"A Day in the Dust" -- Incredible Cabs and Real Values

By Mac McCarthy

SavvyTaste.com

At "A Day in the Dust" tasting of Rutherford, CA Cabernets, hosted by the Rutherford Dust Society, I found some incredible-tasting Cabs -- no surprise, though these were even more spectacular than I anticipated -- but I also found some incredible value prices, which I certainly didn't  expect -- especially from such elite wineries.  

WHAT'S THE RUTHERFORD DUST SOCIETY?

The Rutherford Dust Society is the odd-sounding name of a group promoting wines (especially but not exclusively Cabernet Sauvignons) made from grapes grown in the area around Rutherford, a small town in the middle of the Napa Valley. Society  members are the most famous name brands in Napa wine: Beaulieu, Inglenook, Heitz, Honig, Neal, Peju, Raymond, St Clement, Staglin, and others.

Andy Beckstoffer and Andre Tchelistcheff, 1989

The Society gets its name from a famous remark, "It takes Rutherford dust to grow great Cabernet," made by the most influential Napa winemaker of the 20th century, André Tchelistcheff. You may not know that name if you aren't involved in the Napa wine business -- but you will have heard of some of his works. A Russian making wines for top French winemakers, he was lured to the United States by Georges De Latour in 1938 to become the winemaker for Georges' Beaulieu Vineyards. Tchelistcheff had a huge influence on the winemaking techniques now used in the Valley -- especially for Cabernets, his specialty. He created one of the signature wine labels of the area: Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Beaulieu Vineyards.

The Rutherford Dust Society, established in 1994, works to promote and encourage the highest standards in winemaking, to maintain the reputation of the historic Rutherford district AVA. (The history of the Rutherford area in winemaking makes fascinating reading .) The Society is also working on restoration of the Napa River and its watershed.

Rutherford, Napa Valley

There were 36 winemakers at this year's event, titled "A Day in the Dust: A Tasting of 2008 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Blends," at Francis Ford Coppola's Rubicon Estate Winery in Rutherford. This is a tasting for the trade and the press, who turned out in force, and it was a delight to have the winemakers and winery owners themselves pouring.

BLACK CHERRY WITH CHOCOLATE POWDER--AND SOME GREAT PRICES

The common taste element of the wines this day is black cherry: The nose on most of these wines was aromatic black cherry, dusted with chocolate powder. And the taste followed through on this theme: Rich, mouth-filling, intense, with nice finishes, a balance of acid, and in most cases with enough tannin to make it clear that these delicious wines will be even more spectacular in a few years when the tannins calm and reveal the fruit in all its glory. When you think of a big red wine, these are the wines you're thinking of, and are the reason that you love this style of wine.

Each winery showed one or two Cabs, plus in most cases one or two Sauvignon Blancs (and one had a Sauv Blanc dessert wine that I regret not getting to) as well as some Merlots, and a few Pinots under the table.

I found dozens of the most wonderful, delicious, flavorful, rich and delightful red wines you would ever want to drink -- the cream of the Napa crop -- and the list prices ranged from just over $100 down to a not-quite-believable low of $24, with most bottles in the $50 to $75 range. In a day of over-priced wines, it's remarkable to find values from small, elite wineries. Every wine I tasted that day was worth every nickel of its list price, and more.

Which is as it should be -- and too often isn't. Wine prices should be a rough guide to how good you can expect a wine to be. Yet how often do you decide to buy a special wine for that party or that gift, pay that $50 or $75 for a "fine wine" and get -- a big disappointment. That $50 Cabernet Sauvignon is too tight, to tough, to difficult to enjoy. That $100 bottle of French Bordeaux is so "austere" -- read, "completely lacking in  fruit" -- that you just can't enjoy it. How often does the wine industry send our everyday winedrinkers, defeated, back to their sub-$10 wines from Trader Joe's, convinced there's some kind of game going on and they don't know the rules.

Well, if they had a chance to taste these top-notch Rutherford wines, they would find the wines they are looking for -- and at fair prices. Too bad they probably won't be able to find them. As always at these grand tastings, the majority of these finest of wines are made in small lots of a few hundred cases -- the cream of the winery's crop made in quantities too small to show up in your local Liquor Barn or supermarket, or even in your fine-wine shop if you live outside Northern California. And that's heartbreaking. These wines are ringing endorsements of what California wine can be, of what the Napa Valley is famous for, and of the wonders of "Rutherford Dust."

This tiny supply, of such wonderful wines, at such honest prices, gives wine lovers a powerful incentive to join a few of the winery wine clubs so you can get in on the limited allotments. (If you can even squeeze into their clubs!)

Sojourner

A ROUNDUP OF SOME WONDERFUL CABERNETS AND CAB BLENDS

Here are a few of the highlights, with retail price and production level where I remembered to get that info. (Many of these wines are not even listed on the vendor Web sites.)

Heitz Cellar 2005 Trailside Cabernet Sauvignon - $70 - Big and tannic, round and mouthfilling.

Heitz Cellar 1995 Trailside Cabernet Sauvignon - Wonderfully subdued compared to 2005. Nice nose. I liked the 2005 more.

Honig Vineyard and Winery 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - Campbell Vineyard - $75.

Hunnicutt 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, $75, 125 cases, to be released next spring - wonderful aroma, delicious.

JRE

John Robert Eppler Wines JRE 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford - wonderful aroma, very rich and round.

John Robert Eppler Wines JRE 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford - Nice black cherry all around, very drinkable.

John Robert Eppler Wines JRE 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Reserve - The black-cherry sensation a little more intense in this one.

MCG Cellars - McGah Family Wineries 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford - $42 - 275 cases - That incredible nose and flavor of dark cherries dusted with chocolate powder! Rich, smooth, unctuous -- sensational.

Meander 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - $65 - 400 cases - Incredible aroma - with that French liquorice-chemical-tire note. Rich.

Meander 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Morisoli Vineyard, Rutherford - $124 - 40 cases - Wonderful aroma, rich, corner-filling, with fine tannins. A standout.

Neal Family Vineyards 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, $75 - The only one I tasted here that didn't thrill me, due to a slightly odd note in the nose that carried through in the taste - don't know what it was, but it disappointed me.

Pedemonte Cellars 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford - $26 - 360 cases - A wonderful taste with a loooong finish -- a wonderful wine in every respect, plus the price is hard to believe. This is not half as good as the other wines, but is exactly on their level and maybe even a bit above (that long finish is wonderful).

Peju 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Reserve -$100  - Yes; yes, that is very much a delicious Cabernet. Miss Lisa Peju, the icon in its ads, was there pouring, along with her mother.

Peju

Quintessa 2008 "Quintessa" blend 87% Cab, plus Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cab Franc, and 1% Carmenere. $150 - 8,000 cases. Good. Not the best here, but good. I was surprised that it was the most expensive Cab being shown; I wouldn't have guessed it. I was also taken aback that they said they made 8,000 cases -- eight thousand cases? Yes. Of a $150 wine? Yes. Wow. Nice work if you can get it. Why? How? I got a blank look, as if there is no marvel in superior wines produced in tiny lots for half the price.

Raymond Vineyards 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford - $60 - 60 cases - Nice and round, but it's still early for this one, the tannins are still too high.

Raymond Vineyards 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford - 65 cases - Yes, that extra year helps. Good wines, but not I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be.

Rubicon Estates 2008 Rubicon - $250 - Mostly Cab. Creamy, velvety - a quiet, thoughtful wine - I had to pay attention to appreciate it.

Rubicon Estates 2008 CASK Cabernet Sauvignon - $75 - A nice cherry nose, good taste.

Sojourn Cellars 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Beckstoffer Vineyards Georges III -- $95 - 140 cases - Wow. Rich, sweet -- Zowie! That's a lot of wine for under $100!

Sojourn Cellars 2008 Cuvee -- Great! Rich and delicious.

St. Clement Vineyards 2008 Star Vineyard Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon - $80 -  Not much nose (unusual in this crowd), but lots of fruit flavor, with a tannic tang that suggests this should lay down for a bit.

Sullivan Vineyards 2008 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford - $55 - A good middle, with a nice tannic backbone.

Sullivan Vineyards 2008 Coeur de Vigne, Rutherford - $90 - 49% Cab, 40% Merlot, the rest Petit Verdot and Cab Franc - A nicely balanced wine.

Sullivan Vineyards 2008 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford - $100, club  only. Good, again with the tannic bite. All these Sullivan wines need to lie down for a few years and think about it.

Tres Sabores 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Perspective - $85 - Silky! (No, I don't know what "Rutherford Perspective" means. Is it like "Seaview" where there's no sea?)

Tres Sabores 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford - $80 - Same vineyard - no nose, but black raspberry on the palate.

SOME OTHER REALLY GREAT RUTHERFORD REDS

The Rutherford district produces quite a few other red wines besides Cabernet Sauvignon -- Merlot and Pinot Noir as well as Cab Franc and four or five others. Here are standouts from this tasting.

Sojourn Cellars Pinot Noir - 2009 Rodgers Creek Vineyard, Sonoma -- an under-the-table wine that's not produced from Rutherford grapes. - $48, 575 cases.  This is exactly what I like in a Pinot: Light, flavorful, with a long finish.

Sullivan Vineyards 2008 Merlot Rutherford - Very, very nice: The fruit shows up in the middle and the finish.

Sullivan Vineyards  2008 Reserve Merlot Rutherford - $100, 100 cases, for wine-club members only (you tease!). Round, with a tannic bite.

Tres Sabores 2008 Zinfandel Rutherford Estate - $35 - This is a Wow! with more finish than a typical Zin -- in fact, it's not typical of a Zin but boy is it good!

.

AND TASTY RUTHERFORD SAUVIGNON BLANCS

You'd think it a waste of the most valuable Cab-growing dirt in the country to raise Sauvignon Blanc grapes instead, but the Rutherford growers obviously don't agree. Most of the top-of-the-line wineries showing at this event had Sauv Blancs from grapes grown in Rutherford on offer.

The 2010 Sauv Blancs, newly bottled, were for the most part very similar to one another. Each had that Sauv Blanc nose and the citrusy flavor typical of this wine when it's made well. They were not as stony as the New Zealand style (which is good because I'm getting tired of that style), but were tasty, with a nice light tang that will go well with food, or on the deck on a hot summer day. Here are some I tasted, all 2010 Rutherford  Sauvignon Blancs except where noted.

94574 Brand - $18 - Nice citrusy flavor.

Alpha Omega - $36 - Slightly different from its rivals, a bit more complex, a good finish - 275 cases.

Alpha Omega "1155 Rutherford" - $52 - Also complex, a bit "French," which is a good thing.

Fleury Estate - $50, 150 cases - Nice acid, a light tasty tang.

Frog's Leap - $18 - Nice acid tang, palate clearing - bring out your Chinese food!

Honig Vineyards - 2009 - $25, 1300 cases - A little malolactic gives this and interestingly different taste - a bit of pineapple?

John Robert Eppler (JRE) Wines - 2010 Fume Blanc - French style, nice fruit nose, a bit less citrusy, but with a light tang -- mild, easy to drink. Didn't get a price - and their Web site doesn't even mention this white. Hmm.

Long Meadow Ranch - $18 - classic SB nose, flavor - good.

Conspire- $28; mild, tasty, and pleasant. (Amy Aikin puts her reds are under the brand name 'Meander'.)

Round Pond Estate - $24 - Pleasant, a good drink.

Rutherford Grove - 2009 Rutherford Bench - didn't get the price - Seemed a bit richer than the others, somehow.

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What do you think? Which are your favorite Cabs? Pass this article along, and subscribe above for our occasional wine reviews and opinions.  --Mac 

How Certain Wines Get Boring

I mentioned wine writer Craig Camp's article "Fear of Wine: 100 Points of Perfection," where he also complains about the trend of American winemakers (and, increasingly, international winemakers looking for export markets) to make their wines all taste alike.

This is true, and it will help explain an oddity about wines to you, the wine enthusiast. When you start enjoying wines, you likely drink a limited number of types, because that's what you liked. You drink Chards, or Cabs, or Pinots, or Australian Shirazes. And you look for more Chards, Cabs, or Pinots that taste similar to the other ones you liked.

Then one day you go to a winetasting event and try something unfamiliar; say, Petit Syrahs. You find, to your surprise, that each one you try tastes quite different from each other one you try. Brand X's PS has one kind of taste, Brand Y's PS tastes completely different. It's a puzzlement.

The reason simply is that most winemakers respond to their perceived markets. When a particular type of wine becomes popular, and sales go up, volume winemakers try to figure out what it is about that particular type of wine that drinkers are responding to. Is it the bright cherry notes? The sweet lingering aftertaste? The creamy oakiness? Then they start tuning their winemaking to imitate the tastes of the most popular wine of that type on the market.

Of course they would! The problem is, after a while, all the popularly-priced wines of that type taste more alike than different.

This happened first with Merlots, back in the 1980s. Merlots were the first "grown-up" red wine to gain popularity among the Boomers (like me). It can be light, approachable, easy to drink, yet with flavor enough for a real wine. And back then, the variety of styles of Merlots meant that each bottle you'd try from a different vintner would be a surprise as each vintner interpreted the Merlot style a bit differently. It was fun to drink Merlot!

Until everybody was drinking it. Wine growers put in thousands of acres more Merlot vines--often putting them on any open land, without regard to its suitability to that grape. As a result, a lot of simply bad Merlot crowded the market. At the same time, Merlot winemakers all headed in the same direction, producing uninspired, bland, plain, general-purpose Merlots intended to hit the middle of the market squarely on, as inoffensively as possible.

That's the kind of Merlot the character in Sideways is complaining about. Basically, they ruined Merlot for a generation. Now you can find good Merlots, but you have to know what you're looking for, and you'll pay a lot more than you used to: Geyser Peak, for example, makes a real Merlot, if you want to see what a real Merlot actually tastes like. But it costs around $30 a bottle.

Cabernets have been hit by this same flight-to-sameness syndrome, though not quite as badly because Cabs are difficult and expensive to grow, so they will never be the standard mass-market $10 bottle of wine (there are $10 Cabs but they are very uneven). But these days, you can pay $20, or $30, or $50 for a Cabernet and you'll be rolling the dice on whether you get a pretty nice bottle of wine, or an uninspired, insipid, bland red.

The Shirazes of Australia have been an enjoyable and fresh alternative for many years now; less than $10 gets you a nice fun wine, and every label makes it a bit different. This is the kind of fun wine that Merlots used to be decades ago. It amazes me, though, that the volume winemakers in Australia, like Yellow Tail and Rosemount, have managed to increase production to Gallo levels but haven't quite managed to lose the fun in their wines. God bless 'em!

If you really want to have fun with your wine these days, try Roses. Not White Zinfandel, mind you, but the countless types of Roses made in the US and in France, but not that easy to find, because White Zin ruined the idea of Rose for most Americans. You are going to have to trust me on this: White Zin is not the only way Rose can taste.

There are more different kinds of Roses than any other wine style, simply because you can make a Rose out of any red-skinned grape: There are the classic French dry Pinot Noire Roses, as well as Roses made from Zinfandel, from Merlot, from Cab, from Syrah and Shiraz, and Grenache, and everything else. And not only do each of these types of Rose taste different, but each winemaker makes his own Roses different from every other Rose maker. Reason: You can't really sell enough Rose in the U.S. to make it profitable, so most winemakers are making Rose as a labor of love, according to their own individual tastes, without trying to please some marketer's "definition."

I promise you, if you find a Rose tasting in your area, go--and you will have the most amazing, fun, varied, and astonishing wine drinking experience of your life. There will be plenty of them you won't like--and even more of them you will. Whether you like light or heavy, sweet or dry or something in between, fruity or flowery or neither -- you will find many Roses to please your surprised palate!

Try it -- and have some fun with your winetasting!

The Charles Shaw "Two-Buck Chuck" 2003 California Merlot is ready to drink!

The Charles Shaw "Two-Buck Chuck" 2003 California Merlot is ready to drink!

I just cracked open a bottle from my case of Charles Shaw 03 Merlot and am here to tell you that it's *ready*, baby!

The wine is mild, with a nice fruit. There's a hint of green to it, which I don't like, but it's very drinkable. If you put away a case of this cheap stuff back then, now's the time to break it out -- and I'm guessing from how it's tasting now that it won't last much longer.

Background: Like many of you, I've tipped a few glasses of the notorious $2 Buck Chuck (it's even made it into Wikipedia), a line of wines that sell at the Trader Joe's grocery chain for $1.99 the bottle -- and at $24 the case (12 bottles) that's one tempting opportunity.The brand became famous (and even infamous, as this entry in Snopes.com's Urban Legends page testifies) for its initial run of cheap but very tasty Chardonnays. They quickly followed with Cabs and Merlots, same price.

They weren't bad -- certainly they didn't taste like wines retailing for under two dollars. They tasted like $10 wines, or $20 wines, or even $30 wines, depending on which case you bought in which month.

Which, it turns out, was the trick. The source of this cheap wine was leftovers from growers and vintners and winemakers who were stuck with excess supply back in the 2002 period. Rather than dump it, they sold it to this firm for literally pennies on the dollar.

So the basic wine/grapes/juice was decent stuff -- rumor had it that some of it was very decent indeed -- supposedly some juice that had been going into $30 bottles was fire-saled off to this company.

At $2 a bottle retail, they couldn't have been paying much for the wine, that's for sure. It's hard to sell empty bottles at that price and make a profit.

So a visit to Trader Joe's could turn up a darn good bottle of wine for a ridiculous price. Problem is, there hasn't been much consistency from batch to batch, because the company was picking up its wine from whereever it could get it. The source varied from month to month -- or from one week's shipment to Trader Joe's to the next week's shipment. That's why the Charles Shaw bottles are always so vague about the wine: "California Merlot" isn't very specific; it could be Napa one week, Sonoma another, Lodi the following week.

That's not a bad thing -- the wines might be decent in each case -- but it has made it hard to get a case of what you especially like. You buy a bottle, a few weeks later you open and taste it -- Bingo! It's great! You rush back to Trader Joe's to buy a case for $24, you open the next bottle and -- it's not as tasty as you expected. Different juice, that's why.

So ensues the famous "Trader Joe Shuffle": Buy a test bottle one day, drink it *that same night!*, and if you like it, go back to Trader Joe's the next morning -- EARLY! -- and buy the case -- while it's still the same wine! and before the next shipment arrives!

The case of Charles Shaw 03 Merlot I bought a couple of years ago turned out to be a bit on the harsh side, so I left it under the house for a while. Last year I tried a bottle and it was still too tangy to suit me. But late in 2007 I opened another bottle -- and Lo! it had mellowed!This is a reasonably mouth-filling wine with nice fruit, easy to drink with a meal or just while watching TV.

So if you got a case of this particular item Back When, or know somebody who did -- OPEN IT NOW!