed that this wine was from the 1994 vintage.  As is fairly common place in Vinoland, Vinomaker had no idea when, or how, he had acquired this wine - I'm just happy that he did.
Yes, I know Petite Sirah is usually big and bold, exhibits deep, inky pigmentation and is redolent with robust chalky-tannins, but I had no idea that this wine varietal could age so well.  A well made and balanced wine ought to age gracefully (if cellared well, of course), but unfortunately this is not always the case.  Still very fruit forward, and with a lovely spiciness, this wine did not betray its age, it was simply fantastic. And it paired wonderfully well with our dinner of Beef Stroganoff.