St. Clement Oroppas 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon A Napa Valley landmark since 1878, St. Clement Vineyards produces small lots of luxury and single vineyard wines from exceptional Napa Valley vineyards. Hand-crafted from grapes grown in the Napa Valley, St. Clement wines reflect a deep respect for the land and an understanding of the valley’s unique geology, soil and climate. St. Clement’s portfolio of stunning Napa Valley wines is anchored by the flagship Oroppas Cabernet Sauvignon. The first vintage of Oroppas was made in 1991, and over the years, it has become a style icon for St. Clement. The key to Oroppas is having a palate of consistent flavor profiles and tannin…
-
-
Hall 2012 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Kathryn Walt Hall is the proprietor of Hall Wines and has been involved in the California wine industry since her family first purchased a vineyard thirty years ago. She has had a distinguished career as a successful businesswoman, community activist, and most recently as the United States Ambassador to Austria. Kathryn Hall and her family have been grape growers in Mendocino County since 1972. The Walt family owns 63 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in the Redwood Valley and has sold their grapes to such wineries as Fetzer, Parducci and Beringer. Kathryn managed the family vineyard from 1982…
-
J. Davies 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District The Davies family, proprietors of Schramsberg Vineyards in Napa Valley, produces still wines from the historic Diamond Mountain vineyards purchased in 1965 and replanted to Bordeaux varietals beginning in 1994. The wine is named in honor of patriarch Jack L. Davies, who along with his wife, Jamie, revived the Schramsberg property and established the preeminent American sparkling wine house more than four decades ago. A creation of the next generation of the Davies family, the J. Davies Cabernet Sauvignon is the product of an intimate knowledge of a place and a passion to create a delicious red wine. Opening a bottle of…
-
Batzella Bolgheri Tam 2009 Located in Bolgheri, on central coast Tuscany, the Batzella Winery Estate was founded in 2000 by Khanh Nguyen and Franco Batzella. The commitment of this husband-wife team is to make elegant and genuine wines, with a personality that expresses the best of their terroir. The Bolgheri area is enchanting, surrounded by soft rolling hills and by the Tyrrhenian sea. Its soils and micro climate are perfect for the Cabernet varietals, by now considered local to Bolgheri, to reach full maturation, resulting in wines that can be distinctively elegant. In this land, the Batzellas are pursuing their passion: to find that elusive harmony between elegance and power…
-
Beringer 2010 Knights Valley Reserve Caberinet Sauvignon Beringer Vineyards roots date back about 140 years ago when Jacob Beringer sailed from his home in Mainz Germany to New York. After arriving in the “new world”, Jacob heard that the rocky hillside soil and fertile valley floor of Napa Valley resembled that of the vineyards back home in Germany. Jacob, and his brother Frederick, headed for Napa and purchased 215 acres of land in 1875, becoming one of the first wineries in Napa. A lot of time has passed and Beringer has perfected its craft of making fine wines, balancing time-tested traditions with modern technology, resulting in a portfolio of admired…
-
I recently went to a private wine tasting where one of the Founders of Two Hands Wines, Michael Twelftree (pictured above) opened four of his wines and provided some in depth commentary on those wines and his winery. I will review two of his wines today and the other two I will make some comments my next two reviews, in a few days, keep a look out! Two Hands 2014 Sexy Beast Cabernet Sauvignon The idea for Two Hands was born in September 1999 when founders Michael Twelftree and Richard Mintz sat at a friend’s engagement party and decided it was time to make their own wine and market it on…
-
Faust 2013 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Interesting to learn that Faust, the wine, celebrates a legend which has inspired many great minds, among them the German poet Goethe, from whose masterpiece they draw inspiration. In Goethe’s most famous work, the aging scholar Dr. Faust barters his soul in the afterlife in exchange for another chance at youth. He gets his chance, yet ultimately his soul is saved by love. Faust is indeed the fruit of renewed passion for Agustin Huneeus, though Mephistopheles has not yet appeared to claim his soul. The underlying premise for all of the wines he has ever produced has been that great wines must be a reflection…
-
Terrabianca 2007 Campaccio Toscana Red In the medieval times, Podere Terrabianca found itself in the ambiguous situation of being situated in the part of the countryside under the rule of Florence and, at the same time, also in the diocese of the Bishop of Siena. The very first documents mentioning its presence, dated 1085, describe it as being a country estate as, in fact, its name clearly implies. Today the winery Terrabianca is located at the heart of the Chianti Classico region, in the middle of Tuscany, 12 km from Siena and 50 km from Florence. The soil which consists of layers of chalk, sand and clay from the palaeozoic…
-
Cakebread Cellars 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Cakebread Cellars was founded, in 1973, by Jack and Dolores Cakebread and they have an enduring commitment to quality, their belief is that life’s occasions are elevated by good people, good food, and good wine flows through everything they do. The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley is a blend of Grapes: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. In 2013, Cakebread Cellars celebrated their 40th wine harvest, and the second generation of winemaking. Today, the winery owns 13 sites totaling 982 acres, 460 of which are currently planted. The Cakebread Website is full of interesting information and loaded…
-
Antinori Toscana Tignanello 2005 The Antinori family has been involved in the production of wine for over six centuries, ever since, in 1385, Giovanni di Piero Antinori entered as a member, the “Arte Fiorentina”, the Winemakers’ Guild of the city of Florence. During this entire long period, thorough twenty six generations, the family has always directly managed this work with courageous and, at times, innovative decisions, but always maintaining, unaltered, a fundamental respect for tradition and for the territory in which they have operated. Today the firm is run by Marquis Piero Antinori with the support of his three daugthers, Albiera, Allegra, and Alessia, directly involved in the work of…