TNs: Bevan Cellars

B

Bree

Allan Bree
Friday evening found me in St. Helena, arriving early for the weekly tasting at Acme Fine Wines this particular week, featuring the wines of fledgling Bevan Cellars.

Russell Bevan and the lovely Victoria De Crescenza have a tiger by the tail. Fueled by 93 Parker points for his first wine in bottle the fabulous 06 Dry Stack Sauvignon Blanc he has gone from strength to strength. This tasting confirmed the faith that Kal and Dorothy Showket placed in him by choosing him to replace Heidi Peterson Barrett as consulting winemaker.

(And my usual disclaimer Russell and Victoria have been close personal friends for more than a decade.)

2006 Bevan Cellars Syrah Bennett Valley Dry Stack Vineyard - 14.5% alcohol 270 cases produced 100% 877 clone

Rich deep color plush, enticing, plumy fruit aromas hints of Northern Rhne develop with time in glass - friendly entry with good structure, a soft mouthfeel and meaty overtones. Very clean with nuanced minerality and a long finish. Eminently drinkable now, but even better in a year or two, I think. A very, very pretty wine.

2007 Bevan Cellars Syrah Bennett Valley Dry Stack Vineyard - 13.2% alcohol 260 cases produced 100% 877 clone

Beautifully colored forward Cte Rotie aromas with appealing minerality less fruit in the nose than the 06, but just needs some bottle time lovely and plush in the mouth with minerals and iron in the follow very clean with a long finish. Extremely appealing even more so in a couple of years.

2005 Bevan Cellars Syrah Bennett Valley Dry Stack Vineyard - 13.7% alcohol 50 cases produced a blend of 877 and Estrella River clones

Lush and forward fruit in the nose predominantly black plum soft entry flavors follow the nose lacks a little on the back end and could use a little more acid to give the wine a bit more structure likely due to the clonal selection. Nevertheless, this is a very impressive for a first effort.

2006 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Showket Vineyards 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 14.8% alcohol 120 cases produced

Somewhat shy in the nose very inviting entry lovely hillside fruit with a hint of alcoholic heat very clean with a long finish.

2007 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Showket Vineyards 100% Cabernet Sauvignon final blend

Restrained fruit aromas but lovely high toned perfume clean entry with nods to the 06 flavors needs time (of course) but should be an early drinker very promising.

2007 Bevan Cellars Bordeaux Blend Showket Vineyards 45% Cabernet Sauvignon 45% Cabernet Franc 10% Merlot final blend

Very expressive aromatics ripe and delicious in the mouth a young, but very complete wine very special.

2007 Showket Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 14.8% alcohol 1200 cases produced - the first Showket vintage that Russell took from crush to bottle

Prominent minerality in the nose far more restrained than its Bevan Cellars sibling, nevertheless beautiful fruit, excellent balance, very clean. Drinkable now, but far better in 3-4 years. Very pretty.

2007 Showket Vineyards Sangiovese 100% Sangiovese 14.9% alcohol 1050 cases produced

Vibrant aromatics featuring ripe fruit and dusty overtones bright, high tones fruit in the mouth with good acid structure eminently drinkable really pops in the mouth. Easily the best Showket Sangiovese ever. Will be lots of fun to drink.

Given the choice to bud over to Cab, Merlot, Franc, Kal and Dorothy chose to keep the Sangio a very smart decision.

Bevan Cellars Dessert Wine 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 17.75% alcohol 3.89 gms/liter residual sugar a blend of 2005 and 2006 fruit 46 cases produced

The 2005 crush was sorted into 3 bins perfect, dimpled and raisined. The third bin soaked out to well over 30brix.

This wine is absolutely charming lively fruit flavors that carry the alcohol well nicely balanced not at all port-like - should be tasted with a not-too-sweet dessert or toasted nuts and cheeses. Lots of fun.

Russell has reached the end of his agreement with Dry Stack (Grey Stack). I suspect he will see the 08s into bottle and he will continue to source fruit from Peter, but will not crush the 09 harvest for them.

There is, however, a new Pinot Noir project that will start with this years harvest. Lots to look forward to, including the release of Showkets 07 lineup.
 
Interestingly low alcohols on the Syrah, considering that Bennett Valley isn't an extremely cool location, is it? Picked earlier? Higher yields? De-alced? I know those are fighting words on the pointy forums but given your description they all sound OK to me.
 
Bree, I'm rather surprised not to see the word "oak" at all in your post. I had a great time meeting Russell at dinner at Bar Tartine (Slaton is still working on the notes, apparently)last summer and it was refreshing to see how unapologetic he was about his love of oak. Indeed, he was going on about the 200% new oak in his cab and took the needling from our Euro-centric end of the table very well. I found his wines like his personality, huge and full-throttle.
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
Interestingly low alcohols on the Syrah, considering that Bennett Valley isn't an extremely cool location, is it? Picked earlier? Higher yields? De-alced?
Click to expand...

Christian - Actually, none of the above. The vineyard is pretty cool - I think because of its proximity to the Petaluma Gap. They typically harvest their reds around the third week of October or so. I believe Russell might prefer higher alcohol in his Syrah, but this fruit is so beautiful that he can't resist.

Brad - I'm fairly oak sensitive - not as much as, say, Jim Cowan, but I can't tolerate the majority of Central Coast Pinot and Syrah because they taste like oak juice to me. I guess the fruit is so big and forward (but gob-free) in Russell's wines that it all seems to be in balance. Perhaps as these age, and the primary fruit begins to fall off, the oak will become more prominent. That's why I think these are intended for, and should be considered for relatively short-term consumption. And why not? I think they are very appealing right now.

BTW - there is very little for which Russell is apologetic.

Glad to hear your label is coming along. Any West Coast representation yet?
 
With the same caveat that Bree gave regarding friendship, I have tasted a number of these wines over the past years. And as Bree points out, I'm as oak averse as anyone I know.

That said, the syrah that Bevan Cellars gets from Bennett Valley is pretty remarkable stuff; it has an intense purity about it and a texture borne of its cooler than average climate. Russell's wines retain that purity and take advantage of those textures, despite being raised in new wood.
Russell likes to tell people I like "thin, weak and insipid wines," but the truth is, his 2005 syrah is anything but and, after sufficient decanter time, is very much to my taste. Further, his 2007 syrah actually has less alcohol than mine, both being sourced from the same grapes, same clone, same site.
I disagree with Bree in one respect; I think these syrahs will actually benefit from aging and that they are sufficiently concentrated and dense to soak-up their oak. So while they may show some wood now, I suspect in a decade they will show very little, if any.

Sangiovese and cabernet are not my thing, so I will defer to others on the relative merits of these wines. But even at this young age, these wines are powerful examples of their varieties.

I think Russell is just scratching the surface regarding white wines and red blends. Anyone who has tasted the Dry Stack (Grey Stack, after the name change) "The Folly" syrah, will understand what I mean about blending. Its beautiful wine in a very European style and would never have gotten to that point absent its blend.

Lastly, the sauvignon blanc that Russell makes is likely my favorite from anywhere save for Edmund Vatan's. Of course, they are wholly different styles, but the Grey Stack version is much more forward, ready today and absolutely delicious.

I'll be back out the left coast shortly and plan on revisiting these wines again; one of the very nice things about following a new wine project is being able to track it over the years.

Best, Jim
 
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