THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9508310098
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: HUMBLE STEWARD
SOURCE: JIM RAPER
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
SONOMA COUNTY in northern California may never shake the shadow cast over it by its more celebrated neighbor to the east, Napa County.
Both are known for wine, but Napa is considered America's premier viniculture area.
I have always come away from northern California believing that Sonoma is more my kind of place. The countryside is just that, countryside. Napa is too concentrated, too fussy, too much like a WineWorld theme park.
I do not disparage Napa wines when I say I'm more comfortable in Sonoma. I agree with experts who rate the Napa cabernets and merlots as the best in the land. My rash pursuit of pithiness has led me at times to proclaim: ``Sonoma for white wines, but Napa for reds!''
No sooner have I said it, though, than I taste contradictions, such as the Matanzas Creek 1991 Merlot Sonoma Valley ($35) or Foppiano 1992 Petite Sirah Sonoma County ($10), and the Sterling 1993 Chardonnay Winery Lake Vineyard Napa Valley ($18) or Groth 1994 Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley ($10).
It's hard for a wine writer to be pithy as well as precise.
This summer my appreciation of Sonoma County wines mounted - along with the contradictions - because of visits to Hampton Roads by representatives of Kenwood and Chateau St. Jean wineries. Few wineries in Sonoma, or Napa, have had more success producing a broad selection of wines, white and red.
These wineries are in the south-central portion of the county between the municipalities of Sonoma and Santa Rosa. Both began producing wines in the early 1970s, which makes them old by California standards.
A tasting of Kenwood wines reinforced longstanding, but ill-formed, opinions about the quality of this producer's whites. I had not visited the winery, nor had I tasted a broad flight of the wines at one sitting. I remembered, however, very good sauvignon blancs and good chardonnays. My notes revealed consistent good marks for Kenwood whites.
My experience with Kenwood reds, scant as it was, left me with fond memories of the Jack London Vineyard zinfandels from the mid- to late-1980s. But before I sat down to the recent tasting I found in my notes no listing of a Kenwood red tasted within the past 18 months. I recollected tasting the 1987 Zinfandel Jack London Vineyard ($18) - and loving it.
If before the tasting I had confidence in the quality of the Kenwood whites, I was less sure of what I would think of the reds. But I finished the tasting with more appreciation of the reds than the whites - and the whites were quite good.
The 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon Artist Series ($40) was the star of the lot, as it should have been given its cost. This wine needs bottle aging to tame its tannins and to get its black currant and cedar flavors into balance. But even at a relatively young age it shows fine breeding in its layers of flavors.
The 1993 Jack London Merlot ($19) was rich and delicious, full of black cherry and spice. And the 1992 Zinfandel Sonoma ($15), while not as intense as its big brother from the Jack London Vineyard, was distinguished by its flavors of blackberry and tar.
The 1993 Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma ($10) is the best value among the Kenwood wines poured at the tasting. A little melon, a little straw, and a lively finish make it a top-drawer example of this varietal. Also worth a try are the 1992 Chenin Blanc Dry California ($8) and the 1993 Chardonnay Yulupa Vineyard ($14).
I was more familiar with the wines of Chateau St. Jean, but my experiences had been almost exclusively with the winery's whites.
St. Jean's chardonnays from the Robert Young Vineyard in Sonoma's Alexander Valley have contributed a lot to my ``Sonoma for white wines'' prejudice. The winery, under winemaker Dick Arrowood (who now has his own signature winery), began early on to promote single-vineyard wines, and the Robert Young chardonnay is proof enough that the reasoning was sound.
This summer's St. Jean tasting included both the 1992 Chardonnay Robert Young ($28) and the 1992 Chardonnay Robert Young Reserve ($68 for a 1.5-liter bottle). These wines share a remarkable nose of mint and vanilla and peaches. The aroma became more mellow as the wines spent time in the glass, and gained a distant component of tropical fruit. The tastes, however, were not tropical. The mint and vanilla carried through, joining notes of yeast, hazelnuts and apples. These are great chardonnays, complex and clean. Both should age well for California chardonnays, especially the reserve, which has a sharper edge and more toastiness.
Also first-rate were the 1985 Grand Cuvee sparkling wine ($22), the 1992 Fume Blanc La Petite Etoile ($12), the 1989 White Riesling Late Harvest Special Select ($27 for a .375-liter bottle) and the 1993 Chardonnay Belle Terre Vineyard ($23), which is rounder and more tropical than the other two chardonnays.
The St. Jean reds were where the surprises were.
I don't remember tasting a better California red from the 1989 vintage than the 1989 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Alexander Valley ($100 for a 1.5-litter bottle). One sip, however, and all my fretting about the price was forgotten. The wine is intense without being syrupy, multi-layered with cherry fruit evolving into tea, and abundantly spicy.
The 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Cinq Cepages Sonoma County ($23) has more lush berry fruit than the reserve and would be more friendly to the typical palate. Cinq cepages refers to the five traditional Bordeaux grapes which are in this blend: cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, petite verdot and malbec.
The 1992 Merlot Sonoma County ($22) has the softness to appeal to a broad spectrum of red wine drinkers, but also a tiered finish of herbs and spices and alcohol warmth. MEMO: The Humble Steward is a biweekly feature of Sunday Flavor. Send
questions or comments to: The Humble Steward, Sunday Flavor, The
Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk,
Va. 23510. If possible, give complete label information when naming
wines, and list the vintage year. Please include your name and phone
number.
by CNB