Domaine de la Citadelle

It was a tough call. But it was just too good now not to push him. We were tasting the 2007 Les Artemes with Alexis Rousset-Rouard at Domaine de la Citadelle, the amazing estate made up of a patchwork quilt of perfectly situated hillside vineyards in Menerbes. What’s most fascinating about these rich, beautifully chiseled wines has been not only their primary fruit delight, but their remarkable ageworthiness. We have a collection of Citadelle “Gouverneurs” in our cellar, and at the moment it’s the 1999 that’s really showing off.

But the 2007s are something else. Yes, they benefited perhaps as much as any wines in the south — due to the cooler microclimate and the healthy dose of Mourvedre — from this monumental vintage. The Artemes was very deep in color, and had that benchmark Citadelle finish, speaking to a decade of cellaring. But this time, the gorgeous, dense, sweet-fruit character was just too much to pass up. We weren’t tasting the 2007 Artemes. We were drinking it.
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Ridgecrest Vineyards

Exceptional Pinot Noirs, the great ones, carry the signature of the winemaker. But even in extraordinary vintages, it’s the little decisions that are made once the grapes come in that often separate good Pinot from the world’s most etheral wines. These decisions are complex, dynamic, and without recipe. It’s a sort of winemaker’s cuisine a la minute.

As Harry Peterson-Nedry walked the Ridgecrest Vineyard, tasting grapes in last days of the warm 2006 vintage in the Willamette Valley, he knew his Ribbon Ridge grapes would have unusually high natural sugars. He also knew, if he made the right calls, that he could not only harness all that red fruit power, but enhance it. There were risks. A heavy hand could push the wine right over the top, but if he got it right, he thought he could make one of the great Pinot Noirs of his 25-year career.
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Harvest at Crane Ranch Vineyard

We just returned from Napa, and, while the dark storm clouds that have gathered from Spring Mountain to Pritchard Hill might be good news for Cabernet consumers, they are tragic for some of the more interesting new winemaking projects in the valley. Who’s in the worst shape? Young estates that have purchased prime vineyard land for top dollar, spent small fortunes planting to perfection. Just when their wines are market ready, the storm rolls up the coast. As far as we can see, for wineries without established distribution, there are few options. Wholesalers have stopped buying, while wine shops are playing it close to the vest.

What should be the WineAccess strategy? We tasted almost a hundred Cabernets and Bordeaux Blends while in Napa and much of it was “good.” But little was special. So, while the short-term dollars are tantalizing, we resisted temptation. We picked a half-dozen tiny production wines (like Peter Rubbisow’s Mount Veeder Cabernet last week), almost all from brilliantly conceived young estates. Yes, the wines are distressed, and the prices bear no resemblance to economic necessity. But more importantly, the wines are distinguished and special. This Hillside Block Cabernet from Michael and Dan Crane is just that — very special Napa Valley Cabernet.

There are just nine acres of perfectly planted vines, only a half-dozen planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. This is the kind of spot we love (as do Caymus and Lewis), hillside vineyards with a unique microclimate featuring warm sunny days and cool breezy evenings. Why do we like it so much? Because in Napa, to our taste, there’s always heat, but often too much of it. These cooler spots may produce wine that takes a bit longer to come around, but that’s good — particularly if the wineries hold the wine back for the consumer. That’s what the Cranes did with this 2004, a beautifully honed, muscled 273-case cuvee that handled the heat of 2004 the way few did.

The Cranes did one more. After they developed the land and bought 60% new French cooperage, they put the wines in the hands of Al Perry — of Robert Biale fame. Perry harvested the grapes in the cool morning hours on October 14, 2004 (the added hang time due to the cool spot paid big dividends here), hand sorting before fermentation. The extended fermentation in small, temperature-controlled tanks was followed by 20 months of aging in those French barrels.

We did the math, and it isn’t pretty. When you’re making just 273 cases of wine, there are no economies of scale. Add the cost of a top consulting winemaker, and, well, this beautifully structured, deep, muscled Cabernet from one of the more critically acclaimed vintages of the decade is selling at… cost. This is what happens in 2009 when you’re the new guy on the block, you’ve spent top dollar to make top-shelf wine and the roof falls in.

Tasting Notes from the WineAccess Travel Log
“Deep purple color. Powerful aromas of dark purple/cassis-like fruit, still slightly closed. Rich and opulent on the palate, but not without restraint. After two hours, much more open and lush, beginning to show all of its opulence. Firm and fresh on the finish, speaking to how those cool evenings offset the heat of 2004. Drink now or age for a decade.”

Talley Vineyards

First, we had it at Gramercy Tavern, then later in the week at Daniel Boulud’s incomparable Bar Boulud on Broadway at 63rd Street. Bar Boulud’s wine director, Michael Madrigal, probably said it best. There’s a reason why the rich, bright, magnificently balanced 2006 Talley Estate-Bottled Pinot Noir was featured for so long at Daniel’s place. The food at Bar Boulud is less about elaborate ‘cuisine’ than it is about freshness and purity; the fish, the vegetables, the herbs — subtle combinations of flavors, each of which tastes like it was harvested that morning. So when we asked Michael why he had chosen the Talley Pinot and why the wine was such a hit at the restaurant, he said: “The Talley wine just speaks of what Bar Boulud is all about. You don’t need overblown cuisine when you have that much purity and precision.”

But our history with Talley Pinot Noir goes back 16 years. The first time we tasted a Talley Pinot, it hadn’t even been made by Brian Talley’s winemaking crew. We were at The Wine Cask in Santa Barbara in 1993, when proprietor Doug Margerum directed us to a new release from his friend, Jim Clendenen, at Au Bon Climat. The wine was the legendary 1991 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Talley Rosemary’s Vineyard, an amazing California Pinot with a rare sort of penetrating wholesomeness. A few days later, almost 16 years ago today, we made a beeline for Talley Vineyards.
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