[wine] Old School Cab (NYT)

Greetings, I'm not aware of anything scheduled for this week. Suggestions for next week. Barbera at Arezzo ($6/head fee). I'd like to do "Old School Cal Cabs" some time. I'll suggest we go to Erte ($30/table fee, still the best deal in town.) or grill steaks somewhere. We've not been to the Strip Club. We should go back to Barley Johns while the patio is open - could work for cabs. Fresh Taste Fest was excellent. Wonderful food and wine. Big thanks to Mike Dombrow and Tournament Liquors. Cheers, Jim August 20, 2008 The Pour In Napa, Some Wineries Choose the Old Route By ERIC ASIMOV RUTHERFORD, Calif. AFTER a tour of his vineyard here in the heart of Napa Valley, and an eye-opening tasting of his Napa and Rutherford cabernet sauvignons, I sat down to lunch with John Williams, the proprietor of Frog.s Leap. Perhaps he had been inspired, too, because in a fit of possibly foolhardy exhilaration he opened a bottle of rare wine. It was a Napa icon, a 1959 Inglenook cabernet sauvignon, made by John Daniel Jr., one of the pioneers of California.s modern wine industry. The wine, graceful yet assertive with elegant floral, mineral and herbal touches, was sublime, easily one of the best older Napa cabernets I.ve ever had. .I want to make wine this good,. Mr. Williams sighed. He.s on the right track. The prevailing style of Napa cabernet today emphasizes power, weight and extravagance, but Frog.s Leap is one of a small but significant number of cabernet producers that form a kind of alternate Napa universe. They are making wines of balance and restraint that are a direct link to Napa.s past, when wines like the Inglenook forged the region.s reputation as a source of great cabernet sauvignon wines. The Frog.s Leap wines are subtle and nuanced. Like the Inglenook they.re easy to drink with a meal and rewarding, especially for one who has despaired of finding Napa cabernets that are table wines, not jammy fruit bombs that overwhelm food. You don.t hear much about these sorts of wines today. Critics and consumer publications largely ignore them while reserving their highest scores for the sweet and plush set. That.s why, on a recent trip to Napa, I was so happy to find producers who are still making the kinds of wines I crave. Some, like Mayacamas Vineyards, were once acclaimed but are now disparaged as Old School or past their prime. Which is almost laughable, especially with a glass in hand of the brilliant 2001, a wine redolent of violets and minerals, intense yet graceful. Other producers in this undersung category include Cathy Corison, who makes Rutherford cabernets wonderfully aromatic of flowers and lavender, Smith-Madrone on Spring Mountain, which makes lovely, structured cabernets, and Dyer on Diamond Mountain, which strives for balance above all. These wines are often derided by critics as rustic or green. That.s a damning term in today.s Napa that refers not only to the vegetal quality that comes from underripe fruit but also to any herbal aromas and flavors, which to my mind are integral to cabernet sauvignon. .I want freshness and vivacity,. said John Clews, vice president of vineyard and winery operations at Clos du Val, which for 35 years has been making balanced cabernets that go well with food. .I also like slightly herbal characteristics, and when that is replaced by jamminess, I miss that.. John Kongsgaard, a great chardonnay producer who made his first Kongsgaard cabernet sauvignon in 2005, said those herbal qualities are essential. .I think green is part of the varietal signature,. Mr. Kongsgaard said as we sat on a bench near the entrance to his winery on Atlas Peak in eastern Napa. .People should know that cabernet comes from a plant.. Mr. Kongsgaard used grapes from his own vineyard in the hills east of Napa and from Madrona Ranch, owned by David Abreu, the noted viticulturist, west of St. Helena. Both the 2005 and the 2006 are wonderful, dry and elegant with beautiful aromas of flowers, graphite and herbs. One stellar producer in this alternate universe has received its share of attention. Dominus Estate is owned by Christian Moueix, a director of Châau Péus, in the acclaimed Pomerol estate. But that hasn.t helped its ratings from Wine Spectator, one of the most powerful voices in shaping consumer tastes. .Smooth and harmonious, if on a modest scale,. its California critic, James Laube, wrote of the Dominus 2004, awarding it a ho-hum score of 87. And of the 2001, to which he gave an 81, Mr. Laube wrote, .disappointingly dry and austere.. Personally, I would enjoy a lot more Napa cabernets if they were dry, austere and harmonious. The Dominus 2005 is dry and elegant, and the 2006 is even better, complex, structured and, yes, deliciously austere. Unlike Mr. Williams of Frog.s Leap, the vast majority of Napa Valley cabernet producers harbor ambitions of making killer 100-point powerhouses. Most are not connected with the history of their region, making wines that bear no resemblance to either the .59 Inglenook or to almost any other cabernet that was made in California before the mid-1990.s. Many producers of the big, modern style assert that up-to-date vineyard practices, improved grape clones and vastly more sophisticated winemaking techniques dictate the style of their wines. They point to current notions of physiological ripeness, that is, judging the ripeness of a grape not merely by its sugar content but by when the tannins and seeds are no longer green. Sometimes achieving the desired level of seed and tannin ripeness requires far more .hang time. on the vine, resulting in much sweeter grapes than in decades past. Years ago, cabernet grapes might be harvested at 23 or 24 on the Brix scale of sweetness. Nowadays, producers of ultra-ripe cabernets routinely harvest grapes at 28, 29 or even 30 Brix. But to get more restrained cabernets, producers find ways to insure full ripeness at a much lower sugar level. Many strictly limit irrigation. In fact, Frog.s Leap, Dominus, Mayacamas and Smith-Madrone are fervent proponents of dry farming, with no irrigation, just as most Napa vineyards were farmed before the 1970s. They also harvest earlier for fresher, livelier flavors. Yet, regardless of questions of ripeness and California sunshine what it really comes down to is philosophy and taste. If you want to create a restrained, elegant Napa cabernet that emphasizes flowers, red fruits and a touch of the herbal, instead of a rich, plush cabernet of high alcohol and oaky sweetness, you can. That is, as long as you have a great vineyard. .It.s got to be great dirt in a great place,. said Cathy Corison, whose Kronos Vineyard, eight acres of gnarled 36-year-old cabernet vines, occupies a prime patch of Rutherford land. .I consider it a failure if I have to wait until it.s over 25 Brix to get the flavors in alignment.. Despite the lack of attention, most of these producers have found like-minded customers. .There seems to be enough people who like what I like, and that means wines with acidity, wines that age well, and wines that need a little time,. said Bob Travers, who, with his wife, Elinor, purchased Mayacamas in 1968. Mr. Travers is lean and a bit weathered, like his magnificent mountain vineyards, some of which are showing their age and will soon need to be replanted. Mayacamas is a working estate, not a showpiece of neat, meticulous rows of vines or of sleek, moneyed winemaking. Some of his old casks were purchased by Jack Taylor, the man Mr. Travers calls .my predecessor.. Mr. Travers, who trained with Joe Heitz of Heitz Wine Cellars before his first vintage, is more comfortable thinking of himself as a custodian of the land, showing his aversion to godlike control in winemaking. .In 40 years I haven.t really changed,. he said. .Joe Heitz was a great believer in hands-off dry farming and winemaking and so am I.. Mr. Heitz, who died in 2001, was an important link in the historical chain of Napa cabernet. Heitz.s Martha.s Vineyard cabernets, with their distinctive eucalyptus aromas, were among the most acclaimed Napa cabernets in the 70s and 80s. As with Mayacamas, you don.t hear much about Heitz anymore, but a 2001 Heitz Trailside Vineyard that I had recently was a marvelous example of classic Napa cabernet. Dominus, though owned by a Bordeaux legend, can make an equal claim to Napa history. Its vineyard, in the foothills on the western side of Yountville, was first planted in 1836 by the town.s namesake, George Yount. John Daniel Jr. acquired it in 1946 after he took over the Inglenook Winery, and at least some of the Inglenook .59 came from this vineyard. Daniel.s two daughters, Robin Lail and Marcia Smith, were originally partners with Mr. Moueix in Dominus, though he eventually bought them out. As Mr. Moueix and I walked through this historic vineyard, he reflected on his California ties. Dominus has often been criticized as tough, tannic and overly Bordeaux-like, but like so many in Napa Valley Mr. Moueix studied enology and viticulture at the University of California, Davis. Among his heroes are Robert Mondavi; Maynard Amerine, a renowned Davis professor who died in 1998; and especially Andréchelistcheff, another pioneer of the Napa wine industry. .He said to me, .You will be successful on one condition: move slowly,. . Mr. Moueix recalled. Indeed, Dominus wines age well . the 1991 is about perfect now, unlike some acclaimed modern Napa cabernets that fall apart at 10 years. Yet, while Dominus is not cheap . the 2004 was released at $115 . at least 65 other Napa cabernets were released at higher prices. Perhaps a greater claim to Napa history can be made by Rubicon Estate, now owned by the director Francis Ford Coppola. The estate, nestled near Pritchett Hill and Mount St. John in Rutherford, was started in 1880 by the founder of Inglenook, Gustave Niebaum, Daniel.s great-uncle. Rubicon.s Cask cabernet is a tribute to Daniel, made, like the Inglenooks, with 100 percent cabernet and aged in American oak. It strikes something of a stylistic middle-ground, with a touch of vanilla from the oak, yet dry and earthy. It will not need as much aging as the top-of-the-line Rubicon cabernet, a more structured wine with pronounced mineral and floral flavors. New wines in a restrained style are bearing some historic Napa names. J. Davies, made by Schramsburg Vineyards in honor of its founder, Jack Davies, is a balanced and delicious wine of great minerality. And the two sons of Robert Mondavi, Michael and Tim, each began to produce cabernets in the 2005 vintage. Continuum, from Tim Mondavi, is a polished, dry medium-weight cabernet, while M by Michael Mondavi is intense and floral. .I.m confident that the pendulum is coming back to more elegant wines that are complementary and balanced,. Michael said. But these sorts of wines remain a minority and far from a vogue. Still, 10 years ago California chardonnay was also characterized by ponderous extravagance. Then a great thing happened. Enough people sought out more subtle and refreshing wines that California chardonnay producers began to pull back. Today you can still find bombastic chardonnays, but it.s just as easy to find tense, tightly coiled versions. What goes around occasionally comes around. John Williams of Frog.s Leap, for one, disputes the notion that his classic cabernets are in any way old fashioned. .We think we.re more relevant today than we were 28 years ago,. he said. .Many of the things we do, we think we.re on the cutting edge.. Producers Worth Checking Out Following are some producers of balanced, restrained Napa cabernets: Chateau Montelena Clark-Claudon Vineyards Clos du Val Continuum Corison Winery Dominus Estate Dyer Forman Vineyard Frog.s Leap Grgich Hills HdV Vineyards Heitz Cellar J. Davies Joseph Carr Kongsgaard Mayacamas Vineyards M by Michael Mondavi Rubicon Estate Seps Estate Smith-Madrone Spottswoode Estate Tom Eddy Wines Trefethen Family Vineyards Truchard Vineyards White Rock Vineyards -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *