Cabernet Sauvignon The defining moment for any comes not when the grapes are picked, and the proclaim it to be yet another perfect that will absolutely yield a bounty of brilliantly successful . And it does not come when the first barrel samples are tasted by those who cannot wait to rush into print with their definitive judgments as to quality, ageworthiness and value. A vintage may get a reputation, often to its great detriment and to the detriment of buyers, from those early pontifi- cations, but it does not get adequately defined by those kinds of speculations.

It is only when the wines are settled in barrel, blends are made up and selections are drawn from the entire range of juice available to the wineries that we are able to get our first indications in any meaningful way. At that point, the vintage begins to acquire a broader, more informed patina, and, whether fully or only partially correct, that newer image is the one that tends to stick—even when later evidence clearly adds better data.

In this issue, the bulk of the important wines are from the harvest of 2000—a year whose image is already tarnished beyond full recovery. In truth, it is not a legendary vintage, and more on that later, but it is also The Jericho Canyon east of Calistoga has yielded a *** Cabernet- a year that has been somewhat misjudged by the early based wine in the hands of our Of The Year, Ramey Wine Cellars. commentators. Just as the Cabernets of 1998 were mis- takenly denigrated as ripe and empty when, in fact, so many were rich, supple and surprisingly satisfying, so too were the Cabernets of 1999 described, in some quarters, as the cat’s pajamas, even though too many of them have turned out to be overripe and wide of the classic model for the variety.

So, here we have a large collection of Cabernets from the “average quality” 2000 vintage, and it turns out that the Duckhorns and the Diamond Creeks and the Phelps and so many others are quite fine indeed. Yes, they are not as ripe and concentrated in some instances as the 1997s or the 1999s, or even the 2001s are reputed to be, and seem to be based on the early entrants tasted for this issue, but they prove the 2000 vintage to be highly presentable with wines ranging from average to excellent.

Unlike in Europe where strings of bad have happened with some regularity, it is absolutely not the way things go in California. Rather, what we tend to have are variations as to style, and it is to those stylistic distinctions that attention must be paid. Yes, there are better vintages and “not better” vintages, but the last time California had so much as even one decidedly sub-par vintage was back in the late 1980s. This current vintage of 2000 may not be the stuff of legend, but it is stacking up to be a year in which plenty of very good wines were made.

Cabernet Sauvignon pg 18 Year in Review centerfold & pg 32 pg 29 december 2003 as they are, fuel our opponents’ arguments. There is plenty to like here, and we have no brief with the expressive combination CabernetCabernet SauvignonSauvignon of rich, creamy and ripe curranty fruit that occupies the very center of the wine’s personality. We can even accept the extra AMUSANT Napa Valley 2001 bit of heat that rises at the finish, especially in a wine from the 1999 vintage. It is, rather, the question of value that is raised by 9% . Our bottle came packaged in the new Metacork, the wine and, along with too many others, this admittedly solid which is a that is attached to the capsule and comes out effort does not deliver on that score. $90.00 easily by simply twisting the capsule off. Unfortunately, the wine O B I is less interesting than the closure with its ripe but dry style and ARTESA Alexander Valley 2000 its viscous but too hollow palatal impressions followed by high Scattered suggestions of herbs, olives and dill sit to the side of levels of coarse tannin. O T D $30.00 modestly scaled, mildly cherry-like qualities in the aromas of this medium-bodied working. While rounded in feel, the wine is a * is S. ANDERSON Stags Leap District 2000 little dry and drawn in flavor, and it wants a little more flesh to 24% Merlot. Wearing its considerable complement of Merlot win the nod of recommendation. 1 B I $40.00 on its sleeve for all to see, this gentle, supple, soft-edged wine is geared to cherries and chocolate while showing a scant bit of ARTESA Napa Valley 2000 herbs. Its slightly succulent, oak-sweetened flavors are under- This moderately herbal, heavily oaked and lightly fruited effort pinned by a modest streak of fine-grained tannins, and, if fully shows more than small resemblance to its cellarmate despite its capable of growing for a few years yet, it is more than easy to very different provenance. It is soft at entry, then noticeably firm gulp down now. 1 B I $35.00 in feel, and it edges to acidity as its uncomplicated flavors taper at the end. 3 B I $40.00 ARNS Napa Valley 2000 ATLAS PEAK Consenso Atlas Peak 1997 Largely keyed on ripeness with an almost confected edge of slightly candied sweetness coming from its omnipresent oak, Napa Valley. 6% ; 4% Merlot. Ripe and oddly herbal this full and fleshy Cabernet lags in its expression of fruit, and it at one and the same time, this tight, stiffly structured wine is shows a more than a few raw edges to its finish as its gasping both hot and tangy on the palate, and fruit lags well behind in fruit gives up completely to oak. O B I $65.00 its taut, close-to-chalky finish. 1 B I $30.00 BARNWOOD Santa Barbara County 2001 * it ARTESA Reserve Napa Valley 1999 Ripe and a little heavy in aroma with beamy, dried black cherry We spend a good bit of our time arguing that Napa Valley Cabs notes somewhat obstructed by charry oak and a hint of dried are not universally overpriced, but wines like this, as well-made herbs, this fairly full-bodied effort is soft and a bit fat in texture Tasting Note Legend

OUTSTANDING WINES CHARACTERISTICS & TRADITIONAL USE WITH FOOD

*** THREE STARS: (95-98 points) An exceptional wine. S Soft and fruity wine. Quaffable by itself or with light foods. Worth a special search of the market. F Crisp white. Medium acid and dry. Fish or delicate flavored foods. ** TWO STARS: (91-94 points) A highly distinctive wine. C Mellow white. Dry to slightly sweet. Enough acid for white meats. Likely to be memorable. l Full and blanced dry White. Try with rich seafood and fowl dishes. * ONE STAR: (87-90 points) Fine example of a type or style of wine. Without notable flaws. L Light Red and powerhouse White. Fowl, veal and light meats. NOTE: Wines not marked with stars are often delightful wines. Each has B Medium Red. Balanced, good depth, medium tannin. unique virtues and any of these wines may be the best wine to serve Beef and lamb. your needs based on value, availability or for your dining and taste pref- T Robust Red. Full tannin, intense flavors. For highly spiced erences. *Prices – Approximately California full retail prices. meat dishes. Connoisseurs’ Guide tastings are conducted with Riedel Stemware. d Sweet . Enjoyable by itself or with sweet desserts.

AVAILABILITY DRINKABILITY

3 Generally available in most market areas. D Drinkable now. Unlikely to improve with further aging. 1 Limited production and/or limited geographic distribution. I Drinkable now. Further bottle aging can improve this wine. O Very limited availability. A Cellar for future drinking. Wine will improve with bottle aging. GV Good Value U Not suitable for drinking.

CONNOISSEURS’ GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA WINE [ISSN 0161-6668] is published monthly at 651 Tarryton Isle, Alameda, California 9450l and is available only by subscription at $60 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Alameda, California and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to CONNOISSEURS’ GUIDE, Post Office Box V, Alameda, CA 94501 or phone (510) 865-3150. ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED. © 2003 by CONNOISSEURS’ GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA WINE, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, with the following limited exceptions: (1) Wineries may use descriptions of their wines. (2) News media may use no more than one-quarter page of material per issue, provided CONNOISSEURS’ GUIDE is credited. Publisher/Editor: CHARLES E. OLKEN. Associate Editor: STEPHEN ELIOT. Winery and Subscriber Relations: THERRY L. OLKEN. Printed at the Pinnacle Press, San Jose, on recycled paper. Subscription rate: $60.00 per year. Phone: (510) 865-3150. Fax: (510) 865-4843. e-mail:[email protected] Internet: http://www.cgcw.com Volume 28/Issue 1. November 2003.

18 and never quite finds the lively spark of fruit that would lift its of youthful energy as well, and while it is not a bold or complex otherwise rich, slightly chocolatey flavors into the range of easy version of the grape, so too is it not small and pinched. Give it a commendation. Close, no cigar here. 1 T D $22.00 try with lighter red meat dishes. 3 L D $17.00 * jl BEAULIEU Georges Latour Private Reserve 2000 ** jm August BRIGGS Napa Valley 2000 Extravagant oak simply steals the scene from the very start here Moderately deep, well-defined Cabernet currants are underlain as cedar cigar box smells and sweet perfumes of vanilla, toast by a complementary streak of sweet oak throughout the length and cocoa dominate somewhat subdued elements of youthful of this nicely proportioned Cabernet, and the wine has a good black cherry fruit. Oak similarly plays a central role in the wine’s deal more mass and fruity substance than the vintage predicts. flavors as well, but fruit hangs on gamely despite gruff tannins Its initial palatal impressions of plushness are sure to tempt early and a bit of closing heat. Very rich but very young, this one has drinking, but for all of its real refinement and frontal appeal, it the depth for optimistic aging and needs to be set aside for at has the kind of balance that suggests it may not reach its peak least five or six years. 1 B A $90.00 for five or more years. O B I $48.00 * is BEAULIEU Reserve Dulcet Napa Valley 2000 BUEHLER Estate Napa Valley 2000 82% Cabernet Sauvignon; 18% . Spicy oak is the featured Taking a moment in which to lose an initial note of wayward player just now and provides lots of sweet cedar and caramelly earthiness in the nose, this ripe, reasonably well-stuffed wine richness to the compact, slightly curranty aromas and dry, rather gradually finds a measure of curranty fruit and shows a bit of closed-in flavors of this solid, but toughly structured youngster. weight in the mouth. Its frontal flavors run afoul of walnut-skin It is pushed hard by astringency in the finish with oak presently tannins, however, and if never energetically fruited, it stands to persisting well past fruit, and it very much needs the smoothing benefit from a few years of age. 1 B A $30.00 benefits of both three or four years of age and mealtime service with hearty cuts of beef. 1 B A $35.00 CARMENET Lake County 2001 Its initial aromas of ripe fruit suggest a bit more than is actually BEAULIEU Tapestry Napa Valley 2000 delivered in this useful, somewhat restrained bottling. It is fairly This ripe and reasonably fruity working smacks a bit of berries in full and somewhat supple in mouthfeel but thins out a bit as it the nose along with the expected Cabernet qualities of cassis and crosses the palate and ends with its nominal tannins getting the cherries, and it makes a good start on the palate as well where upper hand at the finish. Clean and youthful, it can easily serve reiterated fruit is joined by mildly creamy oak. It runs up against as a useful mate to grilled steaks. 1 B I $18.00 blunting heat and tannins as its goes, however, and it loses its way to chalky dryness. Age will help to smooth its many edges, CATON Sonoma County 2000 but it needs a bit more fruity heart to fully convince that it will 11% Merlot; 5% . Hints of smoke and baker’s grow to beauty. 1 B A $40.00 chocolate overlie a quiet note of ripe cherries in the clean but low-keyed aromas of this loose-knit effort, and, while making a BEAULIEU Rutherford Napa Valley 2000 reasonable stab at richness with its ripe, chocolate and cherry Very much reflective of the slightly thinner style and low energy flavors and its glycerin-fattened feel, it wants for a just bit more that are a little too typical of 2000 Cabernets, this clean, mild, intensity and fruity conviction. O B I $35.00 not-quite-concentrated effort is limited in real richness, but it shows reasonable lines and is a useful mid-sized wine ** jn CAYMUS Napa Valley 2001 for drinking with simple steaks. 3 B I $25.00 There is no getting around the fact that lavish oak has a big part in the play of this expressive effort, but comfortably centered BELL Napa Valley 2000 amidst all of the wine’s vanillin, toast, sweet smoke and dusty 7% Cabernet Franc; 3% Merlot; 2% Syrah. Shot through as it is earth aspects there sits plenty of mildly briary, ripe currant fruit. with an aggressive streak of herbaceousness, this lean, slightly Slightly supple in feel and showing a good sense of substance acidy effort is limited in essential fruit, and its less than optimally from beginning to end, the wine is solidly structured and well- ripe demeanor is nowhere more evident than in its narrow and balanced with a finely fit spine of firming tannin, and it holds its decidedly angular finish. 1 B I $35.00 fruity focus through a sustained finish. We look for at least five years of improvement here but would not be surprised to see it * is BLACK & WHITE Topanga Vineyards 2001 grow for twice that long. 3 B A $70.00 Napa Valley. One might have thought that Topanga was located somewhere near , but apparently it exists also in the CHARLES CREEK La Sonrisa del Tecolote Napa Valley 2001 Napa Valley. And, whatever the origin of the name, it has yielded More or less a clean, plain, everyday Cabernet, this lightly fruity a nicely focused Cabernet whose black cherry fruit and creamy edition makes a passing stab at curranty and oaky character but oak work well in tandem and do yeoman’s work at holding off settles primarily on a simple, close to berryish personality. Supple the blunting tannins at the finish. 1 B I $20.00 at entry, then somewhat gritty in progression, it drifts to dreary dryness in the finish. 1 B I $26.00 BLACK COYOTE Bates Creek Vineyard Napa Valley 2000 Laced with reedy herbaceousness and smacking at times of tree * is CHATEAU ST. JEAN Cinq Cepages 2000 bark and tobacco, this bottling looks high and low for fruit but 76% Cabernet Sauvignon; 10% Merlot; 9% Cabernet Franc; musters only a passing glimmer of cherries. Not so much firm as 3% ; 2% . If a perfectly pleasant Cabernet it is simply lean with respect to flavor, it ends with a soft, slightly of modest measure, Chateau St. Jean’s latest “Cinq Cepages” stemmy edge to its lackluster finish. O B I $25.00 bottling is a bit off the pace of its illustrious predecessors. It is rather underplayed in terms of fruit and overall richness, and its BONTERRA 2000 teases of sweet oak, vanilla and toast remain just that. Still on A competent, everyday Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine starts off the stiff and slightly tannic side, it is unlikely to find substance well with middling depth black cherry fruit in the nose and has and stuffing with age, and it looks to us like one whose peak a nice bit of early palate roundness in the mouth. It shows a bit will come in four or five years. 1 B A $70.00

19 nose and flavors, but this dry, somewhat puckery wine shows itself to be thin and slightly acidy in the mouth, and everywhere CabernetCabernet SauvignonSauvignon it wants for fruity mass. O B I $29.00 COLUMBIA WINERY Columbia Valley 2000 CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE Canoe Ridge Estate Vyd 2000 Although underplayed scents of Cabernet currants emerge with Columbia Valley. 9% Malbec. Our pick of the bunch among the some reluctance, slightly more obvious aspects of dried herbs clutch of Ste. Michelle Cabernets, this clean and compact wine and stems come to be as prominent in the nose, and the same is nominally ripened yet shows a bit of the green streak that loose-knit mix of cassis and herbs appears in the abbreviated, bedevils its mate from the Cold Creek Vineyard. It finishes with mildly brushy flavors of this slightly supple, but never completely firm tannins signaling a certain potential for age, and mid-term fruited, medium-bodied wine. 3 L D $15.00 keeping seems the proper prescription. 1 B I $24.00 * it CONN CREEK Anthology Napa Valley 1999 CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE Cold Creek Vineyard 2000 64% Cabernet Sauvignon; 16% Merlot; 13% Cabernet Franc; Columbia Valley. Limited notes of wild cherries and currants are 7% Malbec. Ripeness and rich oak are the defining themes of underlain with a bit of oak and herbs in the clean if somewhat this mildly briary, very vanillin opus, and, if colored by a token modestly scaled aromas of this firmly balanced, medium-bodied smattering of curranty fruit along the way, the wine is never so wine. It is the greener, slightly herbal qualities that come into fruity as it is rich, and it steers a bit more to dryness at the finish play in the mouth, however, and stiffening acidity makes short than we would like. It promises to grow in bottle over the next work of any fruit at the finish. 1 B I $29.00 four or five years to come, but real refinement and polish are CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE Meritage 2000 probably beyond its reach. 1 B A $55.00 Columbia Valley. 72% Cabernet Sauvignon; 16% Merlot; 9% * is CONN CREEK Limited Release Napa Valley 1999 Cabernet Franc; 3% Malbec. Despite its appealing aromas of Although leaning a bit in the direction of oak and ripeness, this currants, cream and woodsy spice, this wine is less compelling slightly supple, medium-full-bodied bottling is richer than the in the mouth where its fruit falls a bit short of fully satisfying and average Cabernet, and its riper bias does not come at the full allows a bit of a stemmy streak to show through amidst the edgy exclusion of fruit. A bit of closing coarseness clearly commends tannins that define its latter half. 1 B I $48.00 a few years’ wait, but the wine’s drier aspects argue against any long-term aging. * it CHATEAU SOUVERAIN ’s Reserve 1999 1 B I $28.00 Alexander Valley. Cherries, currants, sweet oak and briary spice COSENTINO Napa Valley 2000 share the stage in this nicely ripened and relatively concentrated Surpassing oak dominates at every point of this spicy, vanilla- offering, and, if bothered by a bit of the toughness that young drenched offering while fruit struggles without success to come Cabernet can show, it sports a fine fleshy feel and the kind of fully into view before fading away to dryness and a bitter bit of fruity depth that make for optimistic cellaring. Set it aside for a toothpicky astringency. 1 B I $34.00 few years in certain anticipation of the rounded and more fully evolved wine that is sure to come. 1 B A $35.00 * is Robert CRAIG Howell Mountain 2000 Napa Valley. Sweet cherries lead the way as the principal player * jl CHIMNEY ROCK Reserve Stags Leap District 2000 in both the aromas and flavors of this mildly jammy young wine Napa Valley. 5% Petit Verdot. Counting poise and polish as first while scattered notes of herbs and wood spice bring a measure among its many assets, this rich, sweetly oaked and beautifully of quiet complexity into play. Direct and drinkable even now, it measured young Cabernet sports lots of very friendly fruit from is comparatively light on tannin, fairly smooth in feel and need start to finish, and, if not among the bigger, more massive and not be held for extended age. O B I $40.00 muscular wines of this issue, it has a keen sense of balance that is equaled by few. Fairly forward, yet quite long on the palate * is Robert CRAIG Mount Veeder 2000 and never overly reliant on ripeness, it calls for mid-term aging Napa Valley. Showing clear kinship with it mate above, this ripe and should peak in a half-dozen years. 1 B I $96.00 and relatively open Cabernet is never so tough as its mountain origins might suggest, but its up-front fruit comes with lightly COLUMBIA CREST Reserve Columbia Valley 2000 loamy accents and a bit of the earth spice that its provenance Fairly rich in aroma with a nice mix of oak, herbs, cherries and promises. Slightly soft, slightly supple and easy on the palate sweet, cocoa-like accents, this supple, mid-density Cabernet is given its tender years, it too wants drinking without more than never so “stuffed” as it is slightly layered, and while a likeable a few years of delay. 1 B I $40.00 wine owing to its gentle tannins, it needs a bit more basic fruit to win our enthusiasm. 1 B I $30.00 * jl CRANE FAMILY Don Raffaele Estate 2001 Napa Valley. This nicely assembled wine eschews brawn in favor COLUMBIA CREST Walter Clore Private Reserve 2000 of balance and comes up a winner for its careful composition. It Columbia Valley. 58% Cabernet Sauvignon; 42% Merlot. Much sports a lengthy line of keenly centered curranty fruit and is given like its cellarmate below, this nicely tailored, well-scrubbed wine a boost in richness by lots of sweet and creamy oak. Never the teases with a mix of sweet oak and cherries and is made all the powerhouse or given to bombast, it entices now with its poise more immediately appealing by its dearth of intrusive tannins. It and polish, but it has the depth to keep improving for several also comes up a bit short on center substance, and, if alive and years at least. 1 B I $43.00 wholly likeable, it is never so strong in fundamental fruit as to rise to recommendation. 1 B I $35.00 * it DELECTUS Cuveé Julia Napa Valley 2000 In its considerable favor, this big, ripe and rather brooding wine COLUMBIA WINERY Sagemoor Vineyard 1999 counts a solid sense of varietal currants and more than a little Columbia Valley. 10% Cabernet Franc. Passing notes of cherries creamy, mildly caramelly oak. Less to its benefit, however, is the serve as counterpoints to a bit of brush and toasty spice in the imposing wall of latter-palate astringency and evident heat that

20 bring its promising flavors to a grinding halt, and, while we are ** jn DUCKHORN Estate Grown Napa Valley 2000 taken with its richness, we caution that its keeping comes with Sporting an extra bit of polish to its deep and compelling fruit, a certain degree of risk. O B A $84.00 this wine is at once both powerful and refined with layer upon ** jm DIAMOND CREEK Red Rock Terrace 2000 layer of lavish oak and keen curranty fruit. Building in intensity and range en route to an exceptionally long finish, it is a riveting Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley. While never among the more display of fruity richness and promises to get even better if given forward and immediately accessible Cabernets, Diamond Creek the five to ten years of age it deserves. bottlings generally convey good depth and are built along very 1 B A $80.00 solid lines. In 2000, the winery style is again plainly evident, and * jl DUCKHORN Patzimaro Vineyard Napa Valley 2000 this particular rendition packs plenty of deep fruit and very rich Very deep and somewhat brooding in the nose with extracted oak into its tannin-toughened frame. Clearly a wine to be held plum-like and curranty fruit, this thick, palate-coating effort is for a decade or more, it nevertheless shows tantalizing hints of positively plush in feel yet sports a good sense of balance that loamy complexities to come and is a comfortable candidate for manages to ward off impressions of heaviness. Every bit as rich long-term aging. O B A $175.00 and weighty as its companions, it too is a wine that is meant for cellaring for a half decade or more. 1 B A $90.00 ** jo DIAMOND CREEK Volcanic Hill 2000 Diamond Mountain, Napa Valley. Perhaps the most mountain- DUTCH HENRY Argos Meritage Napa Valley 2001 like of the Diamond Creek wines in terms of its sturdy, tannin- 53% Cabernet Sauvignon; 37% Cabernet Franc; 10% Merlot. toughened structure, this sinewy young offering is in no way The problem here is simple. The wine is likeable on its surface, wanting for rich Cabernet fruit, and its effusively oaked, cassis and there can be no real complaint with its basic red fruit center and black-earth aromas find parallels in the rich curranty themes and oaky, dusty overlays. Even its ending tannins are not so bad that presently lurk beneath a blanket of youthful astringency in in reality. But, this plain, moderately fruited effort would have the mouth. A ten-year wait would seem a reasonable minimum been better served by a lower price. O L I $38.00 here, and the chances are that this one will continue to evolve EBERLE Paso Robles 2000 for a good deal longer. O B A $175.00 Loosely joined elements of raspberries, herbs, oak and a hint of ** jm DIAMOND CREEK Gravelly Meadow 2000 clay emerge in the varietally nonspecific aromas of this slightly rounded middleweight, and, while clean and vaguely fruity, it is Diamond Mountain. Sporting both the same sturdy spine and bothered by an edge of hardness and its flavors are limited by a concentrated fruit that characterize its two siblings, the Gravelly bit of chalky tannin. Meadow bottling smells of currants, crème brulee and earth, 1 B A $23.00 and its compact, but deeply filled flavors emphasize Cabernet’s * it EDGEWOOD Estate Vineyard Napa Valley 2000 loamy and somewhat minerally side while keeping ample fruit The most attractive of the several Edgewood bottlings presently well within sight. Patience again is required here, and both its under review, the Estate Vineyard offering marries a good bit of price and need for age make it a wine recommended for serious sweet, slightly plummy fruit with notes of raspberry, cherry and collectors of the varietal. O B A $175.00 a wispy hint of mint. It begs comparison with good Merlot by way of its decided accessibility and supple, slightly fleshy feel, DOMAINE LA DUE Napa Valley 2000 and it seems destined to hit its full stride with but three or four Produced by Laird. Competing themes of berries, woodsy spice years of age. O B I $35.00 and dried herbs vie for attention in the nose without ever quite coalescing into a clear look at Cabernet, and, while slightly rich, * is EDGEWOOD Frediani Vineyard Napa Valley 2000 the wine’s like-minded flavors similarly want for a better sense Fully ripened yet fairly well mannered with respect to tannin and of defining fruit. Supple and slightly fleshy to start but fairly firm heat, this mid-sized Cabernet offers up a nice measure of at the finish, this one is never especially tannic but still could be straightforward currants and wins recommendation by dint of helped by a few years of softening. O B I $20.00 its enriching oak. Like so many of its mates from the vintage, it does tend a bit to dryness as it goes, but it stays supple in feel * jl DRY CREEK VYD Endeavor Dry Creek Valley 1998 and never loses its varietal way. O B I $35.00 16% Cabernet Franc. Tough as nails, even in its aromas (in a figurative sense) this brawny, concentrated, very highly oaked, EDGEWOOD Reserve Napa Valley 2000 tightly wrapped wine suggests black cherries and cassis without Sporting all of the extra oak upon which “Reserve” seems so quite finding full volume. It is more convincing in the mouth as much to depend these days, this spicy, vanilla-laced Cabernet it first supplies a bit of palatal fat and then a deep, dense, fully ultimately finds that oak exceeding its essential fruit. Rich, but a extracted sense of fruit waiting to emerge from under its sinewy little dry and lacking in the latter going, it wants for a slightly wrap of blunt astringency. It requires several years of cellaring better sense of center to win a star. O B A $50.00 and will remain on the chunky side. O B A $50.00 EDGEWOOD Lewelling Vineyard Napa Valley 2000 Oak and ripeness are the two legs upon which this bottling is jp ** DUCKHORN Monitor Ledge Vyd Napa Valley 2000 built, but the wine offers only glances at secondary fruit and In a vintage not noted for its grand Cabernets, this month’s trio comes up a little pinched and wanting at its heart. Its ripeness is of Duckhorn wines stands in our view as one of the outstanding made manifest by a rush of finishing heat, and its combination success stories of the year. This deep and downright dramatic of coarseness, alcohol and attenuated fruit makes it one of the wine checks in as the best of a very fine lot. It is the most highly lesser wines of the Edgewood pack. O B I $35.00 ripened of the three with an impressive sense of fruity extracts buttressed by plentiful oak and enriched by pervasive elements EDGEWOOD Napa Valley 2000 of milk chocolate, vanilla and toasty spice. It is sturdy without If making a promising start with moderately rich aromas of oak, ever being tough, and its opulent mix of fruit and ready ripe- currants and crème brulee, this one turns out to be fairly coarse ness is never beset by bothersome heat. Look for five-plus years and drying in the mouth with a fleeting finish that is marked by of steady growth here. O B A $90.00 little in the way of discernible fruit. 1 B I $24.00

21 FREEMARK ABBEY Sycamore Vineyard Napa Valley 1999 CabernetCabernet SauvignonSauvignon 14% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Franc. Almost as expensive as its mate above but considerably less interesting, this fleshy bottling is low in fruit and turns to dark chocolate and dried leaf notes ** jm Volker EISELE Terzetto Napa Valley 2000 for personality. Rich in feel and high in oak, the wine heads into 33% Cabernet Sauvignon; 33% Merlot; 33% Cabernet Franc. dryness and falls short in the finish. 1 B I $59.00 Chiles Valley. Needing a bit of air to find its full voice, this wine GALANTE Blackjack Pasture Carmel Valley 2001 opened up in the glass with its first aromas of ripe cherries then took on unusual but interesting notes of blueberry, vanilla and This wine’s compact black cherry fruit finds itself in competition juniper. Supple on the palate and fairly rich, it shows something with underlying dried herb and vegetation notes reminiscent of of a beamy, weighty quality but never gives up its basic cherry squash blossoms. Fairly full and supple in mouthfeel, and rich in and dried currant fruit. Youthful tannins coarsen the finish, but, creamy oak as befits the high intent of the winery, it reprises its given the wine’s tendency to slight softness, we would suggest barky, dried wood and herb notes in the medium-depth flavors mid-term aging of five years or so. O B I $87.00 that hang on gamely at the end in the face of overtly oaky and tannic intrusions. O B I $50.00 * jl Volker EISELE Chiles Valley/Napa Valley 2000 GALANTE Red Rose Hill Carmel Valley 2000 9% Cabernet Franc; 4% Merlot. Lesser wine by the slimmest of Woodsy, dried bark smells and the scent of old leather overlie margins, this one benefits from having a more keenly focused lesser elements of tart cherry fruit in the nose, and the flavors Cabernet personality, including the tighter finish that is part and of this taut, stiffly structured wine are sufficiently sparing in parcel of the grape. Its curranty and oaky richness runs into a fruity substance as to allow brusque, acid-accentuated tannins bit of latter palate coarseness, yet, this wine, like its cellarmate, is to be its defining trait. 1 B A $30.00 one that wants only intermediate length cellaring of some four to six years. 1 B I $40.00 GALANTE Rancho Galante Carmel Valley 2000 Once again, leathery, forest-floor and tobacco-leaf qualities are EMILIO’S TERRACE Reserve Napa Valley 2000 well ahead of fruit here, and what few notes of black cherries Inviting smells of sweet cream and caramelly oak team up with that manage to emerge in the mouth are too quickly knocked well-ripened fruit and touches of chocolate for a most seductive down by the kind of drying astringency that will define the wine aromatic start here, but the ensuing, slightly narrow flavors are long after its limited fruit is gone. 1 B A $20.00 never so sweet or keenly fruity and they are limited by a streak GEYSER PEAK Kuimelis Vineyard Alexander Valley 2000 of evident acidity just now. There is a sense of ambition about Block Collection. If winning good points for its richly oaked and this one nonetheless, and a few years of patience might see it moderately concentrated aromas of ripe currants and cherries, grow into better. O B I $45.00 this one gives a few back as it loses its way to heat and dryness in the mouth. It shows a decent sense of extract, and, while it is ESTANCIA Meritage Alexander Valley 2000 never likely to be a polished wine, it may find better form with a 73% Cabernet Sauvignon; 27% Merlot. Dried grape smells sit few years of bottle age. 1 B A $26.00 amidst the sweeter contributions of caramelly oak in both the lightly herbal aromas and flavors of this obviously ripened effort, ** jm GIRARD Napa Valley 2000 but fruit per se fails to fully form, and the wine turns out to be a 52% Cabernet Sauvignon; 25% Cabernet Franc; 13% Merlot; little bit limp, dry and vaguely raisiny despite its impressions of 10% Malbec. In a world in which top-rated claret-styled wines size and weight. 3 B I $35.00 are selling up in the stratosphere, it is a pleasure to come across this deep, well-made effort that is somewhat more affordable. * it FRAZIER Memento Napa Valley 2000 Its young, compact, sappy black currant and dried cherry fruit is 9% Cabernet Franc; 4% Merlot. Sweet, black cherry fruit, hints enhanced by scents of crème brulée, caramel, slate and a hint of olivey herbaceousness and a good dose of creamy oak come of herb. Full, rounded, supple and quite nicely concentrated on together in comfortable alliance here, and, while fairly forward the palate, it is possessed of wonderful length and fights its way in character, the wine conveys an ample sense of richness and through a veneer of youthful tannins and slight stiffness towards depth. Tightening tannins tend to compress its finish just now, the back. A few years in bottle will do great things, and it seems but its fruit is up to the task and fights on through to ensure a likely to improve for many more years after that. half-dozen years of development. O B A $75.00 GOOD VALUE O B I $40.00 * is FREEMARK ABBEY Napa Valley 2000 Joel GOTT California 2001 One can easily like the curranty, lightly herbal, ripe fruitiness of 14% Merlot; 6% Petit Verdot; 5% Cabernet Franc. Very good the aromas, and the quiet oaky richness in the background adds and very considerable oak pushes this one several steps up the it owns touch of interest. If only the wine were a little less atilt grading scale, and the wine tantalizes with lots of sweet, mildly to ripeness on the one hand and to a trim of narrowing acids caramelly qualities that attend its somewhat weedy fruit. It offers on the other, it could have rated full commendation. Still, it is likeable elements of cherries and berries as well, and it wins its tasty and cleanly made, and not many Cabernet Sauvignons at star for balance rather than bluster. 1 B I $34.00 its comfortable price can make that claim. * iu FREEMARK ABBEY Bosche Napa Valley 1999 GOOD VALUE 1 L D $15.00 18% Merlot. An attractive aroma of currants, loam, eucalyptus * it Robert HALL Paso Robles 2001 and sweet oak leads to a supple, smooth entry and flavors that 5% Cabernet Franc. Inviting elements of ripe raspberries, cassis reflect the nose while being somewhat less intense than would and cherries are met in the nose by a nice touch of creamy oak, seem to be advertised. Still, the wine is suitably fruity and offers and each is carried forward in the well-defined, medium-deep plenty of range in a style that would seem to invite earlier rather flavors of this smoothly textured young Cabernet. It is quite well- than later consumption. 1 B I $68.00 balanced and polished to the point of tempting relatively near

22 term drinking, but it hints at a bit of layering to come, and, if * is KENWOOD Artist Series Sonoma County 1999 never especially astringent, it has just enough tailored tannins to In a vintage that has allowed producers to succeed wildly with see it through several years of certain growth. their best offerings, this bottling succeeds only just enough. It has GOOD VALUE 1 B I $20.00 plenty of personality, and its better parts smell and taste of ripe Robert HALL Meritage Hall Ranch 2001 and deeply cast fruit that might well earn it even higher ratings, Paso Robles. 47% Cabernet Sauvignon; 41% Cabernet Franc; but it is also possessed of an overriding barky, woodsy, woody 8% Merlot; 4% Malbec. Speaking to fruit in fairly hushed tones character that gets in the way of greater enthusiasm. If you are and favoring oak and a bit of brushy spice over subdued themes a collector of Kenwood’s Artist Series, it is worth laying aside a of cherries, this bottling simply wants for a bit more juice at its few bottles. Otherwise, it is pricey. 1 B I $70.00 heart. Lacking the same, it wanders away to dryness and is cut is short by clipping tannins at the end. O B A $34.00 * KENWOOD Sonoma County 2000 Here is a Cabernet whose oaky richness, well-defined fruit and * it HESS ESTATE Napa Valley 2000 subtle sense of layering make it easy to compare with wines in Give this one especially good marks for value as it delivers lots the high-ticket crowd, and, if it may want for the extension and of honest Cabernet character and attractive oak spice at a price extra opulence of the very best, it is a complete and well-filled rarely seen in its Napa Valley neighborhood. Nicely stated cassis wine for the money. It finishes a wee bit on the lean side, but it and black cherry themes are overlain with notes of vanilla and is hard to beat as a priceworthy prospect for mid-term aging. milk chocolate in both scent and flavor, and the wine is smooth GOOD VALUE 3 B I $16.00 and fairly open in its basic architecture. Finished with middling tannins, it runs into a bit of eleventh-hour dryness, but its fruit KUNDE Drummond Vineyard 1999 stays the course nicely and makes it a bonafide best buy. Hints of black cherry, cola and sweet oak generate a nice bit of GOOD VALUE 1 B A $20.00 interest in the aromas, but these better parts are surprisingly low in energy and depth across the palate and limit the wine’s * is William HILL Reserve Napa Valley 1999 range and reach. It is open and fleshy in mouthfeel with a quiet, Quiet and confident in its black cherry and raspberry fruit notes, clean and mild finish. O B D $30.00 this wine is balanced and comfortably polished in its mouthfeel, and its supple, rounded, mid-density flavors are supported by a KUNDE Sonoma Valley 1999 nice bit of fine-grained tannins for grip. If able to age for a few Way behind the curve in the Cabernet competition, this wine is years yet, it will serve well even now. 1 B I $38.00 ripe and herbal with a narrow edge to both nose and flavors, and Paul HOBBS Hyde Vineyard Carneros 2000 carries nowhere near enough fruit to put things right. Its dry, stiff finish adds to its burdens. Mr. Hobbs, who easily rates as one of the top-scoring producers 3 L D $21.00 in these pages over the last several years, has here offered up a J.LOHR Cuvee Pau Paso Robles 1999 Cabernet that captures the intensity for which his wines have 65% Cabernet Sauvignon; 19% Merlot; 16% Cabernet Franc. become so rightfully famous. Yet, despite its deep, ripe curranty If judged on its aromas alone, this one would win easy recom- and raspberryish fruit and its toasty, creamy oak, this wine is also mendation for its involving display of rich oak, currants and ripe invested with evident notes of earth, herbs and charry, smoky black cherries, but, while most of those traits extend into the woodiness. There can be no doubting its mass and intensity or wine’s flavors, they are met by outsized tannins and coarsening its range and complexity, but the debate will likely continue to acids that push it well wide of beauty. Its ten-year toughness rage about its level of perfection. O B I $75.00 may turn out to be there after twenty, and giving it the lengthy ** jn JUSTIN Isosceles Paso Robles 2000 age it needs is a genuine gamble. O B A $50.00 78% Cabernet Sauvignon; 19% Cabernet Franc; 3% Merlot. J. LOHR Hilltop Vineyard Paso Robles 1999 Plump, polished and absolutely brimming with both ripe cherry Limited fruit fights against a streak of brush and briary dryness fruitiness and lots of vanillin oak, this mouthfilling wine smacks from the very beginning here, and loses out to toughness and vaguely of Merlot in its supple and so very outgoing manner. It slightly walnutty tannins at the finish. The wine will only grow has a few youthful edges yet to overcome, but its finishing trim drier as time passes and compromise keeping of two or three of tannin and acidity in no way interferes with its fruity richness, years is advised. and its fine sense of energy is likely to carry it forward for some 3 B I $32.00 half-dozen years of positive growth. 1 B I $50.00 MARKHAM Napa Valley 2000 * iu KENDALL-JACKSON Great Estates Napa Valley 1999 8.5% Merlot; 6.5% Cabernet Franc. Here again ripeness and Very ripe in tone throughout and deep enough in black cherry oak are a step ahead of real fruitiness, and, for all of the wine’s fruit to win the day, this wine also boasts a nice dollop of sweet ample weight, it is both short on drive and something less than oak and a background note of herbs in its overall attractive mix concentrated at its core. Clean, dry and a bit brief at the finish, of elements. It is a bit ragged at the finish, but it can serve well it sins by omission rather than flaw, and it holds modest hope now and over the ensuing three to six years with well-seasoned for better with age. 1 B I $27.00 hunks of red meat. 1 B I $40.00 * iu MARSTON Spring Mountain District 2000 * is KENDALL-JACKSON Great Estates Alexander Vly 1999 Showing no shortage of rich oak and as governed by ripeness Ripe black cherry fruit is matched in intensity by mineral, loamy as much as by fruit, this big, dense, wonderfully fleshy young notes in the nose and flavors of this somewhat gruff Cabernet, Cabernet captures the kind of mass muscle missing in too many and while the fruit holds up well against the pushy tannins, it is wines of the vintage. To be sure, it is not a wine of subtlety or a bit dried out by the astringency of the finish. The wine might grace, but neither is it defined by toughness and tannin, and its need a decade of patient cellaring to age out, but we suggest intensity, range and richness win it enthusiastic endorsement. A drinking it up in half that time rather than risking that its fruit few years of age should bring it to its best, and its richness begs begin to drop out. 1 B I $40.00 service with savory lamb dishes. O B I $60.00

23 Year in Review What a year we have been through. We began with wine has befallen DeLoach, a family-owned winery whose and prices beginning to crack (good) and fears that wineries were going to Chardonnays have achieved great success in these pages. While there is go out of business (bad). We have ended the year with a few wine historical precedent for these kinds of unhappy endings, it is in the bad prices coming down and with wineries adjusting their blends to put times (comparatively, since most wineries are still functioning even if better wine in less expensive bottles (good), but we have seen winer- their profits are down) we see the widest swings in fortune. ies like DeLoach simply die on the vine and get sold at bankruptcy auction (sad). There are a handful of other wineries in the midst of Grape varieties have cycles of boom and bust as well, and this past year reorganization (not so good) and probably others hoping that the other has seen the continuing expansion of Syrah and production shoe does not fall on them (wishful). to go along with the overall surplus that is being experienced not just in California but in vineyards around the world. Syrah, it is now We started the year focused on the 1999 vintage of Cabernet Sau- said, will see a gradual slippage in overall quality as more and more vignon (good) and the 2001 vintage of (good). We have production comes on stream. We see the beginnings of that inevitable ended the year focused on 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon (better than its cycle (does anyone remember what happened to Cabernet Sauvignon reputation) and on 2001 Zinfandel (still good). Along the way, Pinot in the 1970s when thousands of acres were planted in all the wrong Noir continues to impress as the most improved varietal around (excit- places?), but just as Cabernet was eventually settled in the right places ing), and both and Pinot Gris impress as losing qualitative and pulled out of vineyards that produced everything from asparagus headway as winery after winery rushes into the seeming fertile ground juice to cooked, mawkish wines, so too will Syrah begin to experience of the new darling varieties (to be expected). a Darwinian thinning out of its population. It was easy to forget in heady times like the mid-90s that agriculture We see 2003 as a year of consolidation and retrenchment in the is a cyclical business subject to the same “boom and bust” cycles of industry. The focus on quality has not changed, but the other commodities. If the swings are not incredibly dramatic, they concern for sound fiscal management has. As we end the year, there are certainly observable, and one only need look at the combination are signs of improvement in the marketplace yet the coming year is not of vintage and marketplace that has brought about a drop in the list going to free to go back to the go-go days in which they price of a wine like Beaulieu’s Private Reserve as well as a reduction could do anything they wanted in wine styles, vineyard choice and in the quantity produced. For some companies that kind of revenue frontline pricing and get away with it. The wineries will be helped by loss could be incredibly harmful to its long-range prospects, but, a good vintage for reds in 2001 and by a slight reduction in vineyard Beaulieu, like Beringer, Franciscan, Domaine Chandon, Fetzer and yields in the harvest just completed. so many others, is part of a large conglomerate, and the day-to-day fluctuations in sales and revenues are not likely to see it encountering As for your trusty editors at Connoisseurs’ Guide, we will continue to long-term financial difficulties. help you find the best that California has to offer, and we will do so now in both print and electronic formats. We have avoided the boom Quality winemaking, however, has not kept the wolf from the door and bust cycle of the wine business by not investing in new vineyards, for some wineries in this year. Favorites of ours like Fife and Liparita but, rather by investing in more wine to taste. Our Annual Awards are in bankruptcy reorganization, and one hopes that their overex- Banquet, such as it is, follows. tended situations do not result in the same disappointing fate that

MAZZOCCO Sonoma County 2000 MERRYVALE Reserve Napa Valley 2000 Taut and low on drive from the very first, this narrow, green- 87% Cabernet Sauvignon; 13% Merlot. Here is a wine whose edged, medium-bodied Cabernet is sparing in both fruitiness overall sense of structure and mass easily mark it as Cabernet, and richness, and its basic thinness signals that its potential for yet it never manages to muster the kind of fruit needed to fill in improvement is limited. 1 B I $20.00 all of its spaces, and it winds up tough, dry and a little too hot at the finish. 1 B A $35.00 ** jn MERRYVALE Profile Napa Valley 2000 56% Cabernet Sauvignon; 40% Merlot; 3% Cabernet Franc; * is MOON MOUNTAIN Reserve Sonoma Valley 2000 1% Petit Verdot. The shining star of the Merryvale clan in 2000, 82% Cabernet Sauvignon; 10% Cabernet Franc; 3% Merlot; the Profile bottling is a big, bold, deeply constituted wine that 5% Petit Verdot. Nicely keyed on black cherry fruit and holding marries lots of concentrated, black currant qualities with a most oak to a helpful minimum in its well-filled aromas and again in generous dose of lovely oak. Redolent of sweet cream, coffee, its slightly concentrated, medium-dense flavors, this fleshy, fully cocoa and caramel, it is kept solidly on course by its unwavering ripened offering falls prey to some latter palate tannins and a fruit, and, if admittedly a little tough and tannic just now, it is bit of heat, but it stays within the expected bounds of youthful no more so than a very young Cabernet might be expected to Cabernet. Its coarser edges become forgivable when hearty cuts be, and its prospects for five to seven years of improvement are of beef are on the menu, but a few years of cellaring seems the all but guaranteed. 1 B A $79.00 best remedy for its raggedness. 1 B A $40.00

24 OUTSTANDING QUALITY TO PRICE RATIO AWARDS With a tip of the hat to Dan Lee, and a nicer guy you In the year past, the brand that has more often than any would not be likely to meet, we salute his ** Morgan other received our GOOD VALUE notation is the Francis Metallico Chardonnay 2002 for its incredible job of prov- Coppola Diamond Series. Both the 2001 Zinfandel and the ing that not all Chardonnays need to be writ in large letters 2001 rated at * yet are priced to be easy on the or aged in new French oak barrels. pocketbook at about $15. Admittedly, that feat is more easily accomplished with Zin than Pinot, but it is almost impos- WINERY OF THE YEAR AWARD sible with Pinot and Coppola has done it. Special Mention If this were the movies, we could write “Round up the must be made of two long-running GOOD VALUES, usual subjects” because the contenders include folks like both Zinfandel. The Ravenswood Vintners Blend and the two-time winner, Duckhorn, and last year’s winner, Rosenblum Vintners Cuvée have earned their spurs in more Rosenblum, not to mention outstanding performances years than not and can often be found for less than $10. by Lewis, Talley and Hobbs. But not surprisingly, in a year that has seen Chardonnay come out of its shell, our WINE OF THE YEAR AWARD Winery of The Year is Ramey Wine Cellars for its many Perhaps it is just the changing of the vintages, but several superb Chardonnays and its spectacular Jericho Canyon of our favorite wines this year are Chardonnays. In this Napa Valley Red Wine. issue alone, you will find two of the best, and leading con- tenders for this award, and then there is the Peter Michael BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD brace reviewed in October. And while there are challengers In a year in which the new wine books have not exactly in the other varieties such as Ojai’s brilliant Syrah from thrilled us comes an insider’s book of maps from the Chi- the Roll Ranch and Talley’s always incredible Rosemary’s cago Wine School. Writer Patrick Fegan is one of the lead- Vineyard Pinot Noir, our choice for the Wine of The Year ing teachers about wine, and the maps he has developed for is the Paul Hobbs Cuvée Augustina Chardonnay 2001, a his own classes hold no candle to the beautiful renditions deep, unctuous version of the grape that simply delights that one finds in the atlases of Hugh Johnson and Oz Clark. the senses from first to last. Rather, these maps are teaching tools and they allow the person wanting an unpretty but accurate view of appellation NICE SURPRISE OF THE YEAR AWARD locations to get that view in an unfettered form. We make It is too often said that Chardonnay is overripe, overoaked great use of the Fegan maps and point out that they are not and overweight. The responses by winemakers to those road maps or coffee table maps but working maps intended claims are often positive but not always successful. For for serious students of wine geography. These are maps for example, a few producers have gone out of their ways to wine geeks, and that must be why we like them. (CWS, make unoaked Chardonnay, and, by our lights, they have 312-266-9463 or www.wineschool.com and click on “new generally produced nothing of interest. At least until now. wine book”).

MURIETTA’S WELL Vendimia Livermore Valley 1999 * is NERO Cuvée Speciale Napa Valley 2001 13% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc; 5% Petit Verdot. More often 10% Merlot. Produced by Gianni Paoletti. Somewhat lower in than not, this label falls short of its promise, and the story is not price than Paoletti’s standard Cabernet bottling but noticeably happier in this vintage. The wine has the requisite richness and short of that wine in beauty, this oddly constructed wine starts gains some further interest from its coffee/toffee nuances, but off with plenty of richness and a fair dose of cassis-like fruit. Yet, it is low in fruit and too high in herbal influences and ends with its latter half is coarse and dry with both acid and tannin taking little that invites a second glance. 3 B I $35.00 their share of attention, and, on the whole, we would expend a few dollars more and buy the Paoletti 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon NAPANOOK Napa Valley 2000 as the better value. 1 B I $30.00 By Dominius Estate. 68% Cabernet Sauvignon; 17% Cabernet Franc; 11% Merlot; 4% Petit Verdot. If conveying impressions * jl NEWTON Unfiltered Napa Valley 2000 of ripeness and mass in the nose, this blunt and loosely defined If somewhat mannerly in its initial smells of black cherries and wine is never especially articulate in fruit, and its passing notes creamy oak, this wine quickly shows a bolder, brawnier side to of black cherries on the palate fade away too soon to dryness both its smoky, loamy and dried berry aromas and its noticeably and a bit of heat. Patently lacking in vitality and a little small in tough passage across the palate. Its compact fruit saves the day, fruity heart, it carries questions enough about its ability to age and, while the wine is not one for current enjoyment, it looks to into something better. 1 B I $39.00 have the stuffing for a bit of aging. 1 B A $41.00

25 PEACHY CANYON Westside Paso Robles 2000 CabernetCabernet SauvignonSauvignon 11% Merlot; 2% Cabernet Franc. Showing a bit of the weedy brushiness that sometimes comes from its appellation, this ripe and relatively weighty wine plays fast and loose with basic fruit. NEWTON Le Puzzle Napa Valley 2000 Guided as it is by ripeness first and last, it empties out to heat With all due and meaningful respect to this fine winery, the only and dryness at the end and closes with an undisguised push of “puzzle” here is why the wine was bottled in the first place. It is slightly puckery tannins. 1 B A $25.00 awash in earthy, barky and piney qualities, and nowhere does it * jl PEZZI KING Estate Bottled Dry Creek Valley 1999 begin to exhibit the needed fruit to be more than passably and 10% Merlot. This quite fascinating wine may lack a little when quizzically acceptable. O B I $50.00 it comes to specific varietal character and classical structure, but, taken for itself as a red wine of great depth and range, it earns WORKS Proprietor’s Reserve 2001 more than a second glance. Call it Cabernet goes to the southern Mendocino County. Distracting touches of sourness in the nose Rhone if you will, but do enjoy the wine’s deep and compelling surface as adjuncts to diffuse smells of vaguely cherry like fruit mix of dried plums, licorice, cocoa, dark cherries, loamy richness here, and the wine sports a curious sweet-and-sour edge to its and smoky, oaky influences. It finishes with a bit of tightness just ripe, but loosely formed flavors. Never specific as to Cabernet now and will surely look better in four to six years’ time if one can and relatively developed for a wine of its tender years, it does overcome the temptations of serving it in the nearer term with not encourage lengthy keeping. O B D $19.50 savory roasts and chops. 1 T I $30.00 ** jn ** jm PAHLMEYER Red Wine Napa Valley 2000 Joseph PHELPS Backus Vineyard Oakville 2000 Napa Valley. Those who would damn the vintage as producing 73% Cabernet Sauvignon; 16% Merlot; 5% Malbec; 5% Petit nothing but anemic wines will think again when facing this big, Verdot; 1% C. Franc. If simply labeled as red wine, Pahlmeyer’s complete, compellingly deep Cabernet. From its extravagantly blend of Bordelaise is anything but a simple effort, and oaked aromas to its long and chewy flavors and lengthy, fruit- from first sniff forward, it conveys layer upon layer of deep and filled finish, it has varietal currants to spare and a genuine sense optimally ripened currants, black cherries and rich oak spice. of succulence. While fairly tannic, it is not defined by toughness, Showing a sense of substance that appears only in the very best and its altogether classic structure suggests that it will develop Cabernets of the vintage, it is full and fleshy on the palate while famously for a decade or more. remaining surprisingly well-balanced and only minimally tannic. 1 B A $150.00 It is rather more open and accessible by dint of structure, yet it * iu QUINTESSA Napa Valley 2000 has room to grow and comes with expectations of another four Here is a wine that works within the framework imposed by the to six years of improvement. 1 B A $90.00 vintage, and if is never boldly extracted or built with especially big-boned tannins, it is keyed on incisive fruit and hits the mark ** jm Gianni PAOLETTI Napa Valley 2000 in its aim for polish rather than potency. Lovely sweet oak spice 6% Merlot; 4% Malbec; 2% Cabernet Franc. The 2000 vintage is the clear and present partner to its central themes of cherries may not be everyone’s ideal, but it is the rare year in California and cassis, and, while a little dry to close, it ends with the kind that does not find a batch of vineyards outperforming the trend. of sustained fruit that argues convincingly for another four to And, so it is with the grapes that have been used to create this six years of patience. 1 B A $110.00 very enjoyable bottling. Its aromas deliver a complex and layered ** jm RAMEY Diamond Mountain District 2001 mix of ripe black currants, roasted vanilla beans, cocoa and cola, Napa Valley. 66% Cabernet Sauvignon; 15% Merlot; 12% Petit and its youthfully compact flavors provide good varietal focus Verdot. The ripest of the Ramey lot, this imposing, full-bodied, with the same reach and richness. If things get a bit tight in the palate-coating effort is long on chocolate and oaky spice, yet it finish, that is the way of bold, young Cabernet and time in bottle also sports a wealth of deep, black cherry fruit and lots of the will go along way in providing the cure. 1 B A $40.00 loamy, black-earth complexities of serious Cabernet Sauvignon. Richness rather than refinement is its first concern, and, if that PEACHY CANYON De Vine Paso Robles 2000 richness comes at the cost of some toughness and latter-palate Cut from slightly coarser cloth yet keyed on fully ripened fruit heat, the wine is as well packed at the end as it is at the start, and creamy oak, this fat but slightly tough-edged wine shows and it will grow for years. 1 B A $56.00 hints of leather, brush and woodsy spice along its way. Despite its gruffer, somewhat rustic finish, its shows sufficient depth to * it RAMEY Claret Napa Valley 2001 warrant a bit of optimism, and a few years of rest in the cellar 56% Cabernet Sauvignon; 27% Cabernet Franc; 17% Merlot. should find it in better form. O B A $50.00 Yet another solid and substantial wine from Ramey, this one is

*** jq RAMEY Jericho Canyon Vineyard Napa Valley 2001 45% Cabernet Sauvignon; 36% Merlot; 19% Cabernet Franc. Deep, concentrated and conveying a fine sense of potency in its complex, richly oaked and optimally ripened black cherry and currant aromas, this big, broad-beamed opus is positively plush on the palate with a wealth of well-extracted fruit that is met step for step by lots of lovely sweet oak spice. While a touch of last-minute heat proves a slight distraction just now, the wine has the relentless fruit and stunning sense of depth to make it an all but guaranteed bet for aging, and it looks good to go for another eight to ten years. 1 B A $85.00

26 awash in rich oak and just a touch short in conveying the kind barely finds enough fruit to reach mid-palate. Tough, phenolic, of fruity depth and range shown in its pricier partners. It gets a drying qualities get the better of it in the latter half and leave it little dry at the finish despite the fact that its tannins are held in gasping for vitality. O B I $25.00 check, and, if moderately fruity throughout, it is anything but moderate in its scene-stealing oak. O B I $36.00 V. SATTUI Morisoli Vineyard Napa Valley 2000 This Morisoli bottling exhibits a similar lack of central fruit as it RIDGE Santa Cruz Mountains 2000 mate from Suzanne’s Vineyard, and, if anything, it is drier and Montebello Vineyard. 64% Cabernet Sauvignon; 28% Merlot; more blunt in its progression across the palate. The 2000 vintage 8% Petit Verdot. Not to be confused with the Ridge’s marquee is far from perfect, but this Sattui duo seems to have endured Montebello bottling, this firm, woodsy, tannin-framed effort is greater hardships than most. O B I $35.00 short on charm and attenuated in fruit. More stiff than supple and wanting for a bit more meat on its bones, it may age into SAUSAL Alexander Valley 2001 suppleness, but time will not bring the additional stuffing that it More often than not, we find things to like in the Sausal Zins in requires for real success. 1 B A $30.00 our tastings, but there is not a lot special about this ripe but dry * it ROSENBLUM Yates Ranch Reserve Mt. Veeder 2000 and barky, chocolatey, vaguely earthy Cabernet that is low in fruit and high in disappointment. Sporting all of the sweet oak spice that we have come to expect 1 T D $26.00 from the folks at Rosenblum, this ripe, mildly chocolately look at * iu SCHERRER Scherrer Vineyard Alexander Valley 2000 Cabernet is a touch dry at its edges, but it is also fairly well-filled Pushed along by its ripeness and lots of sweet, slightly creamy, with black cherry fruit, and it seems capable of growing past its vanilla-tinged oak, this generously filled and fairly open wine is nominal tannins. O B A $30.00 full and viscous on the palate with juicy streaks of currants and ROSENTHAL Newton Canyon Malibu 1999 cherries at its heart. Its nominal tannins provide a proper bit of So intensely vegetal as to make moot its generous complement grip as it goes, and, while always quite ripe in tone, it never gives of underlying fruit, this supple and rather well-balanced wine in to heat or dryness. O B I $40.00 cannot overcome its bias to greener things, and only forgiving fans of the style need apply. O B I $34.00 SCHERRER Alexander Valley 2000 * it RUDD Red Wine Oakville Estate Napa Valley 2000 Although showing a slight familial tie to the wine above by way of its ripeness and obvious oak, this offering struggles to find a 9% Cabernet Franc; 5% Petit Verdot. A wine that will have its similar sense of inner fruit and fundamental richness, and it only fans, this one raises the ripeness bar in no uncertain terms. It is, hints at berries and cherries before fading away to a dry, slight- of course, rich, dense, complex and a touch dry at its heart, but ly angular, acid-edged finish. it is also supple, fleshy, broad and oaky, and all of that adds up O B I $30.00 to a wine that will find a home with savory meats like mutton SHENANDOAH ReZerve Shenandoah Valley 2000 chops or grilled ribeye steaks. 1 B I $100.00 18% Cabernet Franc. Counting heavily on very sweet oak for * is RUTHERFORD RANCH Silverado Trail Vineyard 1999 much of its outgoing appeal, this firmly structured wine shows Limited Release Reserve. Napa Valley. Rutherford Ranch exists as a leaner line of fruit to its flavors and veers to acidity at the end. a value-oriented brand, and even with these vineyard-designated It wants for a bit more stuffing but should benefit from a few releases, it maintains that approach. Yet, in spite of the winery’s years of softening. O B A $24.00 admirable direction in pricing, it has too often fallen short in the qualitative end of the equation. This bottling takes a giant step ** jo SIGNORELLO Padrone Napa Valley 2000 forward for the brand, and if it is not the highest rated Cab in 8% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc. Long on extract, full in body, this issue, so too does it at least represent one of the best values and heaped high with creamy oak, this very deep and decidedly available in a vineyard-designated bottling from the Napa Valley. brooding young Cabernet is a sturdy wine with plenty of mass This wine, our preferred of the pair, is ripe and moderately deep and muscle to go along with its impressive if still nascent fruit. It albeit not especially juicy or succulent in its focus on black cherry invites early drinking at entry with a supple and slightly rounded varietal character. O B I $25.00 feel, but it takes a certain turn to tannic toughness in a way that speaks to a need for extended cellaring, and five or six years of RUTHERFORD RANCH Stagecoach-Krupp Vineyards 1999 patience seems the minimum wait. O B A $75.00 Limited Release Reserve. Napa Valley. Drier than its mate above and picking up an herbal, almost green bean intrusion, this one SILVERADO Single Vineyard Selection 2000 never quite makes the cut, and its tough, tannic finish reinforces Stag’s Leap District. Napa Valley. Accessibility and easy-going the notion that its center is hollow. O B I $25.00 fruit are the story here, and, true to what is becoming the norm for lesser wines of the vintage, this medium-bodied offering is * it ST. FRANCIS Nuns Canyon Reserve Sonoma Vly 1999 a touch underfilled and light on extract. Still, it makes good use of Rich, ripe, outgoing, chocolatey and very lightly tarry in style, this sweet oak in supporting its straightforward message of cherry- full-bodied, fleshy offering delivers everything for aging except like fruit, and it will make a pleasant partner to simply roasted deep and still developing fruit. Instead, what fruit it has stands meats over the next few years. 1 B I $65.00 only in support of its richness, and it is that richness which now propels the wine past a fairly tannic edge in the finish. Its tough * iu SIMI Reserve Alexander Valley 1999 side notwithstanding, we would drink this personality-filled wine 7% Petit Verdot. Enriched by sweet oak but relying first on mid- now and over the next few years. O T D $45.00 density curranty and black cherry fruit, this ripe but well-balanced bottling follows through handsomely on the palate with a supple, V. SATTUI Suzanne’s Vineyard Napa Valley 2000 nicely rounded entry and plush, cedary, caramelly and ripe fruit Initially suggesting currants and oak, then veering towards bark flavors. Less fleshy at the finish but long and focused, it asks for and shoe leather, this wine comes apart in the mouth where it only a few years of cellaring. 1 B I $75.00

27 does the vestigial note of prune in the background. Enjoyable Cabernet Sauvignon now, it can age for several years yet. 1 B I $30.00 Cabernet Sauvignon Rodney STRONG Alexander’s Crown 2000 * is SNOQUALMIE Reserve Columbia Valley 2000 Alexander Valley. Limp and wholly unconvincing fruit is soon overtaken by drying elements of leather and cedar in the nose With the roundness, slight succulence and ripe-cherry qualities here, and the wine’s tannin-toughened flavors follow suit with of good Merlot, this polished and eminently accessible Cabernet wispy notes of ripe cherries fading as a bit of leather and leafy is just the thing for impatient bibbers. Its liberal dose of sweet herbaceousness come to the fore. $28.00 oak lends a distinctly vanillin cast to its ample fruit, and while a 3 B I long way from being tannic, the wine finds structure enough to TERRA VALENTINE Wurtele Spring Mountain District 2000 keep well for several years. 1 B I $23.00 Lightly herbal and hinting variously at leather and cherries in the SNOQUALMIE Columbia Valley 2000 nose, this rounded, relatively open wine starts out well enough, but its flavors show a bit of greenness that leads to an almost If showing the same sense of inviting immediacy and friendly tinny quality in its very dry finish. accessibility as the wine above, Snoqualmie’s basic Cabernet is O B I $50.00 never quite so deep in fruit nor does its recipe show as much * it TREFETHEN Estate Napa Valley 2000 creamy oak sweetness. It drifts from fruit to tannin in a bit of a 12% Merlot; 2% Cabernet Franc. Likeable elements of cherries, hurry, but its fills the bill as a likeable, relatively inexpensive and raspberries and vanilla-bean oak in the nose are echoed in kind generally useful middleweight, and it is especially attractive when if not in immediacy by the slightly drying, tannin-framed flavors its moderate price becomes part of the considerations. of this still evolving youngster. A little too tough and just a wee GOOD VALUE 1 B I $14.00 bit stiff at the finish, it nonetheless conveys a reasonable sense SPRING MOUNTAIN Elivette Napa Valley 2000 of fruity substance, and, given a few years of quiet, it can easily 10% Merlot. Despite its very ambitious price, this tough, coarse, bloom into better. 3 B A $40.00 patently charmless wine is absent any convincing fruit, and its * iu VIADER Napa Valley 2001 early sensations of glyceriney softness give way to genuinely dry 55% Cabernet Sauvignon; 45% Cabernet Franc. Among the all- and gritty astringency. 1 B A $90.00 time leaders in our Cabernet ratings, Viader has produced a ripe * iu STAG’S LEAP WINE CELLARS Artemis 2001 and concentrated bottling this time out, and it is that very same Napa Valley. Bright, buoyant and nicely filled with youthful fruit concentration that is both the wine’s strength and its downside. that smacks of both blackcurrants and cranberry, this gracefully For all of the deep, dense, “purple fruit” qualities and rich oak oaked and nicely polished wine shows a bit of Cabernet’s loamy on display here, there is a distinct leaning towards chocolate and side and offers glimpses of complexity to come. It is firmed at Ruby Port that simply takes the wine past the norm for Cabernet. the finish by both tannin and evident acidity just now, and, if Its tough, gritty latter palate tannins do it no favors either, but, hardly a bruiser that demands a decade of age, it is sure to gain with a little faith in its future, one could easily set the wine aside in richness for several years. 3 B A $45.00 for a decade of softening. 1 B A $80.00 * is STRATFORD Knights Valley 2001 VINA ROBLES Estate Paso Robles 2001 A little on the soft and rounded side for Cabernet of its tender Plentiful oak serves to lift and enrich the fairly direct, cherry-like age, this wine earns a nod of acceptance because it is easy to aromas of this open and accessible offering, and the wine is as drink and has more than a touch of the variety’s curranty, briary friendly in the mouth with a sense of tactile polish and easy-to- character. It also carries a bit of a floral, simple quality that adds taste flavors of oak-sweetened cherries. It is temperate in tannin to its “drink now” personality. 1 L D $20.00 and firmed in the finish by a twist of closing acidity, and, if not quite filled up from front to back, it fills the bill nicely as a fairly * iu STELTZNER Stag’s Leap District Napa Valley 2000 likeable middleweight Cabernet. O B I $19.00 Nicely ripened black cherry fruit is teamed with carefully placed, lightly creamy oak throughout the length of this rich and slightly WENTE Livermore Valley Bay 2000 juicy wine, and, while late-arriving tannins do manage to make While showing loose notes of candied cherries and a smattering themselves known, there is a genuine sense of suppleness and of brushy spice, there is little about this one that conveys a clear polish about this one. We like its fruit, we like its depth and we sense of Cabernet. Light, clean and a little lazy in terms of any like its continuity, and we expect that we will like it even more real energy, it is ready to go and should not be counted on for after five or six years have passed. 1 B I $32.00 any further growth. 3 L D $13.00 * it STERLING Reserve Napa Valley 2000 * is WHITEHALL LANE Reserve 2000 5% Merlot; 5% Petit Verdot. Unmistakable notes of vanilla and With its relatively full-scaled aromas of ripe currants and vanillin milk chocolate go a long way in sweetening the stylish, lightly spice making for a fairly promising start, this well-ripened, but herbal, black cherry aromas of this neatly polished wine, and its never-quite-concentrated wine lets up a little on the palate. Its flavors fall in line with creamy oak, a constant companion to ripe oak keeps on going and lends a decided degree of richness and and open fruit. Smooth and supple and untroubled by much in satisfaction, but its fundamental fruit drops away just a bit early the way of closing tannins, it is a rather pretty and somewhat and leaves us wishing for more. 1 B I $65.00 elegant offering whose best face should show with but a year of two of age. 1 B I $70.00 * is ZAHTILA Georges III Rutherford Napa Valley 2000 Medium volume aromas of black cherries, currants and berries * it Rodney STRONG Alden Vyds Alexander Valley 1999 are met by notes of dark chocolate and quiet oak, and the wine 5% Merlot. The preferred of the Strong brace in this issue, the follows with a slightly fleshy, soft entry and direct, somewhat Alden bottling is a ripe, deep, fairly concentrated wine much in bright fruit. There are quiet intrusions of heat and tannin in the the manner of the 1999 vintage. Its black cherry fruit and loamy finish, and a few years of cellaring are all that will be required to and rich, dark chocolatey overlays speak to its concentration as see this one to its best. O B I $40.00

28 More than at any time we can remember, there HARDONNA is a struggle going on for the hearts and palates of California’s upscale Chardonnay drinkers. C Y On the one hand, we find those who would make Chardonnay into as big and as ripe a wine as its fruit could possibly take. On the other hand is found those who find ripeness and oak to be out of control is too many California efforts with the grape. Fortunately, the grand Chardonnays in this issue will make all camps happy.

* jl ARTESA Reserve Carneros 2001 despite an impression of smoothness and an early suggestion of Ripe and sweet in its first aromas with wisps of Meyer lemons oiliness to its palatefeel, it is essentially shy on fruity basics in its set against deeper smells of Fuji apples, honey and creamy oak, flavors as well. O F D $40.00 the wine starts out with a fair bit of flesh on the palate but then COLUMBIA Wyckoff Vineyard Yakima Valley 2001 turns towards acidy narrowness in the middle and at the finish. If trying for the richness of its partner from the Otis Vineyard, Withal, it is moderately deep and nicely constructed for those this one stays on the underconcentrated side from first sniff to who would like a bit of nerve to their Chardonnays, and it will skimpy, stony, vaguely brittle finish. It may be fairly full in body, age well for a couple of years. O l I $40.00 but it is shy in heart. 1 F D $19.00 ARTESA Napa Valley 2001 COLUMBIA Columbia Valley 2001 Lacking both the sweet fruit of its Reserve partner and less lively At its very inviting price, this clean, mild effort may not offer as on the palate as well, this dryish, ripe but ragged customer will much to sink one’s teeth into as the previous bottling, but it has please only those who enjoy full-bodied, fleshy Chardonnay but enough richness and buttery character that it impresses as a wine do not demand an adequate measure of enlivening fruit. Bottle to which one could turn when a less costly bottle is in order. age would seem little help here. O C D $18.00 GOOD VALUE 3 F D $13.00 * it BABCOCK Santa Barbara County 2002 * jl CUVAISON Estate Selection Carneros 2001 Mild, lightly floral and suggesting a sweet, honeyed quality, this Napa Valley. Led by citrus and green apple scents in the nose, carefully oaked bottling is consistent from first engaging sniff to this ripe and rich wine finds itself somewhat given over to oaky, clean, restrained finish. Intended to be a wine for the here and crème brulée notes as it airs, and it delivers much the same story now, it is a reliable Chardonnay at every stop and will hold up on the palate where its solidly fruited flavors dive a bit behind well in bottle for a year or two. 1 F D $18.50 distinct barrel influences. Decently balanced if leaning slightly to the fleshy side of things, this very amply stuffed effort shows a BENZIGER Reserve Sangiacomo Vineyard 2001 touch of last minute heat, and, all in all, the wine will show best Carneros. Competing elements of sweet oak, tropical fruit and with flavorful chicken dishes. 1 C I $34.00 background herbaceousness vie for attention in the ample, but not quite focused aromas of this one, and the ensuing flavors * it DESTINO Napa Valley 2001 are similarly rich yet never clearly define themselves with regard Sweet nicely ripened fruit is joined by a balanced bit of vanillin to fruit. If a touch soft to start, the wine comes up a bit coarse oak and subtle touches of lees in the well-formed aromas and and given to grapefruit at the finish. 1 l D $27.00 accessible flavors of this rich, moderately full-bodied effort. If finished with a coarsening streak of lemony acids, the wine is BENZIGER Carneros 2001 never short on essential stuffing and its ragged edges are sure Rich oak sets the pace early on here, and fruit always lags a step to be smoothed by a year in bottle. 1 l D $32.00 behind whether in scent, flavor or finish. Rounded in feel, but a little on the watery side as well, the wine is fairly quick and shy DOMAINE CHANDON Carneros 2001 on brightness, and it finds an unneeded edge of oaky bitterness Matchsticky pungency and the smell of underripe apples make at the close. 1 l D $16.00 for a less than promising start here, yet this lean and lively wine rebounds a bit in the mouth and offers a hopeful look at oaky * is CHARLES CREEK Las Patolitas Sonoma County 2002 spice and a touch of youthful fruit. Interrupted by a biting note Its bright, somewhat simple, candied apple fruit gets a needed of heat at the finish just now, it cannot but benefit by a year of assist from creamy oak in nose and mouth, and this fairly frontal further smoothing. 3 l I $19.00 and extra ripe wine finds itself pulled back into contention by its firm, bright underpinnings. It ends a little on the crisp side, and * it DRY CREEK VINEYARD Reserve 2000 it will probably be at its most enjoyable if served with dishes like Russian River Valley. Fresh, ripe apple smells are teamed with a savory-seasoned baked oysters. 1 l I $20.00 bit of sweet and slightly toasty oak that shows again as a quiet partner to apples and hints of lemons in the clean, mid-density ** jn CHATEAU ST. JEAN Belle Terre Vineyard 2001 flavors of this firmly balanced youngster. Never a big wine, it is Alexander Valley. Lightly leesy top notes and a bit of mild oak nonetheless nicely focused from front to back and finishes with spiciness serve as accents to fresh, Gala Apple fragrances in the a pleasant bit of stony crispness. 1 l D $22.00 engaging aromas of this well-scrubbed youngster, and it takes a ** jm FRANCISCAN Cuvée Sauvage Napa Valley 2001 similar tack in the mouth with long, nicely fruited flavors that Here is a member of the “higher acidity” club about which we are focused on crisp apples. Medium-full-bodied and carefully wrote in the opening text above. This one is a full-blown, ripe balanced from beginning to end, it is light on winemaking and and rich Chardonnay with creamy oak and spicy notes much in long on fruit, and, even if easy to like right now, it should keep evidence throughout. Yet, it plays off its depth of character and well for several years. 1 l D $22.00 oily palatefeel against an enlivening streak of acidity and a long, COLUMBIA Otis Vineyard Block 6 Yakima Valley 2001 firm and still fruity finish. Its interesting bits of complexity augur Easily the richest, smokiest of the trio from Columbia, this one is a well for the wine’s future development with cellar aging, and it bit skimpy underneath that good beginning in its aromas, and, should improve for several years. 3 l I $35.00

29 of the “Dobles Lias”, they can be rich and deep yet impeccably HARDONNA balanced. Moreover, when they are composed with a solid base C Y of bright fruit, they have proven to be long aging as well. This wine’s ripe apple, sweet pear and minerally center is expanded comfortably by creamy and roasted nut notes, and if a touch of FREEMARK ABBEY Napa Valley 2002 acidy stiffness creeps into the finish, it is nothing that a bit of There was a time when Freemark Abbey Chardonnays were our bottle age cannot cure. O l I $45.00 clear favorite among the California offerings, but those days are now long gone, and this middling effort, while clean and wholly * is MERRYVALE Dutton Ranch Russian River Valley 2001 presentable does not go far enough. Its apple and citrus tones, Expansive in aroma from its rich, creamy start to its caramel and while continuous, are underplayed, and its oaky enrichment does hardwood overlays to compact fruit, the nose delivers a stylish not make up for the missing pieces. 1 F D $18.00 beginning that is never quite matched on the palate. A smooth and rounded entry leads to ripe but not especially fruity flavors, HENDRY Blocks 9 and 21 Napa Valley 2001 and the wine trades almost exclusively on richness from middle As fond as we are of Mr. Hendry and of the very fine wines from to somewhat hot finish. O L D $29.00 his property, we must say that these two Chardonnays are not among them. Both sport a fair measure of rich, creamy oak, * iu MORGAN Santa Lucia Highlands Double L Vyd 2001 and this one has a nice bit of flesh and oiliness, but they both Toasty oak and slightly quiet but energetic fruit scents make the run out of fruit before they finish. O C D $25.00 early going here, and the nicely rounded entry flavors reiterate the twin themes of vital fruit and creamy, somewhat caramelly HENDRY Blocks 19 and 20 Napa Valley 2001 oakiness. The wine’s ripe apple focus tends a bit to narrowness Less rich, less fleshy and decidedly more narrow in fruit from first at the finish, but its acid brightness is not out of line and directs pass to firm and pinched finish, this wine is a smaller version of the wine to uses with flavorful seafood dishes like sea bass with its mate and lacks even that effort’s minor attractions. For the a lemon beurre blanc. O l I $30.00 nonce, stick to the Hendry reds. O F D $25.00 * is MORGAN Santa Lucia Highlands Rosella’s Vyd 2001 * iu Paul HOBBS Walker Station Vineyard 2001 There is complexity here in spades, but it brings a waxy, nutty, Russian River Valley. Mr. Hobbs’ hand is all over this wine from almost corn silk note into the mix, and regardless of the wine’s its faintly hazy visual appearance to the pushy oak and honeyed expressive personality, its focus is never especially on point. Give notes in its aromas. The wine is less deeply endowed with fruit it high marks for a supple, balanced and rich passage across the however, and its depth of character is pretty much without any palate, and reserve it for service with herb-laced preparations of layering or reserve. Still, the wine is not heavy or plodding and is chicken and the meaty fishes. O L D $30.00 likely to serve well with savory chicken or fish stews or even a light-handed bouillabaisse. O L D $60.00 MORGAN Monterey 2001 In our October issue, we praised the Morgan 2002 Metallico, a ** jm KUNDE Reserve Sonoma Valley 2001 Chardonnay made without oak, but we remember not liking the Leaning towards the toasty barrel end of the spectrum in its oak 2001 version of that wine. And, perhaps the reason was that its regimen, this bottling is very suitably and comfortably endowed base wine was as lean and unforthcoming as this 2001 that has with a confident core of ripe appley fruit. Its handsome aromatic seen some oak aging. This effort is stiff and citrusy at the front beginnings are echoed in mouthfilling flavors that are as fruity and lemony juicy in the finish. 3 F D $20.00 as they are oaky, and the wine’s balance and vitality are near to perfect. In short, this is Chardonnay in a California-typical style ** jo PATZ & HALL Napa Valley 2002 both as to filling and as to energy. O l I $35.00 A more open and obvious wine with softer edges and an easier finish than its partner below, this slightly hazy effort is as rich as * is MacROSTIE Reserve Carneros 2000 they come. Its overriding oak and roasted nut characteristics get Sweet, slightly candied apples are the central theme of both the picked up comfortably by appley and citrusy fruit tones in both aromas and flavors of this lightly oaked and nominally ripened nose and mouth, and if the wine is not quite as energetic as its wine, and, if hardly showing the range and extra winemaking partner above, it is so well-stuffed and accessible that we would contributions that its “reserve” designation might predict, it is a drink it over the next year or two while waiting for the Woolsey wholly likeable, mid-sized effort. O l D $25.00 Road to open up. 1 C D $33.00 * jl MARIMAR Torres Estate Dobles Lías 2001 ** jm PATZ & HALL Woolsey Road Vineyard 2002 Russian River Valley. The Marimar Torres wines are maddeningly Russian River Valley. Slightly hazy in appearance, in the manor inconsistent from year to year. At their best, as with this version of some “modern” Chardonnays, this edition of Woolsey Road

*** js Paul HOBBS Cuvée Augustina Dinner Vyd 2001 Sonoma Mountain. Ripe, concentrated and loaded with a wealth of caramelly oak, the outgoing, expansive aromas are brought into balance by sweet, pulpy, appley smells, hints of honey and a note of underlying minerality that emerges as the wine airs. It is full-bodied and unctuous in feel with an oily texture that tilts to heaviness but never crosses that line because of the depth and energy of its central fruitiness. Its very size and intensity make it head and shoulders above most of the competition, and you can feel confident in drinking this opulent bottling right away or setting it aside for a few years. O L I $75.00

30 60 starts off with toasty, leesy, nutty top notes filling out lively fruit Chardonnay is both fleshy and alive at the same time. If a touch aromas of ripe apples and roasted lemons. Background hints of frontal on the palate, it maintains its basic fruit and creamy oak nutmeg and cinnamon add further range to the nose, and the stance throughout even as a touch of heat rises at the end. wine is similarly deep, rich, layered and energetic in the mouth. GOOD VALUE 1 F D $15.00 Fleshy but never heavy and still a bit youthfully ragged around the edges, this one has the concentration and balance to grow STUHLMULLER Alexander Valley 2001 with time in the cellar. O l I $38.00 Colored with hints of honey, apple and ripe melon in the nose and following with firm, nominally fruited flavors that echo the iu * PATZ & HALL Durell Vineyard Sonoma Valley 2002 same basic mix of qualities, this solid, mid-sized Chardonnay is a With a similar slightly hazy appearance as it siblings, the Durell little shy on intensity but hits all the varietal marks. Its slight bias bottling starts off in the same rich and ripe direction as it mates to closing crispness makes it a fine choice for service with meaty above. If it comes up somewhat shorter on depth than them, it fish preparations. 1 l D $23.00 is still very attractive for its creamy, nutty overlays to tart, appley fruit. The wine is structured for growth, and laying it away looks SULLIVAN BIRNEY Carneros 2001 to be a good option, but the absence of compelling fruit leads On the positive side of its ledger sheet, this fat and fleshy wine us to think that it will show at its best in the next couple of years counts a good degree of ripe, slightly tropical fruit and a decent rather than over an extended period. O C D $38.00 dose of creamy oak. It stumbles a bit later and shows a faint but * jl Joseph PHELPS Ovation Napa Valley 2001 evident edge of finishing sharpness, but it is saved in the end by Loads and loads of lovely oak comes close to stealing the scene its fundamental richness, and it will serve nicely with the likes of here, yet, for all of its layered vanillin, cream and sweet toast tuna tartare. O l D $25.00 qualities, the wine never wanders far from fruitiness. Rich in feel as well with a slightly oily, palate-coating texture, it is enlivened ** jm TREFETHEN Harmony Napa Valley 2000 by just the right degree of acidity, and only the faintest edge of Keyed on attractive elements of juicy apples, citrus and under- grapefruit and a scant bit of last-minute stiffness hold it back played, lightly creamy oak in the nose, this bottling surprises a from even higher rank. It is delicious now, but it will be better a bit with ripe, richer-than-expected flavors that are bigger than year or two hence. 1 l I $44.00 advertised. Medium-full-bodied with a touch of glycerin lending palatal roundness, it finds a flare of heat at the finish but has ** jo RAMEY Hyde Vineyard Carneros 2001 more than enough compensating richness to tame its alcohols. Napa Valley. Here is a wonderfully refined offering whose poise Tag it for service in the relatively near term with dishes such as and careful sense of composition comes with no dearth of fruity salmon in a savory sauce. O l D $36.00 depth and compelling richness. Smelling of green apples, toast and minerals, it is long and layered on the palate with insistent ** jm VINE CLIFF Proprietress Reserve Napa Valley 2001 impressions of nervy young fruit punctuated with notes of stony The San Francisco Chronicle, in its very admirable wine section, spice and laced with vanillin oak. Always lively and light on its recently wrote that Napa Valley Chardonnay, as a class, was fat, feet, it promises to grow with time and should serve famously dull and plodding. Apparently the paper’s tasting panel never with richer seafood recipes. 1 l D $56.00 came face to face with this lovely whose aromas are redolent of luscious appley and pear-like fruit filled out by layers of creamy STAG’S LEAP WINE CELLARS Arcadia Vineyard 2001 oak, sweet butter and caramel. Fairly full in body and unctuous Napa Valley. A bit on the underplayed side but showing focused in feel, this compelling Chardonnay will never be confused with glimpses of pears, apples and lightly candied fruit in the nose, a light and vibrant bottling, but so too does it prove counter to this medium-full bodied wine turns to angularity and acid-edged the findings of the local fish wrap. O l I $50.00 stiffness in the latter palate. Lean and decidedly citric, it perhaps wants a bit more roundness. O F D $45.00 WENTE Arroyo Seco Riva Ranch Reserve Monterey 2001 * is STEVEN ROSS Bien Nacido Vineyard 2001 Hints of tropical fruits, minerals and a whiff of greens somewhat Santa Maria Valley. Subdued suggestions of green apple fruit akin to spearmint are highlighted in the medium-volume aroma, are secondary to prominent smells of oak and butter in the nose and the wine favors the minerally, slightly green side of things here, yet fruit manages to emerge as a more central player in in the mouth as well. It turns a bit stiff in the finish and wants a the wine’s moderately rich, oak-buttressed flavors. Although a touch more fruit overall. 3 F D $17.00 bit of late-arriving heat and coarseness work against immediate enjoyment, the wine has stuffing enough to commend it for a Robert YOUNG Alexander Valley 2001 few years of keeping. O l I $25.00 Mild, minerally, somewhat pear-like in its low-key fruit and very much underplayed throughout, this seemingly ambitious effort * is STRATFORD Russian River Valley 2002 reaches its desired level in price but not in character. What little Slightly floral in direction with gala apple notes adding to its nicely soft-edged fruit shows up on the front of the palate dissipates crafted aromatic mix, this priceworthy version of Russian River by the time the wine finishes. O F D $35.00

*** jq RAMEY Hudson Vineyard Carneros 2001 Napa Valley. Gorgeous oak serves as a constant counterpoint to the intense ripe apple themes that drive this captivating wine, and, while quite rich in every respect, the wine is also carefully composed, neatly balanced and never close to being overblown. It tends to a bit to firmness in the latter going, but its persistent citrusy ending suggests that increased complexity and further expansion will await those whose exercise a few more years of patience before pulling its cork. 1 l I $56.00

31 December 2003 Index Best of the Year 2003 CABERNET SAUVIGNON YEAR IN REVIEW continues with your faithful editors’ selections for the best wines we have tasted this year. Chardonnay returns to AMUSANT Napa Valley 2001 * GV it Robert HALL Paso Robles 2001 * is S. ANDERSON Stags Leap District 2000 Robert HALL Meritage Hall Ranch 2001 claim its fair share of spots, and Pinot Noir keeps up its drumbeat of ARNS Napa Valley 2000 * GV it HESS ESTATE Napa Valley 2000 seductive offerings. Cabernet Sauvignon is somewhat less successful, * it ARTESA Reserve Napa Valley 1999 * is William HILL Reserve Napa Valley 1999 primarily because the 2000 vintage has produced so few *** wines. ARTESA Alexander Valley 2000 Paul HOBBS Hyde Vyd Carneros 2000 ARTESA Napa Valley 2000 ** jn JUSTIN Isosceles Paso Robles 2000 There are a fair number of wineries that have stayed on the list, and ATLAS PEAK Consenso Vyds 1997 * iu KENDALL-JACKSON Grt Est Napa 1999 the admirable wines from newcomer (to this list) David Ramey show BARNWOOD Santa Barbara 2001 * is KENDALL-JACKSON Grt Est Alxndr 1999 again why his Ramey Wine Cellars is our Winery Of The Year. * jl BEAULIEU Latour Private Reserve 2000 * is KENWOOD Artist Series 1999 * is BEAULIEU Reserve Dulcet 2000 * GV is KENWOOD Sonoma County 2000 BEAULIEU Tapestry Napa Valley 2000 KUNDE Drummond Vyd 1999 STEPHEN ELIOT -- The Top Ten Wines of 2003 BEAULIEU Rutherford Napa Valley 2000 KUNDE Sonoma Valley 1999 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir Windsor Gardens 2000 BELL Napa Valley 2000 J.LOHR Cuvee Pau Paso Robles 1999 * is BLACK & WHITE Topanga Vyds 2001 J. LOHR Hilltop Vyd Paso Robles 1999 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Cuvee Augustina 2001 BLACK COYOTE Bates Creek Vyd 2000 MARKHAM Napa Valley 2000 IO Syrah Ryan Road 2001 BONTERRA North Coast 2000 * iu MARSTON Spring Mountain 2000 Lewis Chardonnay Barcaglia Lane 2001 ** jm August BRIGGS Napa Valley 2000 MAZZOCCO Sonoma County 2000 BUEHLER Estate Napa Valley 2000 ** jn MERRYVALE Profile Napa Valley 2000 Ojai Syrah Roll Ranch 2000 CARMENET Lake County 2001 MERRYVALE Reserve Napa Valley 2000 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Jericho Canyon 2001 CATON Sonoma County 2000 * is MOON MOUNTAIN Reserve 2000 Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard 2000 ** jn CAYMUS Napa Valley 2001 MURIETTA’S WELL Vendimia 1999 Ramey CHARLES CREEK Sonrisa/Tecolote 2001 NAPANOOK Napa Valley 2000 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Montebello 2000 * is CH. ST. JEAN Cinq Cepages 2000 * is NERO Cuvée Speciale Napa Valley 2001 Talley Pinot Noir Rosemary’s Vineyard 2000 CH. STE. MICHELLE Canoe Ridge 2000 * jl NEWTON Unfiltered Napa Valley 2000 CH. STE. MICHELLE Cold Creek 2000 NEWTON Le Puzzle Napa Valley 2000 Von Strasser Zinfandel Monhoff Vineyard 2000 CH. STE. MICHELLE Meritage 2000 ORGANIC WINE WORKS Prop Res 2001 * it CH. SOUVERAIN Wnmkr’s Reserve 1999 ** jm PAHLMEYER Red Wine Napa Valley 2000 Best Of The Rest * jl CHIMNEY ROCK Res Stags Leap 2000 ** jm Gianni PAOLETTI Napa Valley 2000 Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon Monitor Ledge Vineyard 2000 COLUMBIA CREST Reserve 2000 PEACHY CANYON De Vine 2000 COLUMBIA CREST Walter Clore 2000 PEACHY CANYON Westside 2000 Rosenblum Zinfandel Rockpile Road Vineyard 2001 COLUMBIA WINERY Sagemoor 1999 * jl PEZZI KING Estate Bottled 1999 Morgan Chardonnay Metallico 2002 COLUMBIA WINERY Columbia Vly 2000 ** jn Joseph PHELPS Backus Vyd 2000 Ravenswood Zinfandel Old Hill Ranch 2001 * it CONN CREEK Anthology 1999 * iu QUINTESSA Napa Valley 2000 * is CONN CREEK Limited Release 1999 *** jq RAMEY Jericho Canyon Vyd 2001 JC Cellars Syrah Rockpile Vineyard 2001 COSENTINO Napa Valley 2000 ** jm RAMEY Diamond Mountain 2001 * is Robert CRAIG Howell Mountain 2000 * it RAMEY Claret Napa Valley 2001 CHARLES OLKEN -- The Top Ten Wines of 2003 * is Robert CRAIG Mount Veeder 2000 RIDGE Santa Cruz Mountains 2000 * jl CRANE FAMILY Don Raffaele Est 2001 * it ROSENBLUM Yates Ranch Reserve 2000 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Cuvee Augustina 2001 * it DELECTUS Cuveé Julia Napa Valle 2000 ROSENTHAL Newton Canyon 1999 Peter Michael Chardonnay Belle Côte 2001 ** jm DIAMOND CREEK Red Rock Terr 2000 * it RUDD Red Wine Oakville Estate 2000 Ojai Syrah Roll Ranch 2000 ** jo DIAMOND CREEK Volcanic Hill 2000 * is RUTHERFORD RANCH Silverado Trl 1999 ** jm DIAMOND CREEK Gravelly Mdw 2000 RUTHERFORD RANCH Stagecoach 1999 Pride Mountain Viognier 2001 DOMAINE LA DUE Napa Valley 2000 * it ST. FRANCIS Nuns Canyon Reserve 1999 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Jericho Canyon 2001 * jl DRY CREEK VYD Endeavor 1998 V. SATTUI Suzanne’s Vyd 2000 Ramey Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard 2001 ** DUCKHORN Monitor Ledge Vyd 2000 V. SATTUI Morisoli Vyd 2000 ** jn DUCKHORN Estate Grown 2000 SAUSAL Alexander Valley 2001 Rosenblum Zinfandel Maggie’s Reserve 2001 * jl DUCKHORN Patzimaro Vyd 2000 * iu SCHERRER Scherrer Vyd 2000 J. Schram 1997 DUTCH HENRY Argos Meritage 2001 SCHERRER Alexander Valley 2000 EBERLE Paso Robles 2000 SHENANDOAH ReZerve 2000 Siduri Pinot Noir Garys’ Vineyard 2001 * it EDGEWOOD Estate Vyd 2000 ** jo SIGNORELLO Padrone Napa Valley 2000 Talley Pinot Noir Rosemary’s Vineyard 2000 * is EDGEWOOD Frediani Vyd 2000 SILVERADO Single Vyd Selection 2000 EDGEWOOD Reserve Napa Valley 2000 * iu SIMI Reserve Alexander Valley 1999 Best Of The Rest EDGEWOOD Lewelling Vyd 2000 * is SNOQUALMIE Reserve Columbia 2000 Delectus Merlot Stanton Vineyard 2000 EDGEWOOD Napa Valley 2000 GV SNOQUALMIE Columbia Valley 2000 ** jm Volker EISELE Terzetto Napa Valley 2000 SPRING MOUNTAIN Elivette 2000 Domaine De La Terre Rouge “Ascent” Syrah 2000 * jl Volker EISELE Chiles Valley/Napa 2000 * iu STAG’S LEAP WINE CELLARS 2001 Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon Monitor Ledge Vineyard 2000 EMILIO’S TERRACE Reserve Napa 2000 * is STRATFORD Knights Valley 2001 Gary Farrell Chardonnay Rochioli-Allen 2001 ESTANCIA Meritage Alex Valley 2000 * iu STELTZNER Stag’s Leap District 2000 * it FRAZIER Memento Napa Valley 2000 * it STERLING Reserve Napa Valley 2000 JC Cellars Syrah Rockpile Vineyard 2001 * is FREEMARK ABBEY Napa Valley 2000 * it Rodney STRONG Alden Vyds 1999 * iu FREEMARK ABBEY Bosché 1999 Rodney STRONG Alexander’s Crn 2000 FREEMARK ABBEY Sycamore Vyd 1999 TERRA VALENTINE Wurtele 2000 GALANTE Blackjack Pasture 2001 * it TREFETHEN Estate Napa Valley 2000 Connoisseurs’ Series GALANTE Red Rose Hill 2000 * iu VIADER Napa Valley 2001 Offered this month are ** Whitehall Lane Reserve Napa Valley GALANTE Rancho Galante 2000 VINA ROBLES Estate Paso Robles 2001 GEYSER PEAK Kuimelis Vyd 2000 WENTE Livermore Valley 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 and the ** Robert Stemmler Sonoma ** jm GIRARD Red Wine Napa Valley 2000 * is WHITEHALL LANE Reserve 2000 County Chardonnay 2000. For more information about the GV Joel GOTT California 2001 * is ZAHTILA Georges III Rutherford 2000 Connoisseurs’ Series wine-of-the-month program, please call the CHARDONNAY California Wine Club at 1-800-777-4443.

* jl ARTESA Reserve Carneros 2001 * is MacROSTIE Reserve Carneros 2000 ARTESA Napa Valley 2001 * jl MARIMAR Torres Dobles Lías 2001 * it BABCOCK Santa Barbara County 2002 * is MERRYVALE Dutton Ranch 2001 BENZIGER Reserve Sangiacomo 2001 * iu MORGAN Double L Vyd 2001 BENZIGER Carneros 2001 * is MORGAN Rosella’s Vyd 2001 * is CHARLES CREEK Las Patolitas 2002 MORGAN Monterey 2001 ** jn CH. ST. JEAN Belle Terre 2001 ** jo PATZ & HALL Napa Valley 2002 COLUMBIA Otis Vyd Block 6 2001 ** jm PATZ & HALL Woolsey Road 2002 COLUMBIA Wyckoff Vyd 2001 * iu PATZ & HALL Durell Vyd 2002 Write to us at PO Box V, Alameda, CA 94501. Our phone is 510-865-3150. GV COLUMBIA Columbia Valley 2001 * jl Joseph PHELPS Ovation 2001 Fax: 510-865-4843. Email: [email protected]. Web: www.cgcw.com. * jl CUVAISON Estate Selection 2001 *** jq RAMEY Hudson Vyd 2001 * it DESTINO Napa Valley 2001 ** jo RAMEY Hyde Vyd Carneros 2001 DOMAINE CHANDON Carneros 2001 STAG’S LEAP WN CLRS Arcadia 2001 * it DRY CREEK VYD Reserve 2000 * is STEVEN ROSS Bien Nacido Vyd 2001 ** jm FRANCISCAN Cuvée Sauvage 2001 * GV is STRATFORD Russian River Valley 2002 FREEMARK ABBEY Napa Valley 2002 STUHLMULLER Alexander Valley 2001 HENDRY Blocks 9 and 21 2001 SULLIVAN BIRNEY Carneros 2001 HENDRY Blocks 19 and 20 2001 ** jm TREFETHEN Harmony Napa Valley 2000 *** js Paul HOBBS Cuvée Augustina 2001 ** jm VINE CLIFF Proprietress Reserve 2001 * iu Paul HOBBS Walker Station 2001 WENTE Arroyo Seco Riva Ranch 2001 ** jm KUNDE Reserve Sonoma Valley 2001 Robert YOUNG Alexander Valley 2001